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Re: `your accent gives you away'





On Fri, 13 May 1994, James K. Tauber wrote:

> 
> In Matt 26.73, Peter's accent gives him away as a Galilean.
> 
> Do we know anything at all about geographical variations in pronunication 
> at the time? Does any literature contemporary with the NT make mention of 
> particular pronunciation differences between regions?

Read Acts 2:5ff. One interpretation of this passage is that these Jews,
all speaking the same language (they were, after all, able to
understand each other in this narrative), nevertheless found these GALILAIOI
all speaking in their own DIALECTWi. The remarkable thing for them was
perhaps this very thing, that they seemed to hear them speaking in the same
accent or dialect as themselves. Food for thought on the understanding of
this piece of narrative.
 
Richard F. Wevers
Calvin College
Grand Rapids, MI. 49546





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