Ancient Sounds

Here I'll gather together in one place all the audio demos previously posted on the (now closed) twitter feed, on this site's blog, and in presentations and lectures. Check out the blog (see link at left) for more demos and examples.

23 July 2020. The pronunciation of "hate" comes from Old English hete, from Proto-Germanic *hat(iz), from Post-PIE *k̂ad- (Grimm's Law) from *k̂eh2d- (vocalization of the laryngeals): phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/hate-

MP3:

16-21 July 2020. English "acre" derives from Old English "æcer", via the Great Vowel Shift, and in many UK dialects, "loss" of the final [r]. Here's my audio simulation: phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/RP-ac (or, if your device prefers MP3's, phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/RP-ac)

Old English "æcer" comes from Proto-Germanic *akraz (here sounding more like [akroz] or [akros]), from Post-Proto-Indo-European *aĝros (< PIE *h2eĝros). Audio simulations: (wav) phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/RP-ac (mp3)

28 April 2020. How could Proto-Indo-European *ĝ develop into e.g. [dʒ], [ʒ], and [z], as in *ĝneh3- "know" > Sanskrit जानाति jānāti, Lithuanian žinau, Russian знаю [znaju]? Assuming h3 was something like [ŏ], here's a simulation of [ɟnɛŏ] > [džnaʊ] > Lith. žinau:

Here's another example: (some sort of approximation to) Proto-Indo-European *ĝhwér- > Lithuanian žvėr-inė. Listen: phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PIE-g, phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/Lithu

(the latter recoded from forvo.com)

23 January 2020."Average pronunciations" (1) Means of a bunch of recordings of French numbers: phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/1to10 (2) Medians of same set of recordings:

14 January 2020. A *laryngeal reflex in Modern Persian: سیاه siyah "black", ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *k̂yeh1-, cognate with English "hue". The final [h] is not a random one-off, but seems common/normal in Iranian Persian, Tajik etc. Listen:

17 December 2019. In May 2015 I posted a simulation of how English "ten" developed from Proto-Indo-European *dekmt (using Lithuanian [dešmt] as proxy). Now, a much better job: ten < Old English tien < Proto-Germanic *tehun < PIE *dekmt. Listen and enjoy:

21 November 2019. English "nine" [naɪn] comes from Middle/Old English [ni:n], which is from Proto-Germanic *nigon (perhaps [niɣɵn]), from Proto-Indo-European *h1newh1n̩/m (Mallory/Adams) or *(h1)néwn̩ (Ringe): I'm going with [neun] or [neum]. Listen:

It's not quite right, because [naɪn] should go through [neɪn] on the way to [ni:n], but this simulation goes via something like [noɪn]. But it's a start.

9 July 2019. Laryngeals in Lithuanian? (a thread) "raudonas", Lith. for "red", comes from Proto-Indo-European *h1reudh-; the initial h1 is hypothetical, based on evidence from several languages. BUT listen to this first syllable: phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/RUBER

Here's another example of "raudona" from Proto-Indo-European *h1reudh-. Listen to this first syllable: phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/RUBER Downloaded from 50languages.com/phrasebook/les and converted to .wav. Unlike my other demos, these have not been manipulated at all.

I've been looking at tokens of "raudona" today. In most of them, the initial /r/ begins with a little prothetic schwa and then one or two taps [əɾ(ɾ)]. In a minority (~20%?) it's something like [həɾ(ɾ)-], as in the two examples I just posted.

July 24th follow-up, following feedback from various Twitter commentators:
I got the LIEPA [Lithuanian corpus] data and have been working through words beginning with (orthographic) r. The occasional initial [h]-like frication seems to be pretty random and is not related to the presumed PIE laryngeals. But still, kind of interesting.

30 April 2019. VIDEOS! I've been making some videos to illustrate processes of sound change using spectrograms that morph from one into another. First, here's "te" changing into "se" (which happened in Balochi): phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/te-to See the energy rising at the left?

Here's Latin quinque changing into Modern Italian cinque. See the energy rising at the left as the initial plosive morphs into an affricate.

Here's the vowel [e] in the first syllable of Proto-Indo-European "*kwetwor" changing into [a] in Latin "quattuor". The lower frequency energy creeps upwards, because [a] has a higher first formant frequency than [e] http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/kwetwor-to-quattuor.mp4

Here Proto-Indo-European oin- develops into Anglo-Saxon "an" (pronounced "aan"). The left-to-right upward-sweeping resonance (the second formant of [oi]) collapses, as [a:] has more energy in lower frequencies than [i] does:

Tip: if any of these video clips don't play properly in your browser (e.g. if you just get a black screen), try saving them to your computer and then opening them with e.g. VLC player

7 December 2018. English "six" comes ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kswek̂s, via [seks].
Listen: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/six-from-PIE-ksweks.wav …
Strictly speaking, it should pass through Proto-Germanic *sehs [sexs]; my version of that came out a bit growly so maybe that's one for another day ...

6 December 2018. This has been a while in the making: English "four" is from Proto-Indo-European "kʷetwóres", via Old English "feower", Proto-Germanic "fidwor" and Pre-Proto-Germanic "hwidwor". Listen: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/four-from-PIE-kwetwores.mp3 …
(For an easier life, I ignore the -es ending until the very end.)

10 October 2018. English "long" is related to Modern Persian دراز (deraz). "Long" comes from Anglo-Saxon "lang", which came from Proto-Indo-European *dlonghos something like this (I ignore the -os ending), listen:http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/AS-lang-from-PIE-dlong.mp3 …

Proto-Indo-European *dlonghos developed into Middle Persian "derang", something like this:http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PIE-dlong-to-MPers-derang.mp3 …

(Obviously we don't have recordings of Middle Persian; this "derang" is fiddled from a Low German speaker saying "Drang")

29 June 2018. Listen to Latin "duo" morphing into French "deux"http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/Latin-duo-to-French-deux.mp3 …
The "duo" recording was disyllabic, much longer than the "deux" recording, so I compressed it in time to make them the same length, the best I could manage for now.

28 March 2018. In this thread, we show how the English and Urdu words for "goose" are related.

For #WhanThatAprilleDay17, a few demos of how English and Persian have a common ancestry in Indo-European.

Also from PIE *bherĝhs, "high place": Armenian bardzr, Pers. borz, Balochi borza, Russ béreg, Ir. brí, Gk. púrgos ...

Starting to fill new table of Indo-European digit sounds at http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/ancient-sounds-database.html … New tokens of *treies, *ksweks, quinque and Ancient Gk, and *penkwe, *septm (wrong stress, but hey), quattuor (hybrid of Ladin kwater and Welsh pedwar, maybe too prominent). Comments +/- welcomed.

11 August 2015. Clips relating to the paper we gave at the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Glasgow (Coleman, Aston and Pigole 2015, "Reconstructing the sounds of words from the past"), is available from the "papers" page (see sidebar at left).

Ancient		Sounds
mixing acoustic phonetics, statistics and comparative philology to bring speech back from the past


Phonetics Laboratory		Statistical Laboratory


What we are trying to do People Papers Presentations Audio demonstrations Indo-European digits database Events/activities/blog @ancientsounds@mastodonapp.uk	Audio demonstrations Here I'll gather together in one place all the audio demos previously posted on the (now closed) twitter feed, on this site's blog, and in presentations and lectures. Check out the blog (see link at left) for more demos and examples. 23 July 2020. The pronunciation of "hate" comes from Old English hete, from Proto-Germanic hat(iz), from Post-PIE k̂ad- (Grimm's Law) from k̂eh2d- (vocalization of the laryngeals): phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/hate- MP3: 16-21 July 2020.* English "acre" derives from Old English "æcer", via the Great Vowel Shift, and in many UK dialects, "loss" of the final [r]. Here's my audio simulation: phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/RP-ac (or, if your device prefers MP3's, phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/RP-ac) Old English "æcer" comes from Proto-Germanic akraz (here sounding more like [akroz] or [akros]), from Post-Proto-Indo-European aĝros (< PIE h2eĝros). Audio simulations: (wav) phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/RP-ac (mp3) 28 April 2020.* How could Proto-Indo-European ĝ develop into e.g. [dʒ], [ʒ], and [z], as in ĝneh3- "know" > Sanskrit जानाति jānāti, Lithuanian žinau, Russian знаю [znaju]? Assuming h3 was something like [ŏ], here's a simulation of [ɟnɛŏ] > [džnaʊ] > Lith. žinau: Here's another example: (some sort of approximation to) Proto-Indo-European ĝhwér- > Lithuanian žvėr-inė. Listen: phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PIE-g, phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/Lithu (the latter recoded from forvo.com) 23 January 2020."Average pronunciations" (1) Means of a bunch of recordings of French numbers: phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/1to10 (2) Medians of same set of recordings: 14 January 2020.* A laryngeal reflex in Modern Persian: سیاه siyah "black", ultimately from Proto-Indo-European k̂yeh1-, cognate with English "hue". The final [h] is not a random one-off, but seems common/normal in Iranian Persian, Tajik etc. Listen: 17 December 2019. In May 2015 I posted a simulation of how English "ten" developed from Proto-Indo-European dekmt (using Lithuanian [dešmt] as proxy). Now, a much better job: ten < Old English tien < Proto-Germanic tehun < PIE dekmt. Listen and enjoy: 21 November 2019.* English "nine" [naɪn] comes from Middle/Old English [ni:n], which is from Proto-Germanic nigon (perhaps [niɣɵn]), from Proto-Indo-European h1newh1n̩/m (Mallory/Adams) or (h1)néwn̩ (Ringe): I'm going with [neun] or [neum]. Listen: It's not quite right, because [naɪn] should go through [neɪn] on the way to [ni:n], but this simulation goes via something like [noɪn]. But it's a start. 9 July 2019.* Laryngeals in Lithuanian? (a thread) "raudonas", Lith. for "red", comes from Proto-Indo-European h1reudh-; the initial h1 is hypothetical, based on evidence from several languages. BUT listen to this first syllable: phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/RUBER Spectrogram: Here's another example of "raudona" from Proto-Indo-European h1reudh-. Listen to this first syllable: phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/RUBER Downloaded from 50languages.com/phrasebook/les and converted to .wav. Unlike my other demos, these have not been manipulated at all. I've been looking at tokens of "raudona" today. In most of them, the initial /r/ begins with a little prothetic schwa and then one or two taps [əɾ(ɾ)]. In a minority (~20%?) it's something like [həɾ(ɾ)-], as in the two examples I just posted. July 24th follow-up, following feedback from various Twitter commentators: I got the LIEPA [Lithuanian corpus] data and have been working through words beginning with (orthographic) r. The occasional initial [h]-like frication seems to be pretty random and is not related to the presumed PIE laryngeals. But still, kind of interesting. 30 April 2019. VIDEOS! I've been making some videos to illustrate processes of sound change using spectrograms that morph from one into another. First, here's "te" changing into "se" (which happened in Balochi): phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/te-to See the energy rising at the left? Here's Latin quinque changing into Modern Italian cinque. See the energy rising at the left as the initial plosive morphs into an affricate. Here's the vowel [e] in the first syllable of Proto-Indo-European "kwetwor" changing into [a] in Latin "quattuor". The lower frequency energy creeps upwards, because [a] has a higher first formant frequency than [e] http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/kwetwor-to-quattuor.mp4 Here Proto-Indo-European oin- develops into Anglo-Saxon "an" (pronounced "aan"). The left-to-right upward-sweeping resonance (the second formant of [oi]) collapses, as [a:] has more energy in lower frequencies than [i] does: Tip: if any of these video clips don't play properly in your browser (e.g. if you just get a black screen), try saving them to your computer and then opening them with e.g. VLC player 7 December 2018.* English "six" comes ultimately from Proto-Indo-European kswek̂s, via [seks]. Listen: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/six-from-PIE-ksweks.wav … Strictly speaking, it should pass through Proto-Germanic sehs [sexs]; my version of that came out a bit growly so maybe that's one for another day ... 6 December 2018. This has been a while in the making: English "four" is from Proto-Indo-European "kʷetwóres", via Old English "feower", Proto-Germanic "fidwor" and Pre-Proto-Germanic "hwidwor". Listen: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/four-from-PIE-kwetwores.mp3 … (For an easier life, I ignore the -es ending until the very end.) 10 October 2018. English "long" is related to Modern Persian دراز (deraz). "Long" comes from Anglo-Saxon "lang", which came from Proto-Indo-European dlonghos something like this (I ignore the -os ending), listen:http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/AS-lang-from-PIE-dlong.mp3 … Proto-Indo-European dlonghos developed into Middle Persian "derang", something like this:http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PIE-dlong-to-MPers-derang.mp3 … (Obviously we don't have recordings of Middle Persian; this "derang" is fiddled from a Low German speaker saying "Drang") Middle Persian "derang" developed into Modern Persian "deraz", I'm guessing something like this, listen:http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/MPers-derang-to-Pers-deraz.mp3 … The whole sequence from "lang" to "deraz" (with a few pitch changes along the way):http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/lang-to-deraz.mp3 … 24 July 2018. Anglo-Saxon "gōs" came from Proto-Indo-European ghans (via "gōs" came from Proto-Indo-European ghans (via something Germanic "gans"), like this:http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/AS-gos-from-PIE-ghans.wav … mp3: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/AS-gos-from-PIE-ghans.mp3 … 29 June 2018. Listen to Latin "duo" morphing into French "deux"http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/Latin-duo-to-French-deux.mp3 … The "duo" recording was disyllabic, much longer than the "deux" recording, so I compressed it in time to make them the same length, the best I could manage for now. 28 March 2018. In this thread, we show how the English and Urdu words for "goose" are related. Modern English "goose" comes from Anglo-Saxon gōs, like this: wavs: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/Eng-goose-from-AS-gos.wav … mp3: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/Eng-goose-from-AS-gos.mp3 … Thanks to Prof. Laura Ashe, our voice of Anglo-Saxon. Anglo-Saxon "gōs" came from Proto-Indo-European ghans (via something Germanic "gans"), like this: wavs: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/AS-gos-from-PIE-ghans.wav … mps: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/AS-gos-from-PIE-ghans.mp3 … And going southwards, PIE ghans developed (eventually) into Urdu "hans", like this: wavs: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PIE-ghans-to-Urdu-hans.wav … mp3: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PIE-ghans-to-Urdu-hans.mp3 … Thanks to Qurrat for the Urdu recording 11 December 2017. West meets East: English "fierce" is from Middle English fers, from Latin fer-us, from Proto-Indo-European ĝhwēr- Something like this:http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/English-fierce-from-PIE-ghwer.wav … (MP3 version: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/English-fierce-from-PIE-ghwer.mp3 …) (I left out the 2nd vowel in "ferus") In Iranian, Proto-Indo-European ĝhwēr- developed into žver, thence sher (like in the Jungle Book tiger, Shir Khan). Listen:http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PIE-ghwer-to-Persian-shir.wav … (MP3 version: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PIE-ghwer-to-Persian-shir.mp3 …) Now it gets really interesting: Iranianشیر šīr was borrowed into Chinese and continued to evolve (e.g. to modern Mandarin shīzi 狮子 'lion'). Listen: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/Persian-shir-to-Mandarin-shizi.wav … (MP3 version: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/Persian-shir-to-Mandarin-shizi.mp3 …) In short, 狮子 is cognate with 'fierce'! 6 December 2017. Grimm's Law 1a: The initial [b] in English "(to) bear" comes from a voiced aspirate [bh] in Proto-Indo-European bher(e/o)-, like this: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PIE-bher-to-Eng-bear.wav … MP3 version: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PIE-bher-to-Eng-bear.mp3 … Grimm's Law 1b: [b] in English "(to) bear" is from a voiced aspirate [bh] in Proto-Indo-European bher(e/o)-. Sanskrit "bhar-" retains the initial [bh]: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PIE-bher-to-Skt-bhar.wav … (based on recording of @suhasm saying "bharati") MP3 version: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PIE-bher-to-Skt-bhar.mp3 … 7 April 2017. In Old and Middle English, "bite" was pronounced more like the modern word "beat". The vowel evolved, like this: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/beat-to-bite.wav … MP3 version of Middle English "bite" changing to its modern pronunciationhttp://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/beat-to-bite.mp3 … (The pitch change is irrelevant!) 1 April 2017. (No, not an April Fool's Day joke!) For #WhanThatAprilleDay17, a few demos of how English and Persian have a common ancestry in Indo-European. English "belly" (also "bulge") comes from PIE bhólĝhis. Irish "bolg" (same root) makes a pretty good proxy: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/belly-to-bolg.wav … MP3 simulation of how "belly" comes from PIE bhólĝhis (Irish "bolg"): http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/belly Persian balish "pillow" is also from PIE bhólĝh-http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/balesh-to-bolg.wav … MP3: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/balesh-to-bolg.mp3 … Like Persian balish بالش, Slovenian "blazina" (both mean "pillow") is also from PIE bhólĝh-http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/blazina-Slovenian.wav … A borough (Old English burh) is a fortified town, from PIE bherĝhs, "high place": http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/borough-to-bergs.wav … MP3 version: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/borough-to-bergs.mp3 … Also from PIE bherĝhs, "high place": Armenian bardzr, Pers. borz, Balochi borza, Russ béreg, Ir. brí, Gk. púrgos ... Here's Persian "borz" evolving from (sort of) PIE bherĝhs http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/borz-to-bergs.wav … MP3: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/borz- 28 October 2016.* Today's experiment: Proto-Indo-European bhreĝ, 'break' http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PIE-bhreg.wav … Modern English 'break' comes from Proto-Indo-European bhreĝ something like this: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/break-from-bhreg.wav … The first syllable of "fragment" also comes from Proto-Indo-European bhreĝ, something like this: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PIE-bhreg-to-frag.wav … 25 February 2016.* English "seven" comes from Proto-Indo-European septm, via Proto-Germanic sebm~sebun. Listen here: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PIE-septm-to-English-seven.mp3 … 24 February 2015.* Listen to Proto-Indo-European "penkwe" (five) become Latin quinque: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PIE-penkwe-to-Latin-quinque.mp3 … sniegwh → snow; listen here: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PIE-sniegwh-to-English-snow.wav … 17 February 2015.* A new audio simulation: Proto-Indo-European dwoH (two) develops into Latin duo http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/database/dwoH-to-duo2.wav … 23 October 2015. Previously I posted demo of "five" from (Lithuanian) "penki". But PIE has penkwe, not penki. So here done better: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/five-from-penkwe.mp3 … Starting to fill new table of Indo-European digit sounds at http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/ancient-sounds-database.html … New tokens of treies, ksweks, quinque and Ancient Gk, and penkwe, septm (wrong stress, but hey), quattuor (hybrid of Ladin kwater and Welsh pedwar, maybe too prominent). Comments +/- welcomed. 11 August 2015. Clips relating to the paper we gave at the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Glasgow (Coleman, Aston and Pigole 2015, "Reconstructing the sounds of words from the past"), is available from the "papers" page (see sidebar at left). the [u:n] sound of Italian or Spanish uno as a plausible proxy for the sound of un- in Latin ūnus the acoustic-historical path from Latin [u:n-] via Portuguese [ũ] to French [œ̃] thence to the more recent French pronunciation [ε̃] The acoustic-historical path from Latin [u:n-] to the more recent French pronunciation [ε̃] the older and more conservative French form [œ̃] The continuum from Italian [due] to French [dœ] Monophthongisation illustrated by the continuum from Spanish [seis] to French [sis] and diphthongisation by Spanish [dos] to Brazilian Portuguese [dois] The development from final [-s] to [-ʃ] after [i] in (Standard) Portuguese illustrated by Spanish [tres] → Portuguese [treiʃ] Spanish [seis] → Portuguese [seiʃ] Postalveolarization plus affrication is also seen in e.g. French [set] → Portuguese [setʃ] and Italian [ot:o] → Spanish [otʃo] 26 May 2015. "Three" comes from Proto-Indo-European "treyes". Not from Spanish "tres", but that's the nearest I've got. Listen: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/three-from-treis.wav. Here's the MP3 version: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/three-from-treis.mp3 … 25 May 2015.* "One" comes from Proto-Indo-European oinos, via Middle English "oon", Anglo-Saxon "an", Germanic "oin(s)". Listen: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/one-from-oins.wav … "One" from "oin(s)", MP3 format: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/one-from-oins.mp3 … Previously [12th May] we generated a continuum of sounds from "two" to "twa" and vice-versa. Now, we follow "two" all the way back to Proto-Indo-European dwo(H). WAV: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/two-from-dwo.wav … MP3: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/two-from-dwo.wav.mp3 … “Nine” is from Proto-Indo-European h1newh1m (әnewәm) via [niin], [neɣn] Listen: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/nain-from-neGn.wav … or http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/nain-from-neGn.mp3 …. 20 May 2015.* English "ten" comes via tene, teihen from Proto-Indo-European dekmt (my nearest recording is Lithuanian [dešmt]): http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/ten-from-deshmt.wav … 18 May 2015.* "Eight" came from Proto-Indo-European Hokto, via changes something like this: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/eight-from-okto.wav … (MP3 version http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/eight-from-okto.mp3 …) 15 May 2015.* "Eight" comes from "aehta" (but I ignore the final vowel for now): http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/eight-from-aeht.wav 15 May 2015. "Four" comes from Anglo-Saxon "feower": http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/four-from-feower.wav … 15 May 2015. "Five" comes via fif, fimf, pemp from Proto-Indo-European penkwe. Lithuanian penki is nearest living word. Listen: http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/five-from-penki.wav … 12 May 2015.* Simulating the derivation of Modern English "two" from Anglo-Saxon "twa": http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/two-from-twa.wav … Or if you prefer going forwards in time from Anglo-Saxon "twa" to Modern English "two": http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/twa-to-two.wav … 1 April 2015. For #WhanThatAprilleDay15, we made a "Sonic Time Machine": http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/sonic2.html … to show Anglo-Saxon pronunciations (or something close to them) that survived until quite recently in various German dialects.

John Coleman was supported by a Science in Culture Innovation Award from the			John Aston was supported by a Fellowship from the