Language Question

February 4, 2011

We take time from perusing the Statesman’s treasure-trove of oddities (Feb 2 was a banner day) to ponder the following:

I’ve noticed that people who read aloud, or act on stage or TV or in movies, often pronounce words and inflections different ways. Sometimes you think, “Did the writer really intend for you to say it that way, and stress that word? It sounds weird.”

It would be swell if we had a series of accent marks or other indicators that said, “Stress here. Raise pitch here. Use Inflection A here.” Etc.

I understand that there are some ancient languages that have yet to be translated. Perhaps the writers were doing that—using different words or symbols to indicate how the words should be spoken. That would surely make translating a nightmare.

Hey, it could have happened.