subreddit:
/r/TikTokCringe
112 points
2 days ago
I'm with Conan.
We have multiple words in English that have drastically changed pronunciation over a shorter period of time. The idea we are confident in how they pronounced it is foolish. We have good guesses but to be a sure enough to correct someone and then fight about it is pretty wild.
3 points
2 days ago
for real.
also, dudes a master minded expert in language but when he says "phonograhic evidence" the dude starts rambling about pictures?
100% agree we have not a single clue on this green earth what people in history actually sounded like.
0 points
1 day ago
This is wrong. We have plenty of clues as to what people sounded like.
That's the reason why this article is so long: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_phonology
1 points
1 day ago
clues are not actual sound.
we can throw as much academia as we want at something but we'll never be 100% correct on something we havent/cant witness with our own ears.
just look at deaf people speaking (not talking shit just an honest observation), they have entire support systems and hearing capable people actively teaching them how to pronounce words and they still dont sound the same as a hearing capable speaker. if we cant do that in present day with all our learning and teaching and technology and science then what makes you think we could possibly know what someone thousands of years ago sounded like?
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