Posted by Nazario on August 29, 2002 at 06:01:17:
In Reply to: Re: From the notes of Andrusyshen's dictionary (corrected) posted by Jeff on August 28, 2002 at 17:18:12:
Hi, Jeffrey--
Thanks a lot for the passages from the Dictionary: I’ve read it with great pleasure, as I’ve never read anything about that reform.
That you learn Ukrainian is great! I suppose it’s very difficult to study Slavic languages for English-speaking people. But I can testify, that if one knows Ukrainian well he or she comprehends any Slavic language; and if one speaks only Russian, he/she cannot understand other Slavic languages.
Jeff, I completely agree with you that there was no difference between [g] and [h] in Early Slavic language, for there is only one letter à in its ABC. It’s clear that later that consonant was transformed into [g] in Russian and Polish, and into [h] in Slovakian and Czech. (For example, one can’t meet letter G in those Czech words, which have the Slavic origin). By the way, I’ve just looked through several pages of a Czech book I have, and I’ve not found any word with G there besides word “kilogram”. But we see another process in Bielarussian language. There is only one à in modern Bielarussian ABC, but it carries the two consonants: [g] & [h]. Before À, Ý, Û, Î and Ó it sounds like [h], before the other vowels it sounds like [g]. I don’t know how it sounds before consonants and in the end of a word; I’ve never learnt Bielarussian.
I’m happy to hear that you appreciate my English. But, honestly speaking, I have many problems especially with English prepositions and articles. I have been studying Spanish from 1998 and Spanish breaks my English a bit. Last summer I looked through a Portuguese textbook (just to compare with Spanish) I like both; that’s why I sign my messages with the Portuguese form of my name. :-))
Of course, you may ask any questions; I’d be glad if I could answer them.
Best regards,
Nazario