Sounds
Coptic provides the clearest indication of Later Egyptian phonology, thanks to its writing system, which fully indicates vowel sounds and occasionally stress pattern. The phonological system of Later Egyptian is also better known than that of the Classical phase of the language due to a greater number of sources indicating Egyptian sounds, including cuneiform letters containing transcriptions of Egyptian words and phrases, and Egyptian renderings of Northwest Semitic names. Coptic sounds, in addition, are known from a variety of Coptic-Arabic papyri in which Arabic letters were used to transcribe Coptic and vice versa. They date to the medieval Islamic period, when Coptic was still spoken.
Read more about this topic: Coptic Language
Famous quotes containing the word sounds:
“Dylan used to sound like a lung cancer victim singing Woody Guthrie. Now he sounds like a Rolling Stone singing Immanuel Kant.”
—Also quoted in Robert Shelton, No Direction Home, ch. 2, “Prophet Without Honor” (1986)
“It sounds like a soul in hell.”
—Ben Maddow (1909–1992)
“The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence.”
—Paul Simon (b. 1941)