On 29/04/2012 10:18 AM, Warp wrote:
> Stephen<mcavoys_at@aoldotcom>  wrote:
>> Middle English (between the late 11th and the late 15th century) can be
>> found in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
>
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE0MtENfOMU
>
>    Sounds a bit Scottish.
>
It does to my ears too. Old Scots, at least the West Coast variety 
sounds similar. But then it is descended from Middle English.
We studded Chaucer at school and I was never able to make heads or tails 
of it. A few years ago a friend recited a passage using a broad Scots 
accent. It suddenly became clear almost like listening to a Burn poem.

But still none of this answers your question?
How can we know how languages, even our own
languages, were spoken before the earliest surviving audio recordings?
Back then there weren't any meticulous (if any) pronunciation guides
for any language.

I don't know.

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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