I am embarking upon a project to learn Giriama, a Bantu language of Kenya.
If you are interested, you can follow along at teachyourselfgiriama.blogspot.co.uk.
Misunderstandings and borrowings
The history of language contact is the history of thinking that what other people said was the answer to the question that you asked.
"Thus were immortalised in generations of atlases such geographical oddities as Just A Mountain, I Don't Know, What? and, of course, Your Finger You Fool." ― Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic
Here are a few borrowed words showing that whoever appropriated it didn't really understand the language they got it from...
"Thus were immortalised in generations of atlases such geographical oddities as Just A Mountain, I Don't Know, What? and, of course, Your Finger You Fool." ― Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic
Here are a few borrowed words showing that whoever appropriated it didn't really understand the language they got it from...
How common is that sound?
In "Which languages share sounds with English?", I posted an interactive IPA chart with some consonants from the world's most widely spoken languages. I mentioned that English dental fricative sounds (<th>) were odd.
Today, you can find out how odd. Using data from UPSID (the UCLA Phonological Segment Inventory Database), here is a list of the sounds of the world's languages by percentage of languages which have them.
Today, you can find out how odd. Using data from UPSID (the UCLA Phonological Segment Inventory Database), here is a list of the sounds of the world's languages by percentage of languages which have them.
Which languages share sounds with English?
More accurately entitled, A typology of consonantal segment inventories of the world's most spoken languages, and also Welsh.
Labels:
English,
International Phonetic Alphabet,
IPA,
phonology,
typology
Lexical data sources
A reference post, listing the lexical data sources that I know of. This post will be updated as I discover more.
Labels:
Reference
Evolutionary Phonology (Part 1 of 3)
Today's reading is Evolutionary Phonology by Juliette Blevins. ISBN: 0521804280
Labels:
Evolutionary Phonology,
phonology,
Textbook
Intonation
What is intonation?
Intonation is the change in pitch which occurs over the course of a phrase. It is generally used to signify information about the utterance, like:- whether it's a question or a statement
- which parts are new information and which are already known to both parties
- the attitude of the speaker towards the information
For example, you can use intonation (in combination with main stress, in English) to change...
"I never said she stole MY money" vs "I never said SHE stole my money"
Labels:
Beginner,
English,
intonation,
phonology,
typology
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