Voorgelezen in gereconstrueerd 13e eeuws Nederlands

De Amerikaans-Russische taalkundige A.Z. Foreman zet op YouTube (en op Mastodon) filmpjes waarin hij allerlei oude teksten voordraagt in gereconstrueerde uitspraak. Hier is een recent filmpje, met het begin van Karel ende Elegast. Foremans eigen uitleg:

“Karel ende Elegast”, a medieval Romance about Charlemagne going out stealing in the middle of night on God’s orders, and in the process discovering a conspiracy on his life, is among the most famous pieces of Middle Dutch literature. Surprisingly, I can’t find anyone who has actually tried to record it in full-blown reconstructed Middle Dutch pronunciation.

Most of the readings of Middle Dutch literature I can find online seen only to use selective bits of archaism like pronouncing IJ as /i:/. Oh well, if you want a thing done right, you gotta do it your own self, I guess. The reading here aims at an early 13th century Flemish-esque target, with diphthongal realizations of the inherited long vowels of Old Dutch, survival of Old Dutch /ŭ/, and preservation of etymological geminates. But /â/ and /ā/ have been merged to a long front vowel. I went and pronounced final /n/ in most places where it would etymologically belong, which might be a bit anachronistic for Flanders in this period.

The music is taken from the soundtrack to “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” by Daniel Hart. The translation is my own.

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