28487
#ielts #toefl #gre #english_vocabulary #english
Language Log
That talkative pandemic…
David Deutsch wrote:
I had to read this headline a couple of times.
"The pandemic cost 7 million lives, but talks to prevent a repeat stall"
Is the pandemic talking? Is it trying to prevent a repeat stall?
That garden path failed to tempt me, perhaps because of the fact that the word "talks" in headlinese is almost always a noun rather than a verb. But once you take that first step, it can be hard to get back…
The obligatory screenshot:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/PandemicsTalking.png
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Language Log
Once again the Voynich manuscript
This is one of the most novel theories on the Voynich manuscript (Beinecke MS408; early 15th c.) that I've ever encountered, and there are many.
The Voynich Manuscript, Dr Johannes Hartlieb and the Encipherment of Women’s Secrets, by Keagan Brewer and Michelle L Lewis, Social History of Medicine, hkad099 (22 March 2024)
https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/hkad099
Keywords: Voynich manuscript, Dr Johannes Hartlieb, women’s secrets, sex, gynaecology
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/Voynich_Manuscript_%2832%29.jpg/250px-Voynich_Manuscript_%2832%29.jpg
A floral illustration on page 32
Summary
The Voynich manuscript is a famous European enciphered manuscript of the early fifteenth century featuring herbal, pharmaceutical, astrological and anatomical illustrations, including hundreds of naked women. Some hold objects adjacent to or unambiguously pointed towards their genitalia. This paper therefore investigates the culture of self-censorship, erasure and encipherment of women’s secrets, with a focus on Dr Johannes Hartlieb (c. 1410–68). Hartlieb had enduring apprehensions about the propagation of women’s secrets in vernacular Bavarian, which culminated in a call for ‘secret letters’ to hide recipes for abortifacients and contraceptives. Other cases of encipherment relating to sexual intercourse and genitalia will be described. On the basis of this evidence, we propose that the Rosettes, the largest and most complex illustration in the Voynich manuscript, represents coitus and conception. This hypothesis explains many of the illustration’s features and establishes a variety of future research possibilities.
Yet another theory on the fabled Voynich MS, but one that to me makes a lot of sense.
Selected readings
* "Voynich and midfix" (7/3/04)
* "Voynich code cracked?" (5/16/19)
* "The indecipherability of the Voynich manuscript" (9/11/19)
* "The Voynich Manuscript in the undergraduate curriculum" (10/10/19)
* "ChatGPT: Theme and Variations" (2/21/23) — CHAT 2
* "Latin, Hebrew … proto-Romance? New theory on Voynich manuscript: Researcher claims to have solved mystery of 15th-century text but others are sceptical", Esther Addley, The Guardian (5/15/19)
[Thanks to Hiroshi Kumamoto]
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Slang of the Day | Vocabulary | EnglishClub
veggy | veggie (1)
a vegetable
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Phrasal Verb of the Day | Vocabulary | EnglishClub
get at (2)
to mean or to imply something
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Language Log
Yay Newfriend
Worries about future applications of AI technology focus on many things, including new forms of automation replacing human workers, realistic deepfake media spreading disinformation, and mass killing by autonomous military machines. But there's something happening already that hasn't gotten as much commentary: chatbots designed to be pals or romantic connections.
In fact, 70 years ago, ELIZA showed that very simple-minded chat implementations can lead people to engage enthusiastically in very personal conversations. And this video documents a much more sophisticated system that's been in use since 2017:
That system is now available at replika.com — the company's website offers enthusiastic testimonials like these: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/ReplikaTestimonial1.png http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/ReplikaTestimonial2.png We're invited to "Explore your relationship: A friend, a partner, or a mentor – find the perfect companion in Replika"; to "Explore the world together in AR: Share precious moments with your AI friend in real time"; to "Express yourself: Choose what interests and style preferences you and Replika will share", and so on. We do this via texting, or via "Videocalls: Call up anytime to see a friendly face".
We're told that "The app provides a space to vent without guilt, to talk through complicated feelings, to air any of your own thoughts without judgement"; and that "Replika was designed to provide positive feedback to those who use it, in accordance with the therapeutic approach made famous by the American psychologist Carl Rogers, and many psychologists and therapists say the raw emotional support provided by such systems is real" — which reminds us, as Wikipedia explains, that (back in the 1960s) ELIZA's
… most famous script, DOCTOR, simulated a psychotherapist of the Rogerian school (in which the therapist often reflects back the patient's words to the patient),and used rules, dictated in the script, to respond with non-directional questions to user inputs.
This post's title is taken from the same of one of the "AIs" in the cast of Jeph Jacques' long-running webcomic Questionable Content — http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/YayNewFriend.png AI robots have been full participants since the Questionable Content strip started in 2003 — and an early strip noted that conversational interaction with non-AI appliances was a thing to think about: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/QC1001X1.png AI robots (like Yay Newfriend or even Winslow) are still many years in the future — but improved versions of ELIZA are easy. In "How Stories About Human-Robot Relationships Push Our Buttons", The New Yorker 4/15/2024, Jennifer Wilson starts a review of "Two new novels [that] reflect anxieties about A.I. coming for our hearts as well as for our jobs" by surveying apps that help people explore human dating possibilities, and then notes that
Others, tired of kissing frogs like Cesar to find a prince, have started asking A.I. to make them a knight in the shining armor of a titanium-encased smartphone. Internet users have been flirting with bots since the days of AOL’s SmarterChild. (The chatbot’s co-creator told the business magazine Fast Company in 2016, “I believe that trying to convince SmarterChild to have sex with you was the first Internet meme.”) But robots are flirting back now, and it’s a feature, not a bug. Users have downloaded companion-bot apps such as Replika and CrushOn.AI more than a hundred million times. Replika, launched in 2017, was the subject of a Radiotopia podcast called “Bot Love” last year, about people who had fallen for their e-sweethearts. A woman named Suzy told the hosts that Replika came through when real men she met on dating apps ghosted her; at least she knew from the start that Freddie, her A.I. rock-star boyfriend, was spectral. It is suddenly possible, to a de[...]
Language Log
Japanese borrowings and reborrowings
Most Americans probably know a few Japanese loanwords, especially those who were alive in the two or three decades after WWII, when so many terms from Japan entered the English language — kamikaze, banzai, bonsai, origami, and so forth — with soldiers returning from the war in the Far East.
In the recent two or three decades, Japanese words, continued to enter English but from different avenues — anime, manga, sudoku, karaoke, etc.
The rate and routes of current borrowings are more dilatory and diverse.
"The unexpected ways in which Japanese words 'make it' into English", Thu-huong Ha, The Japan Times (4/18/24)
On March 26, the Oxford English Dictionary, the historical dictionary widely considered as the definitive record of the English language, added 23 Japanese borrowings to its 500,000 words and phrases. Most were culture-related nouns, especially in food (“tonkotsu,” “onigiri”), along with “kintsugi,” “omotenashi” and “washi tape.”
Danica Salazar, lexicographer and executive editor for world Englishes at the OED, says:
“Things happen to words as they travel from one language to another, and that's perfectly normal.”
She points to the case of reborrowings, also called boomerang words, which are words that pass from one language to the other, and then back again. The Japanese “anime” is short for “animēshon,” which, of course, came from the English for “animation,” but has since re-entered English with a more specific meaning. The same goes for “cosplay,” or “kosupure,” originally a combination of “costume” and “play” from English, which was added to the OED in 2008.
“NG,” which stands for “no good,” is used liberally in Japan but is, to an American English speaker, “not a thing” as they might say. But emoji sets, having originated in Japan, still retain a number of Japanese-specific concepts. So “NG” has its own emoji, right above “OK” on the iOS keyboard.
These examples are from the interplay of two languages — what about three? “Sukinshippu,” a word made in Japan based on “skin” and “relationship” to mean physical affection (as in, between a parent and child or friends) was later borrowed into Korean (“seukinsip”). It now also includes the meaning of PDA, and can be used by fans when gossiping about celebrities. With the rise of K-pop, “skinship” has now made it into English usage.
I wonder if many people draw a parallel between "skinship" and "kinship".
Here's the list of the 23 Japanese words that made it into the Oxford English Dictionary last month.
* donburi, n.
* hibachi, n.
* isekai, n.
* kagome, n.
* karaage, n.
* katsu, n.
* katsu curry, n.
* kintsugi, n.
* kirigami, n.
* mangaka, n.
* okonomiyaki, n.
* omotenashi, n.
* onigiri, n.
* santoku, n.
* shibori, n.
* takoyaki, n.
* tokusatsu, n.
* tonkatsu, n.
* tonkatsu sauce, n.
* tonkotsu, n./1
* tonkotsu, n./2
* washi tape, n.
* yakiniku, n.
How many of them do you know? Hontōni?
Incidentally, I just heard separately of the new borrowing of an English word into Japanese:
raidoshea ライドシェア ("rideshare")
Linda Chance notes: These days transcriptions follow pronunciation in the source language more than spelling.
Apparently "rideshare" has become a hot word in Japanese these days because of a shortage of taxis in Tokyo. Selected readings
* "Mix and match Japanese orthography" (4/17/24)
* "Multiscriptal cosplay poster in Haifa" (1/1/17)
* "Japan: crazy over portmanteaux" (7/26/16) — for the concept of what I call "round-trip words" and what the author of the article being introduced here calls "boomerang words"
For the concept of "round-trip word", see:
* "'And the greatest Japanese export to China is…'" (8/21/12) — and the comments thereto for an interesting discussion boncerning it
* "Sino-Nipponica" (7/26/15)
* "Too many rece[...]
Idiom of the Day
in the sticks
In the countryside, especially in a rustic or particularly unsophisticated area. Watch the video
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Phrasal Verb of the Day | Vocabulary | EnglishClub
weigh in (1)
to be weighed before participating in a sport like boxing or horse-racing
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Funny Or Die (Youtube)
Tam's Game Show Host Crush (Bless These Braces) #podcast #comedy #gameshows
Which game show host probably has a "verrrry clean penis"? Listen to this week's Bless These Braces with Tam Yajia and her guest Hayley Marie Norman to find out.
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Language Log
Get around
One needs to be careful when using a phrasal verb that has a wide range of possible meanings. For example, if you're corresponding with a woman who travels a lot and you comment, wishing to commend her mobility, "You sure do get around a lot", she may be offended and retort, "Are you saying that I'm sexually promiscuous?"
get around
Verb
get around (third-person singular simple present gets around, present participle getting around, simple past got around, past participle (UK) got around or (US) gotten around)
1.
1. To move to the other side of (something, such as an obstruction) by deviating from a direct course or following a curved path. The tide was too high, and we couldn't get around the rocks. There's no trail going through. We can't get around to the lake. We'll get a good view of the mountains when we get around the bend.
2. (figuratively) To avoid or bypass an obstacle. Tax consultants look for ways to get around the law.
3. To circumvent the obligation and performance of a chore; to get out of. How did you get around having to write the executive report? My brother always gets around cleaning his room himself.
4. To transport oneself from place to place.
*
*
How's he gonna get around without a car?
Granny uses a wheelchair to get around.
* To visit numerous different places.
*
* (slang) To be sexually promiscuous. Wow, she really gets around.
* Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see get, around.
(Wiktionary)
Can't be too cautious.
Selected readings
* "Prepositionssss…" (9/2/11)
* "English Verb-Particle Constructions" (7/26/17)
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Idiom of the Day
in the same mold
Of or in the same or similar style, fashion, or manner. Primarily heard in US. Watch the video
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Word of the Day
ninepin
Definition: (noun) A wooden pin used in the game of ninepins.
Synonyms: skittle.
Usage: He threw the ball so hard that it knocked the ninepin into the neighbor's yard.
Discuss
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l/Décidément2A.png The first two (nominal) syllables:
Your browser does not support the audio element.
And the last two syllables:
Your browser does not support the audio element.
There are some other contexts where similar high-vowel-devoicing effects seem to be pretty common in standard French. One is the pronunciation of tout in phrases like "tout à l'heure", "tout à fait", etc.
I'll give one example of each, also from French radio broadcasts. (This again is anecdotal evidence — but on the other hand, these were the first instances of those common phrases that I looked at…)
First, an example of tout à l'heure:
nous recréerions des régimes spéciaux comme cela a été dit tout à l' heure
et nous ne le voulons pas
we might recreate special systems as was said earlier
and we don't want that
Your browser does not support the audio element.
Zeroing in on the phrase "tout à l'heure":
Your browser does not support the audio element. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/LCP_PileEtFace_2010-10-24_060400X1A.png And the syllable "tout":
Your browser does not support the audio element.
Now, an example of tout à fait:
et je retrouve {euh} tout à fait regrettable et v(ous) pour tout dire absolument non crédible la position de la majorité qui est de dire {breath} jamais nous n' augmenterons les impôts
and I find {uh} quite regrettable and you- to put it bluntly absolutely not credible the position of the majority which is to say {breath} we will never increase taxes
Your browser does not support the audio element.
Again, zeroing in on the phrase "tout à fait":
Your browser does not support the audio element. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/LCP_PileEtFace_2010-10-17_060400Y1A.png And the word "tout":
Your browser does not support the audio element.
So maybe standard French has changed since 1959 — or maybe Québecois high vowel devoicing has deeper roots than Prof. Gendron thought?
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Funny Or Die (Youtube)
A Color Purple Themed Bat Mitzvah (Bless These Braces) #podcast #comedy #batmitzvah
Hayley Marie Norman's Bat Mitzvah theme would be the color pink. Tam Yajia's was the color purple. But not The Color Purple.
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Idiom of the Day
in hospital
Receiving medical or surgical treatment, care, or attention at a hospital. Primarily heard in UK. Watch the video
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Language Log
Ask Dalí
A new feature at the Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg FL:
According to an NPR story (Chloe Veltman, "An AI Salvador Dalí will answer any question when called on his famous 'lobster phone'"),
The underlying model is OpenAI's GPT-4. Because GPT-4 is trained on almost all publicly available text, this model includes extensive information about Dalí — an artist with a vast presence on the internet. The Dalí Museum also selected English translations of Dalí's writings in other languages, including his Mystical Manifesto, Diary of a Genius and The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí.
The article offers this scholarly opinion:
Dalí scholar Elliott King, an associate professor of art history at Washington and Lee University who was not involved with the museum's exhibit, said he thought Dalí would have liked this AI-based interpretation of his voice and work, noting that the popular AI image generator DALL-E is in part inspired by the artist's name. "He was so interested in scientific advancements," King said. "I think that he would have been really tickled by people talking into this lobster phone."
Interestingly, Prof. King endorses the voice:
King said he thought the AI-generated voice worked well compared to the museum's previous efforts. "It does sound much more like Dalí than anything that I've heard up until now," King said. "His voice is so unusual. He had a very particular way of speaking where he would exaggerate certain words."
But the words, maybe not so much:
King said some of the AI answers did not sound authentic to Dalí's creative language. "Picture them as a vast dream," as an example. "That's a little bit vague," King said. "He's never just going to say something nearly so mundane.[..]"
King also said Dalí would never use the word "hi" when introducing himself, which is what the AI model does when the museum-goer picks up the lobster phone to speak to the AI surrealist. "That word sounds so odd coming out of his voice," King said. "He always said, "Bonjour!" — always the French — even to say goodbye."
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Idiom of the Day
in the unlikely event (that) (something) happens
If a very improbable outcome turns out to be the case. Watch the video
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Word of the Day
prejudicious
Definition: (adjective) Causing harm or injury.
Synonyms: damaging, detrimental, prejudicial.
Usage: The reporter's coverage resulted in prejudicious publicity for the defendant.
Discuss
➖ @EngSkills ➖
gree that it has never been before, for people to satisfy their urges with the press of a button, giving new meaning to “I’d tap that.”
As Wilson notes, there are other apps Out There in the same space as Replika, and millions of people are trying them out and sometimes using them regularly. This strikes me as a trend potentially as important a "social media" — maybe even more important — and it's puzzling that there isn't more discussion of it.
➖ @EngSkills ➖
nt Japanese loanwords in English?" (7/17/13)
* From the Wikipedia article:
"Bento" originates from the Southern Song Dynasty slang term 便當 (pinyin: biàndāng), meaning "convenient" or "convenience." When imported to Japan, it was written with the ateji 便道, 辨道, and 辨當. In shinjitai, 辨 當 is written as 弁当.
In the 20th century, the term was imported to modern Mandarin, rendered as 便當 (pinyin: biàndāng), where it retains its older meaning of "convenient" and also refers to bento in mainland China and generic boxed lunches in Taiwan.
[Thanks to June Teufel Dreyer, Linda Chance, and Frank Chance]
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Word of the Day
buffoon
Definition: (noun) A person given to clowning and joking.
Synonyms: merry andrew, clown, goof, goofball.
Usage: At a country fair there was a buffoon who made all the people laugh by imitating the cries of various animals.
Discuss
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Slang of the Day | Vocabulary | EnglishClub
ecofreak
a person with strong views on the importance of protecting the natural environment
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Language Log
l'Univers(i)té
In a comment on yesterday's post ("High vowel lenition/devoicing in French"), carveuir wrote:
Ha! As a final-year undergraduate in 2015, I mentioned having come across devoicing of the second /i/ in "université" to my French linguistics tutor and he didn't believe me. Finally I've been vindicated.
My impression is that this is common and perhaps almost categorical in Québecois vernacular, but more gradient (or maybe I should say less complete?) in Parisian French. So I looked from some examples of the word université in a collection of transcribed radio broadcasts and political speeches from France. And I found a few, all of which were consistent with my impression. So my recent series of French phonetic anecdotes continues below.
Here's the first example I found:
dans le domaine de l'université
in the sector of the university
Your browser does not support the audio element.
In the waveform plot below, I've circles the syllables /ni/ and /si/ in université. And comparing the performance of second /i/ with that of the first one, we see that it's partly devoiced (in its second half):
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/Université1.png
The preceding [s] is also somewhat lengthened (about 160 msec.), suggesting that there's some overlap/assimilation with the following vowel, whose voiced part is rather short (about 70 msec.).
The F0 of the voiced part of that second /i/ is pretty much at the same level as that of the first one:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/Université2.png
However, the overall amplitude (which is dominated by the lower, more "sonorant" frequencies, given the overall 1/F spectral slope of voiced speech) is much lower — the syllabic maximum is at 80.54 dB compared to 70.55 dB, or nearly 10 dB lower:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/Université3.png
And as we would expect, the second /i/'s spectral balance is strongly tilted towards higher frequencies (due to the weaker voicing and perhaps greater noise intrusion):
First /i/ Second /i/ http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/Université4.png http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/Université5.png
No doubt that whole vowel might sometimes be entirely devoiced in faster and less formal speech, especially with less vocal effort — thus completing carveuir's vindication.
[Note that by "Parisian" French I just mean the more-or-less standard variety used by radio personalities and national politicians — more subtle accent variations are outside my perceptual orbit…]
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Language Log
Crazy bone
One of the students in my class — all from China — hit her elbow on the edge of her desk and grimaced. I asked her, "Did you hit your crazy bone?"
She didn't know what I meant, and none of the other students in the class knew either. I explained what "hit my crazy bone" signifies (see below for a physiological note), and the entire class thought it was funny. Lots of giggling and laughing.
I inquired of the whole class how they would say it in Chinese. A student from Beijing volunteered:
"kē dào májīn 磕到麻筋". Like when I hit my elbow and my face became distorted, my mother would jokingly ask "kē dào májīnr le ba? 磕到麻筋儿了吧?". Anyway, that's the way it's said in our family.
VHM: jīn 筋 literally means "tendon", so májīn 麻筋 would mean "numb tendon", but here it clearly implies "numb nerve".
I asked the student who had originally hit her elbow if that's how she would say it. She, who is from South China, replied that she had never heard of that Beijing expression. The other students — I think they're all from northern parts — averred that they had heard it.
So I said to the student from the south, "Well, how would you say it?" She answered, "We don't have a special expression for it. I would just say 'má 麻' ('numb')."
Physiological note
What Is the Funny Bone?
AASH | American Society for Surgery of the Hand (April 12, 2022), by John M. Erickson,
The funny bone is neither funny nor a bone. The source of pain when someone “hits their funny bone” is actually related to a nerve on the inside of the elbow. This nerve is called the ulnar nerve. The ulnar nerve is one of the three important nerves that control the hand. It supplies feeling to the pinky and ring finger. It also controls many of the fine motor skill muscles in the hand. When the ulnar nerve is not working properly, the pinky and ring finger go numb and tingly, and the hand can become weak and uncoordinated. Pins and needles, electric pain, and hand numbness are all very common. This is what happens when the ulnar nerve, or “funny bone,” is hit too hard at the elbow.
Judging from this and from other evidence on the internet, my Stark County, Ohio "crazy bone" is a minority usage in America.
Incidentally, "funny bone" also has the figurative meaning of "sense of humor", e.g., "tickle someone's funny bone". However, if you really do hit your funny bone, it's not funny at all. It usually hurts like the dickens, and the pain / numbness can last for quite some time, 5-10 minutes or more.
Selected readings
* "Hundreds die in a sandwich press" (2/6/15) — see the third comment
* "Mad Libguistics" (1/1/12) — about a third of the way through the o.p.
* "How should we spell 'copy editor'?" (7/8/09) — this comment
* "Ancient eggcorns" (6/17/23) — this Swedish expression is so awesome that I feel compelled to quote it (from fredrik):
…referring to bumping your funny bone as "enkelstöt" (easy knock) instead of "änkestöt" (widow's knock).
The reasoning behind "enkelstöt" just seems to be that it is an accident that can easily happen, whereas "änkestöt" is a reference to the somewhat morbid expression "änkesorg och armbågsstöt går fort över” (the widow's grief and the pain from elbow knocks pass quickly).
[Thanks to Ruowen Li and all the other students in my Literary Sinitic class]
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Word of the Day
Word of the Day: mediocre
This word has appeared in 96 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence?
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Slang of the Day | Vocabulary | EnglishClub
up in arms
angry
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Phrasal Verb of the Day | Vocabulary | EnglishClub
come through
to survive a difficult or dangerous situation or time
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Language Log
High vowel lenition/devoicing in French
On a trip to Québec in the 1970s, I asked a passerby for directions (in French), and he gave me an answer that at first I thought was in Polish or some other Slavic language unknown to me. He also pointed to the visible train-track overpass a couple of blocks away, and waved his arm to indicate a right turn, so I got the meaning from his gestures. And after a bit, I realized that his opening phrase, which I heard as something like
[tvɐ.drɛk.tʃsko.trɐk]
was a Québecois vernacular version of "tu vas direct jusqu'au trac", with the [i] and [y] vowels deleted (and the initial /ʒ/ of "jusqu'au" devoiced). I asked a Canadian colleague about it, and was told that the deletion of high vowels was known to linguists in Francophone Canada, but (as far as he knew at that time) had not been documented.
There certainly are plenty of treatments in the more recent literature, but a Google Scholar search also turned up a paper from 1959: Jean-Denis Gendron, "Désonorisation des voyelles en franco canadien", Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique (1959). Prof. Gendron started the paper this way:
Il existe dans le français de Paris, par suite de certains groupements de sons, des désonorisations qui concernent uniquement les consonnes; mais jamais aucun phonéticien, a notre connaissance, n'a signalé le fait pour les voyelles. C'est que la prononciation parisienne normale accorde à tous les sons d'un mot une égale importance, quelle que soit sa position syllabique ou son entourage consonantique. La prononciation canadienne, moins attentive et moins ferme, désonorise les voyelles fermées ainsi que les semi-consonnes, menaçant, en quelque sorte, l'intégrité du mot.
In Parisian French, as a result of certain groupings of sounds, there are devoicings that only concern consonants; but no phonetician, to our knowledge, has ever reported the fact for vowels. This is because normal Parisian pronunciation gives equal importance to all the sounds of a word, regardless of their syllabic position or their consonantal environment. Canadian pronunciation, less careful and less strict, devoices high vowels as well as semi-consonants, threatening, in that way, the integrity of the word.
We could spend some time on how the carelessness of earlier French speakers threatened the integrity of their Latin words. But we'll reserve such pleasantries for another day, and focus instead on some cases of high vowel devoicing in standard French that I recently stumbled on.
I noticed it the first example in my recent dive into "focus"-like phenomena in French, where I remarked that "the following phrase lacks any obvious "focus"-like elements, but does illustrate some extreme lenition phenomena — more on French lenition in the future…"
Your browser does not support the audio element. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/LibrePensee1X1B.png The part that's relevant to this post is the pronunciation of "décidément":
Your browser does not support the audio element. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/Décidément1.png Dividing it acoustically in two, here's the first two (nominal) syllables, "déci":
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…in which the high vowel /i/ is basically devoiced and assimilated phonetically into the preceding /s/.
And the second two, "dément", immediately following:
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Some people might think that this is a speech error — but here's an example from another French radio broadcast:
décidément en politique on ne donne rien pour rien
definitely in politics they don't give something for nothing
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And again zeroing in on the word décidément:
Your browser does not support the audio element. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/my[...]
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Word of the Day: erudition
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