azforeman

azforeman, 10 months ago to poetry

Ever wondered what Jabberwocky would sound like in southeastern Middle English ca. 1370 or so? Heh I didn't think so. But here you go anyway. I did it.

In a some cases, I took words that didn't survive from Old English & pretended they had Middle English reflexes. "Guþrew" (vorpal) is 1 such case (from Gūðrēow, an OE poetic term). As is the "Shou" (from scūwa) of "Shoufenged".

https://youtu.be/avhG73OVMLA

@linguistics @poetry @medievodons
@histodons
@litstudies
@bookstodon

azforeman, 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago) to poetry

In which I read Marvell's "Horatian Ode Upon Cromwell's Return From Ireland" in a reconstruction of mid-17th century pronunciation

The background text is taken from the earliest manuscript of the poem, copied by hand into a printed edition of Marvell's works where the printed text had been removed

I read "do" w/ the GOAT vowel rather than the GOOSE vowel when rhymed w/ "know" here.

https://youtu.be/a8wpWopHcck

@linguistics @bookstodon
@poetry
@litstudies
@histodons

azforeman, 10 months ago to jewishstudies

A cantillated reading of Psalm 113 in reconstructed Tiberian Hebrew pronunciation. I tried to realize the overlong vowels distinctly according to Khan's reconstruction

Also, I went and followed the instructions given in the Talmud, and the description of the Rambam, for how the Hallel psalms were read as responsory.

@jewishstudies
@histodons
@linguistics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCUoic7SYRE

azforeman, 10 months ago to languagelovers

Me reading "To the Virgins" (Gather ye rose-buds while ye may...) by Robert Herrick in a reconstruction of mid-to-late 17th century London pronunciation

https://youtu.be/I2WDbnGAClU

@linguistics @histodons @bookstodon
@litstudies
@literature
@poetry
@languagelovers

azforeman, 10 months ago to poetry

My reading of Demetrius' and Chiron's execution scene from Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus" in early 17th century pronunciation. I used a rather more innovative accent for Publius than for Titus.

People: "Stuff is so violent these days, we didn't use to have such gratuitous violence in entertainment"

#Shakespeare be like "Orly?"

https://youtu.be/uryDbnNGviI

@linguistics @poetry @histodons @bookstodon
@litstudies

azforeman, 10 months ago to poetry

My reading of Benedick's monologue against love from Much Ado About Nothing in Early Modern pronunciation is now available publicly.

I voiced Benedick with a bunch of features that were rather innovative, including a MATE/WAIT merger in /ɛ:/, simplification of <-ing> to /ɪn/, realization of unstressed <he> as /ǝ/.

The image of the text is taken from the First Folio

https://youtu.be/lom0D1hCnHk

@linguistics @bookstodon
@litstudies @poetry

azforeman, 10 months ago to poetry

In which I read four sonnets by John Milton in Early Modern English pronunciation from his personal poetic notebook, the Trinity MS: "On the Detraction", "To the Lord General Cromwell", "When the Assault was intended to the City", & "Methought I saw my late espoused saint"

https://youtu.be/TQJ8oTQidO8

@linguistics @litstudies @poetry @bookstodon

azforeman, 10 months ago to litstudies

In which I read the beginning of Shanfara's Lāmiyyah in a reconstruction of Early Classical Arabic pronunciation

https://youtu.be/Un7L5RSSwQM

@linguistics @litstudies @literature @poetry

azforeman, 10 months ago to poetry

In which I read "The Enemy" by Charles Baudelaire in French and my English translation

"My youth was but a dark-aired hurricane,
Pierced by an eye of sun from time to time;
So ravaged was my world by bolts and rain
That in my garden few red fruits still climb..."

@poetry
@bookstodon @litstudies

video/mp4

azforeman, 10 months ago to poetry

In which I read Mahmoud Darwish's poem "We have the right to love autumn" in my English blank verse translation, and then in the original Arabic.

@poetry @literature @litstudies

video/mp4

azforeman, 10 months ago to poetry

"If music be the food of love"

In which I perform the first scene of from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in a reconstruction of Early Modern English pronunciation. I gave the Duke a much more conservative phonology than Valentine.

https://youtu.be/Ir_-hJX8of8

@linguistics @histodons @bookstodon @poetry

azforeman, 11 months ago to poetry

My reading of the 1st scene from Twelfth Night "If Music Be The Food of Love" in Early Modern Pronunciation is now available publicly.

I gave Orsino a more innovative phonology (lower mid-vowels, preservation of /x/) than Valentine.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/if-music-be-food-86564134

@linguistics @histodons @poetry

azforeman, 11 months ago to poetry

Me reading "Pangur Bán" in a reconstruction of late Old Irish Pronunciation with my English translation

This poem about a monk-scribe & his pet cat is easily the most famous of Old Irish poems, & since the internet was made for cats, it was only a matter of time before I made this. The anonymous author was an Irish monk operating at or near Reichenau Abbey in what is today Germany in the 9th century. The poem is found in his notebook

@poetry @linguistics @medievodons @histodons @bookstodon

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azforeman, 11 months ago to histodons

In which I read a page from Lord of the Rings out loud in Old English translation

The pronunciation I use is meant to reflect a rather late period, when monophthongization of the old diphthongs was extensive and contrasts of unstressed final vowels were growing unstable. That's why you hear things like the "eo" grapheme read as /œ/ or /ø:~øʉ/, why those final vowels are often schwa-ified.

@poetry @linguistics @histodons @medievodons

https://youtu.be/_hEnpF5dGiE

azforeman, 11 months ago to poetry

In which I read Mahmoud Darwish's poem "We have the right to love autumn" in my English blank verse translation, and then in the original Arabic.

@poetry

video/mp4

azforeman, 11 months ago to linguistics

A reading of Jaques' "All the world's a stage" monologue from Shakespeare's "As You Like It" in a reconstruction of 17th century pronunciation.

I gave Jaques a more advanced/innovative pronunciation than I do in many of my other readings, with a WAIT/MATE merger at /ɛ:/, full loss of the velar fricative and some other things.

@linguistics @histodons @poetry @litstudies

video/mp4

azforeman, 11 months ago to poetry

In which I read Shakespeare's Sonnet 81 in a reconstruction of early 17th century pronunciation, and also in my normal accent for comparison.

Note, in this reading, that the words "grave" and "have" are full rhymes, as are "o'er-read" (inf.) and "dead". You can read more about this on the entry at my patreon page for this sonnet:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/shakespeares-81-86549825

@poetry @litstudies @histodons @bookstodon
@literature

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azforeman, 11 months ago to linguistics

"Six Moods of Rōdakī"

In which I read some passages from the poet Rudaki (9th-10th centuries) in a reconstruction of Early New Persian pronunciation and also in my English translation.

Complete with nasalized long vowels, still quite peripheral short vowels, and phonemic /xʷ ð β ɣ q w ē ō/. The text shown, as before, uses ذ for all instances of /ð/, and ڤ for /β/.

@linguistics @poetry @medievodons @histodons
@bookstodon

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azforeman, 11 months ago to linguistics

When you record King Henry's famous speech before the walls of Harfleur in a reconstruction of Early Modern English phonology, and.....decide that the king's speech needs to be interrupted by a suicide attacker a couple lines in.

It's recordings like these that I only make when I have access to reasonably soundproof environs

(Image from the First Folio)

@poetry @linguistics @histodons @bookstodon

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azforeman, 11 months ago to medievodons

"Six Moods of Rōdakī"

In which I read a few passages from the poet Rudaki (9th-10th centuries) in a reconstruction of Early New Persian pronunciation and also in my English translation. Complete with nasalized long vowels, still quite peripheral short vowels, and phonemic /xʷ ð β ɣ q w ē ō/. The text shown, as before, uses ذ for all instances of /ð/, and ڤ for /β/.

@linguistics @poetry @literature @medievodons @histodons

video/mp4

azforeman, 11 months ago to medievodons

"You stole the scent and redness from the rose
For your cheek's color and hair's scent. It shows.
Streams where you wash your face run gorgeous red.
You let your hair down, and a musk-wind blows."
— Rōdakī (tr. from Persian)

Ay az gul-i surx rang birbūda u bō
rang az pay-i rux rabūda, bō az pay-i mō
gulrang šawad ču rōy šōyī hama jō
muškīn gardad ču mō fišānī hama kō

@poetry @medievodons

azforeman, 11 months ago to medievodons

"If sovereignty hangs in a lion's jaws,
Then rob his fangs. Go. This risk's yours to run.
Win glory, fame and power to give laws
Or end as heroes end. Take death head-on."
— Hanzala Badghisi tr. from Persian (9th century)

mihtarī gar ba kām-i šēr dar ast
šaw, xatar kun, zi kām-i šēr bijōy
yā buzurgī u 'izz u ni'mat u jāh
yā ču mardānt marg rōyārōy

@medievodons @poetry

azforeman, 11 months ago to medievodons

"If you can master your own mind, then you're a man.
If you don't mock the deaf and blind, then you're a man.
It is not manliness to kick men when they're down.
Give fallen men a hand. Be kind. Then, you're a man."
— Rōdakī (10th century), tr. from Persian

Gar bar sar-i nafs-i xwad amīrī, mardī
bar kōr u kar ar nukta nagīrī, mardī
mardī nabuwad futādarā pāy zadan
gar dast-i futādaē bigīrī, mardī.

@poetry @medievodons

azforeman, 11 months ago to poetry

"We ride a world of fickle, rough terrain.
Don't spur the horse, friend. Ride with easy rein.
Weigh all your words, but speak them from the heart.
Find the right road. Take it, and fear no pain.
When fate's wheels crush me, I will beg no mercy.
When sorrow rattles me, I won't complain.
This universe is blind. What use is virtue?
The wheeling heavens are deaf. We wail in vain."
— Qatrān of Tabrēz (11th century), tr. from Persian

@poetry @medievodons

azforeman, 11 months ago to bookstodon

My reading of the first section of the Nibelungenlied in reconstructed Middle High German pronunciation, with my English verse-translation. Followed by me singing the first two verses at the end.

@linguistics @medievodons @bookstodon @poetry

video/mp4

azforeman, 11 months ago to poetry

"Everything's right as it should be. It is
A festive time. So yes: feast with them too.
Why drag out your anxieties and fears?
Destiny's state will do what it must do.
Scheming like some Vizier won't turn out well.
The hands of fate will not be turned askew.
Life's wheel cannot create your substitute.
Your mother will not bear another you.
God will not shut a door on you without
Another hundred opening. Go through."
— Rōdakī, tr. From Persian by Yours Truly

@poetry

azforeman, 11 months ago to histodons

My readings of Shakespeare's sonnets continue.

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"

Here's sonnets 18 and 19 in a reconstruction of early 17th century London pronunciation. Note the rhyme of "blood"/"brood", and the preserved /æ:/ under secondary stress in "temperate".

I included readings in my normal accent for comparison.

@linguistics @poetry @histodons @literature

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azforeman, 11 months ago to literature

More #Shakespeare in Early Modern pronunciation

"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears"

Antony speaks to the crowd from Julius Caesar, read in early 17th century pronunciation by yours truly

@literature @poetry @linguistics @histodons @bookstodon

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azforeman, 11 months ago to literature

Here's a reading of Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale" in a reconstruction of early 19th century London pronunciation.

The historical mid-vowels are still undiphthongized. Rhoticity has been lost. The BATH vowel is in full swing, the PRICE and MOUTH diphthongs do not have their modern-sounding onsets yet. Unaccented final <-ing> is [ɪn], and some historical weak forms of words like "my" survive.

@literature @linguistics @bookstodon
@histodons

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azforeman, 1 year ago to linguistics

New to mastodon. Here's a video in which I showcase the changing sound of English from the 8th century to the 19th, from Beowulf to Ben Franklin's Fart Joke and John Keats

I tend to make a lot of content like this as a hobby.

Also I post about various weird questions in linguistics.

Also I translate poetry, like a lot.

@linguistics

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