azforeman

azforeman , 9 months ago to poetry

Sail
By Mikhail Lermontov
Tr. from Russian

A sail drifts white and on its own
Amid the light blue ocean haze.
What does it seek in distant country?
What made it leave its native bays?

The billows play. The winds are whistling
Down at the bending, creaking mast
Oh! This one seeks no happy ending
And does not flee a happy past.

Below, a brighter stream than azure.
Above, the golden sunray flows,
Yet this one, restive, quests for tempests
As if in tempests were repose.

@poetry

azforeman , 9 months ago to litstudies

My readings of Shakespeare's sonnets in Early Modern Pronunciation continue with Sonnet 5, available in full to subscribers. Non-subscribers can hear a brief preview here.

Note the rhyme of "was" with "glass". I read this one with a WAIT-MATE merger.

@histodons
@linguistics
@bookstodon
@litstudies
https://www.patreon.com/posts/shakespeares-5-88580016

azforeman , 10 months ago to litstudies

What is Shakespeare's greatest play and why is it the Tempest?

(Video contains a reading of Prospero's "We are such stuff as dreams are made on" in a reconstruction of a fairly conservative form of early 17th century pronunciation. Note the low mid vowels of "dream" and "globe" and the long vowel in "little".)

@bookstodon @bookstodons @histodons @linguistics @litstudies

video/mp4

azforeman , 10 months ago to litstudies

In which I read one of Wang Wei's most famous poems, first using W. S. Coblin's reconstruction of the Chang'an dialect during the High Tang, then in my own English translation.

https://youtu.be/xez8TdXsUps

@linguistics @medievodons @medievodon @litstudies @histodons

azforeman , 10 months ago to medievodons

What if you squeezed a millennium of French sound changes into 3 minutes and 36 seconds?

https://youtu.be/vxcJOvpbYsA

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

azforeman , 10 months ago to histodons

My readings of Shakespeare's sonnets in Early Modern English pronunciation continue with Sonnet 104, available publicly.

The image is taken from the original 1609 print of the sonnets.

@linguistics @bookstodon
@histodons
@poetry
@litstudies

https://youtu.be/AhqfA_ldCpo

azforeman , 10 months ago to histodons

My readings of Shakespeare's sonnets in Early Modern English pronunciation continue with Sonnet 104, available publicly at my patreon. If you'd like to hear me read all of Shakespeare's sonnets in various 17th century accents, you can make a pledge there.

The image is taken from the original 1609 print of the sonnets.

@linguistics @bookstodon
@histodons
@poetry
@litstudies

https://www.patreon.com/posts/87628304

azforeman , 10 months ago to histodons

My reading in Early Modern Pronunciation of Othello's death-speech from Shakespeare's "Tragedie of Othello: the Moore of Venice"

"....in Aleppo once
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduc'd the state,
I took by th' throat the circumcisèd dog,
And smote him -- thus."

I voiced Othello w/ innovative features like a WAIT monophthong, a raised MATE vowel, & raised mid-vowels.

https://youtu.be/IuW5CdCk1IM

@bookstodon @litstudies @linguistics @histodons
@poetry

azforeman , 10 months ago to histodons

"Oh for a muse of fire that would distinguish between the vowels of MEAT & MEET"

One more passage by Shakespeare in a reconstruction of early 17th century pronunciation. This time it's the prologue ("Oh For a Muse of Fire!") and 1st scene from Henry V. The chorus speaks with a more innovative accent than the 2 guys talking in the 1st scene

The image is taken from the 1st Folio

The actual reading starts at 0:32

https://youtu.be/wTm19I2Xatc

@linguistics @poetry @bookstodon @histodons
@litstudies

azforeman , 10 months ago to bookstodon

In which I read yet another German poem that I've known since childhood in German and in my English translation. And yes, George did have his works printed with uncapitalized nouns using that weird typeface meant to resemble his stylized handwriting.

"You are my wish and all I think
I breathe of You in all my air
I savor You in every drink
I kiss Your fragrance everywhere"

@poetry @languagelovers @germanistik
@bookstodon

https://youtu.be/20YpAjhfIVI

azforeman , 10 months ago to poetry

"You with the upper hand
Who torment underlings,
How long do you suppose
You'll get your run of things?
What is the point of you,
Your worldly sovereignty?
Better to put you out
Of people's misery."

— Saadi, tr. Yours Truly

@poetry
@litstudies

azforeman , 10 months ago to histodons

A reading of Shakespeare's sonnets 67-68, which form a closely connected unit, in Early Modern pronunciation.

This time I thought I'd try notes with modern glosses as needed directly in the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O25frNd0PG8

@linguistics @histodons @bookstodon

azforeman , 10 months ago to histodons

My reading of the entirety of Genesis 1 from the Tyndale Bible in a reconstruction of cultivated southern English pronunciation from the early 16th century.

The reflex of Middle English /a/ before dark /l/ is still a diphthong, and the pronunciation for the most part of word-final NG as [ŋg]. And of course the realization of <gh> in words like "light" and "night.

Some things this video were clearly more a feature of formal reading than ordinary speech.

@linguistics @histodons
@bookstodon

video/mp4

azforeman , 10 months ago to histodons

More #Shakespeare in reconstructed 17th century English pronunciation: Antony speaks over Caesar's body

"O Pardon Me, Thou Bleeding Piece of Earth"

@languagelovers @linguistics
@poetry
@histodons
@bookstodon

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

azforeman , 10 months ago to histodons

Here's me reading a passage in Ugaritic from the Baal cycle in reconstructed pronunciation. I got sick of people reading Ugaritic by pronouncing it as remastered Arabic. So here's the language with full reconstruction, and all their affricated, ejective & aspirated glory. A phonology reminiscent, in some ways, more of the modern Caucasus.

Also with my translation

https://youtu.be/ulNmy5Xu_4Y

@linguistics @histodons
@poetry

azforeman , 10 months ago to medievodons

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 to histodons

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 histodons

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 bookstodon

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 bookstodon

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 literature

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 bookstodon

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 literature

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 bookstodon

"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 , 10 months ago to histodons

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 , 10 months ago to bookstodon

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

video/mp4

azforeman , 11 months ago to medievodons

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 , 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

video/mp4