Our Coptic language > Ask

pronunciation advice

(1/2) > >>

martin: [Edit]
hello,
i'm learning Coptic because I like it and it interests me
both the gnostic and orthodox forms of Christianity led me to the language but skipping by all this...
I've made a short video of first attempt at speaking and looking for feedback
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRpVopzuCDU

i'm guessing it's pretty clumsy and contains numerous mistakes
my sources for pronunciation have been scholar's books and what I could find on the internet regarding the most original forms.

martin

Admin:
Hi Martin,
Thanks for caring so much about pronunciation, most researchers just care about the meaning.
We can not know for sure the exact pronunciation of the Coptic language
Not just because its dead but also it has been alive for so long that its pronunciation must have changed between the centuries

The text you was reading is in Sahidic, Sahidic pronunciation is harder to guess accurately because it died long time ago while Bohairic continued to be used in Church for prayers
Even Bohairic's original didn't survive and church replaced it 200 years ago with a westernized pronunciation (the one you are using in the video you made)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coptic_pronunciation_reform

You can watch some videos for the original pronunciation (or at least attempt to get as close to it as possible) in these videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKdHr4YtMzU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGIa4steqVw

ophadece:
Dear admin,
Ekhrestos anesty
Coptic language is not dead.
Oujai

bashandy:
In order to help understand a language. One has to have a clear view about it, its classification, its current status, its strength and weaknesses. Coptic language is no exception.  There are clear definitions to living languages, endangered languages and dead languages. Coptic belongs to the latter. A dead language is a language that does not have native speakers communicating with it. Bohairic dialect was dead as a spoken by the 12th Century at best. Sahidic died obscurely somewhere between 1500-1800 CE.

Having a couple of families speaking Coptic language at home, does not mean that it is alive; singing, chanting in Coptic in Church does not mean that it is alive. Teaching it in universities or having Ph.D in Coptic language does not mean that it is alive. Having an array of Coptic loan words in colloquial Egyptian Arabic does not mean that it is alive. Latin is a well studied dead language, that has influenced Romance languages and Germanic languages.

The importance of admitting this, is that if we pretended Coptic to be a living language, then, we would be lacking any direction to do proper efforts towards it. The process to revive a language is called revival or revitalisation in general. To date the only successful example is the revival of Hebrew language.

There is a difference between a dead language and an extinct language. The latter means that the usage of this language is completely gone.

ophadece:

ⲡⲁⲙⲉⲛⲣⲓⲧ ⲡⲉϣⲉⲛϯ
ϯϣⲉⲡ`ϩⲙⲟⲧ `ⲛⲧⲟⲧⲕ ⲉⲙⲁϣⲱ ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ϯⲙⲟⲥⲧⲉ `ⲙⲡⲁⲓⲥⲁϫⲓ ⲫⲁⲓ ⲉϫⲉⲛ ϯⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉⲙ`ⲛⲕⲏⲙⲓ
ⲟⲩϫⲁⲓ ϧⲉⲛ ⲡϭⲥ

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

Reply