Re: Academic/scientific journals in Esperanto?

From: Thomas Bushnell, BSG (tb+usenet_at_becket.net)
Date: 02/10/05 

Date: 10 Feb 2005 15:14:14 -0800

"Neeraj Mathur" <neemathur@hotmail.com> writes:

> The consonant cluster /kw/ does not occur either. The written <qu> in
> Classical Latin represents a single phoneme - a labiovelar (some of the
> ancient grammarians put it this way: the only difference between k and qu
> was that in the second, the lips are rounded). This is different from the
> English cluster represented by the same letters; that is to say, English
> 'queen' and Latin 'quin' do not have the same number of consonants.

This may be true; but the spelling indicates to us how they tended to
think of the sound they made, which often is different from the actual
sound they make. (Consider the word "filii"--it has three consonants,
even though only two are written, because there is an implicit
consonantal I between the last two vowels. It should, some have
noted, be written "filiii". But the Romans didn't think of it has
having a third consonant, even though it manifestly does, so they
didn't write it.)

The reconstruction of Classical pronunciation is complex and
controversial in some of its aspects, and I wasn't trying to take a
side on this question.

Thomas

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