[MR] Personum

[Davitt il Bigollo da Pisa]

At 09:56 AM 5/2/2008, jbrmm266 at aol.com wrote:


>In French you can count sixty-ten, four-twenties, four-twenties-ten
>if you want to. I emulate the Swiss and say septant, huitant, nonant.
>And if anyone comments, I say that as a foreigner I can choose my
>dialect, and I chose the Swiss
>
>
>The French-speaking Belgians use the simipler 
>form too. Apparently only the French themselves cling to the archaic style.
>
>Which, for some reason, does not surprise me.
>


Belgians say quatre-vingt (four twenties). Swiss 
say Octant or Huitant (regionally).

Languages were much less standardized in period. 
Indeed, German and Italian didn't become fully 
national languages until about the 19th C.

And people hear accents differently. When my 
daughter is in Canada, people ask if she's 
French. In France they recognize that she's 
American. Her French is the French of France, 
with a mostly French accent, but with an American rhythm and American pauses.

There's much less doubt about my accent in 
French. And I've yet to convince anyone that it's 
a Dutch accent from New Netherlands.

--

Davitt il Bigollo da Piƒa
Goldƒmith's Agent in Livorno
Fa¢or in the lands of the Mughuls
Coral and Emeralds from Inde and Serendip

Checky argent and azure, two cheƒs rooks or in 
chief, a cheƒs knight or, a three-turret tower or in baƒe