Skip to Content
key=1096dd19-b387-4e6e-9e7f-d5a80c45f658
00:00 of 00:00
Description

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 22nd December 2020. Part 1 of 2. A linguistics PhD on the apostrophe, its history, current usage. Found in ancient Greek manuscripts to mark dropped vowels. Studying old Greek and Latin documents online. Meaning of the word ‘apostrophe’. Complex abbreviation system in Latin because parchment was expensive. Different use in Latin vs Greek. Then looked at French usage in 1500s. Elision. English usage came from French, but slow adoption (by 1551). “An hotel”? Don’t know if Shakespeare used the apostrophe. Disagreement on usage.  

Identification

Object type
Audio
Date
December 22, 2020

Taxonomy

Community Tags
linguistics,
oral history,
phd thesis,

Report a problem