“Egyptian Language: phonetic system and pronunciation” – part I

We are very glad to present you the first part of our study
“Egyptian Language: phonetic system and pronunciation”
dedicated to the study and reconstruction of the phonetic system and the pronunciation of the Ancient Egyptian language.

(click on the image to open the link)

 

Also available on the web-site academia.edu:

https://www.academia.edu/8123139/Egyptian_Language_phonetic_system_and_pronunciation_-_part_I

 

 The conventional pronunciation, as it is written at the beginning of every grammar of hieroglyphs, is simply a conventional reading invented by the scholars (the “e” between the consonants and the reading of the glides, like the “3” and the “w”, as fixed vowels, as it is for example for “Netjer/Netjeru” and for the names of the Gods such as ‘Heru’, ‘Aset’, ‘Djehuty’ and so on), and it does not reflect the real pronunciation of the Egyptian language: only thanks to the Coptic and to the transliteration of Egyptian words in other languages it is possible to know and reconstruct the real pronunciation of the Egyptian language, and this is exactly our line of research.

To give you some examples,
– Nṯr , “God”, is pronounced “Noute” (in Upper Egypt)/ “Nouti” (in Lower Egypt)
– Nṯr.t , “Goddess”, is pronounced “Entóre” (in Upper Egypt)/ “Enthóri” (in Lower Egypt)
– Nṯr.w , “Gods”, is pronunced “Entèr” (in Upper Egypt)/”Enthèr” (in Lower Egypt)
– Ḥr(w) , “Horus”, is pronounced “Hór”
– Km.t , “Egypt” (literally the “Black Land”), is pronounced “Kéme” (in Upper Egypt)/”Chémi” (in Lower Egypt)

 

– Contents –

Introduction

Introduction to the Egyptian: stages of the language, the writing systems, and the Coptic

The Coptic alphabet and the pronunciation of the letters

The pronunciation of consonants