What did ancient languages sound like?

Post by YeGoblynQueenne » Sun, Jul 04, 2021, 10:25 PM UTC

codesnik wrote: post #82

gpraghu wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How fossilized? While it is not used as an everyday language, there is a yet growing library of literature, and vigorous philosophical debate that happens in Samskruta. BTW, an unrelated rant, the other thing that grinds on me is that the Ganga river is ALWAYS referred as Ganges (another anglicization)! Ganga is easier to pronounce, so why did that get anglicized, I wonder?

if that'd peace your mind, we call it "Gang" in Russia. But I wouldn't be surprised that it came from greek too, most greek words lost their endings when loaned to Russian

Post by schoen » Mon, Jul 05, 2021, 2:21 AM UTC

YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #131

schoen wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once went to a wedding involving academic linguists and Hindu prayers. A Hindu priest chanted a prayer in Sanskrit and then an academic linguist followed up by chanting the same prayer with his view of what it would have anciently sounded like. Notwithstanding the priest's own view of his Sanskrit as an ancient language, his pronunciation didn't match up with the academic linguist's view of the historical pronuncia…

"There are no more Romans to correct your speech"?

Post by chakkepolja » Mon, Jul 05, 2021, 2:38 PM UTC

gpraghu wrote: post #5

You mean “What did ancient European languages sound like” perhaps? I would submit that Samskruta (NOT the anclicised Sanskrit) sounds exactly like how it did in ancient times. How come there is no discussion of that at all?

Post by chakkepolja » Mon, Jul 05, 2021, 3:19 PM UTC

FlyingSnake wrote: post #40

gpraghu wrote: post #5

You mean “What did ancient European languages sound like” perhaps? I would submit that Samskruta (NOT the anclicised Sanskrit) sounds exactly like how it did in ancient times. How come there is no discussion of that at all?

The reason there's no discussion about Samskruta is that all the scholars of संस्कृतम are in India and most of the University departments lack the cultural and linguistic nuances that are needed to learn संस्कृतम. Unless Indians come and share their research with the world, there won't be any discussion on it. I also think this is so because the prevalent narrative is post colonial in nature and the (English) Interne…

Post by vkazanov » Mon, Jul 05, 2021, 7:34 PM UTC

imbnwa wrote: post #125

vkazanov wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Knowing Russian, Lithuanian and bits of Polish I would also add that it's amazing how lithuanian is very similar to slavic languages in grammar structure but radically different phonetically. I.e. a direct translation, word to word, works (with some style issues), but it's hard to recognize the sentence when pronounced. This makes me wonder how sanscrit sounds... Also, the language is quite complex, probably more com…

I find the rhythm/meter is very Romance-like but without identifying with any one specific Romance-speaking region, the phonetics vaguely remind me of Brazilian Portuguese.