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   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9 2024-03-02   
      
   Hi, Ardith Hinton!   
   I read your message from 17.10.2024 02:56   
      
    AK>> It remains to me only to wonder about the English language   
    AK>> evolution. How on earth you put a letter into the word and don't   
    AK>> pronounce this letter. ;)   
      
    AH>> In some cases at least a word has been adopted from a Scandinavian   
    AH>> or northern European language & we've trimmed a few inflections   
    AH>> etc. :-))   
      
    AK>> In other words, in "Milne" and other similar cases you can put a   
    AK>> letter for no reason and which has no any sense.   
      
    AH> Hmm. I think you were on the right track when you commented that   
    AH> the "e" in this name may have been spoken aloud years ago.   
      
   Usually in English e, i, y  tell us about specific pronunciation of the   
   syllable behind. For instance, "bit"/"bite", "kit"/"kite". However in   
   astrology every letter is important and they say can change the person's   
   destiny. ;)   
      
    AH> Pronunciations in English often vary from one time & place to   
    AH> another... and I don't know where this name originated. But IMHO   
    AH> it's most likely the pronunciation changed & we never got around to   
    AH> changing the spelling. I'm told that's what happened with   
    AH> e.g. "gnash" and "knife".... :-)   
      
   It would be interesting for me to learn who threw "k" first and why others   
   started follow him. ;-)   
      
    AK>> Very probably this tricks came from French which is far ahead in   
    AK>> this area.   
      
    AH> In French the phonics work differently from what we're used to...   
    AH> but we often say that if your mouth is full of wine or marbles you   
    AH> can cope. And I get the impression the upper classes in Russia   
    AH> preferred French (which may have worked for them when they didn't   
    AH> want the servants to get the drift) until they became disenchanted   
    AH> with Napoleon, then carefully reconstructed what's now your native   
    AH> language. The net result from my POV is that it's a lot younger   
    AH> than my native language & doesn't include complications   
    AH> like "silent letters".... :-))   
      
   Yes, the French got a great impact on the Russian language, but Russians did   
   not accept those crazy silent letters. So Bordeaux in Russia is just Bordo,   
   and nobody suffers from it. ;-) I wonder when in the USA they simplified   
   English they could do the same. What a lot of ink they could save! ;)   
      
   Bye, Ardith!   
   Alexander Koryagin   
   english_tutor 2024   
      
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