Editing Decipherment (section)

== Deciphering pronunciation ==
Related to attempts to decipher the meaning of languages and alphabets, include attempts to decipher how extinct writing systems, or older versions of contemporary writing systems (such as English in the 1600s) were pronounced. Several methods and criteria have been developed in this regard. Important criteria include (1) Rhymes and the testimony of poetry (2) Evidence from occasional spellings and misspellings (3) Interpretations of material in one language from authors in foreign languages (4) Information obtained from related languages (5) Grammatical changes in spelling over time.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Campbell |first=Lyle |title=Historical linguistics: an introduction |date=2021 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-53159-7 |edition=4th |location= |pages=372–375}}</ref>

For example, analysis of poetry focuses on the use of wordplay or literary techniques between words that have a similar sound. [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s play ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'' contains wordplay that relies on a similar sound between the words "soul" and "soles", allowing confidence that the similar pronunciation between the terms today also existed in Shakespeare's time. Another common source of information on pronunciation is when earlier texts use [[rhyme]], such as when consecutive lines in poetry end in the similar or the same sound. This method does have some limitations however, as texts may use rhymes that rely on visual similarities between words (such as 'love' and 'remove') as opposed to auditory similarities, and that rhymes can be [[Perfect and imperfect rhymes|imperfect]]. Another source of information about pronunciation comes from explicit description of pronunciations from earlier texts, as in the case of the ''Grammatica Anglicana'', such as in the following comment about the letter <o>: "In the long time it naturally soundeth sharp, and high; as in chósen, hósen, hóly, fólly [. . .] In the short time more flat, and a kin to u; as còsen, dòsen, mòther, bròther, lòve, pròve".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Burridge |first1=Kate |title=Understanding language change |last2=Bergs |first2=Alexander |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group |isbn=978-0-415-71339-9 |series=Understanding language series |location=London New York |pages=234–235}}</ref> Another example comes from detailed comments on pronunciations of [[Sanskrit]] from the surviving works of Sanskrit grammarians.<ref name=":3" />