Phonetics/IPA reference images and charts

Places of articulation--

(place of articulation) x (method of articulation) = SOUND

And the vowels...

Cool stuff, isn't it? Great, I can't wait to read your fan mail.

Direct and Indirect Requests

There exists an indirect way of forming propositions in any language because speakers will likely want to convey information while allowing for plausible means of denial without any adverse reaction.

Use of direct versus indirect speech tends to be influenced by:

- Gender: Men tend to be more direct, women indirect
- Culture: In certain cultures, such as Japanese language and culture, people tend to be more indirect in making requests or asking for favors. In certain other cultures, people may tend to make more direct requests.
- Rank/Status: Individuals of a lower status tend to form indirect questions to someone of a higher rank. Likewise, those in a higher position may tend to be more direct to those in a lower rank.
- Level of familiarity: Direct language is more often used when in the company of a close acquaintance; indirect language is used when among strangers.

Here are a few examples of direct vs. indirect ways of coneying the same information (In all examples, the asker is assuming that the person he is speaking is able to help them):


Example 1:

Direct: "Where is the bathroom?"

Indirect: "Do you know where the bathroom is?"

[Information being conveyed: The asker needs to find a bathroom.]

Example 2:

Direct: "Can you please let me in the door?"

Indirect: "Do you have the key to the door?"

[Information being conveyed: Asker, who does not have a key, needs to be let in the door.]

Example 3:

Direct: "Can you please close the door?"

Indirect: "It's very noisy outside."

[Information being conveyed: Asker wants silence, and because it is noisy outside the door she wants the door to be shut.]

In all cases, the direct and indirect versions of making a request convey the same information.

Classes of Nouns

Noun classes, commonly referred to as "genders," are not only as ambiguous as the fruit or vegetable quandary, but may even outstretch the relatively simple two-gender class system found in Romance languages. Those of you familiar with French, Spanish, or Italian will know what I mean by "two-gender class system" (a noun is either "male" or "female"). In German (which, by the way, is not a Romance language) there exist three "genders:" "male," "female," and "neuter."

But not all noun classifications are gender-based! Some common criteria for noun classes are:

- animate vs. inanimate (as in Ojibwe)
- rational vs. non-rational (as in Tamil)
- human vs. non-human
- human vs. animal vs. inanimate
- male vs. other
- male human vs. other
- masculine vs. feminine (as in Romance languages)
- masculine vs. feminine vs. neuter (as in German)
- strong vs. weak
- augmentative vs. diminutive

In Romance laguages, the gender of a noun is identified by the article "the" (Span.: el, la; Fr.: le, la; It.: il, la) and, usually, by the suffix (Sp.: -o, -a; Fr.: [no ending], -e; It.: -o, -a). But there are exceptions. For example, Spanish masculine nouns that are derived from Greek tend to end in -a, despite being masculine (ie: "el problema"). The reverse may also be true in some Spanish words (ie: "la mano").

Romance languages do not always agree on whether a certain noun is male or female. For instance, in French the sea is called "la mer," which is feminine, while in Spanish "el mar" is masculine.

In all of the Bantu languages (Bantu is a branch of the Niger-Congo language family) there are not two or three but over ten noun classes. None of these classes are gender-based as in European languages. In Luganda, for example, nouns are sorted into "Categories 1-10" that are charecterized as "people," "long objects," "animals," "miscellaneous objects," "large objects and liquids," "small objects," "languages," "pejoratives," "infinitives," "mass nouns," plus four "'locative' classes."

Swahili has eighteen classes of nouns. The prefix of a noun indicates the class it falls in. For instance "mtoto" (child) has a prefix of m- and falls into the category of "singular persons." "Kitabu" (book) has a prefix of ki- and falls in the class of "singular things." Three of the eighteen classes are locative, and the rest are all either "singular" or "plural" items ("singular persons" class and a "plural persons" class, "singular fruits" and "plural fruits," "singular things" and "plural things," etc.).

The Australian Aboriginal language of Dyirbal has four noun class categories: 1. animate objects, men; 2. women, water, fire, violence; 3. edible fruits and vegetables; 4. anything that does not fall into the first three categories.

Ojibwe and other Algonquian languages, similar to Dyirbal, distinguish nouns based on animate and inanimate objects. Plants and almost all living things fall in the "animate" category, though such assignments are still arbitrary: a "raspberry" falls in the "animate" class while a "strawberry" is considered "inanimate."

Languages that do not have noun classification systems include (but are not limited to) English, Mandarin, Japanese, Bengali, Farsi, Afrikaans, Tagalog, Turkish, Armenian, and Yoruba.

Ancient Mantras Break Human Speech Patterns in Kerala, South India

I was watching a documentary called The Story of India, hosted by Michael Wood. In the beginning of the documentary, Michael Wood takes us to Kerala, a south Indian region where the first human group to migrate out of east Africa is thought to have settled.

In Kerala, there is an oral tradition of mantras (spiritual incantations) that has been passed down for centuries from father to son in an ancient brahmin clan. Only recently have outsiders been allowed to record and study these mantras.

But scientists were soon baffled by some of the mantras--not only are they in no known language, but there are entire episodes of these mantras that follow no known human speech patterns on earth. They follow certain rules and patterns, but no meaning can be derived from them. According to PV Bhattathiripad, a Kerala Brahmin, these mantras cannot even be written in any printable format. They can only be transmitted orally.

So if they follow no known human speech patterns, then where did they come from? Under scientific analysis, the patterns of these mantras are shown to be closest in resemblance to birdsong; these sounds are so old that they predate human speech.


4:05-6:42

The Dictionary According to Ambrose Bierce

"Dictionary, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic."

- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911

Hawaiki

Hawaiki is the mythological homeland to which several Polynesian peoples trace their origins. It is considered a type of Utopia, the homeland of the ancestors. Hawaiki is also the place from which traditional Māoris believe they are born from, and also the place they return to after death. It is referenced in stories, songs, proverbs, and genealogies. Hawaiki has both mystical and real significance; It is revered as part of the Māori cycle of life and death, and it is also believed to be a real island located somewhere in Polynesia, normally indicated towards the east.

Throughout this post, I will use the Māori word “Hawaiki” in my own reference to this legendary place, though the word may vary in different Polynesian languages.

Māoris traditionally welcome a newborn child with this phrase:

“E taku pōtiki, kua puta mai rā koe i te toi i Hawaiki.”
“My child, you are born from the source, which is at Hawaiki."

On the occasion of death, the following is also orated:

“E ngā mate, haere ki Hawaiki,
Ki Hawaiki nui, ki Hawaiki roa, ki Hawaiki pāmamao.”
“To the dead, depart to Hawaiki,
To great Hawaiki, to long Hawaiki, to distant Hawaiki.”

You may read more about the Māori concept of Hawaiki at this website: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/hawaiki. It is a fascinating topic in itself, but I will stay on the topic of linguistics for this post (rather than veer off into cultural anthropology).

I first heard of Hawaiki in a charming New Zealand film called Whale Rider (I recommend watching this movie, which is based on the book by Witi Ihimaera). Because I am from Hawai‛i, this name immediately caught my linguistic attention.

Hawai‛i, the island chain located in the northernmost corner of the Polynesian “triangle,” was actually named after its largest island called Hawai‛i [w is pronounced as v in the Hawaiian language, and the ‛ or “‛okina” represents a glottal stop]. From many trips to Sāmoa during my childhood and teenage years, I had learned that Sāmoa’s largest island is also called Savai‛i (which is a cognate of “Hawai‛i;” many Polynesian words are mutually intelligible despite language differences).

Hawai‛i [Haw.] = Savai‛i [Sam.]—“s” stands in this Samoan word where “h” is in Hawaiian. “w” and “v” are pronounced the same in this case.

The Tongan word “hou'eiki,”meaning “chiefs,” is thought by some to be a cognate of Hawaiki. Some scholars further assert that the words/places Hawai‛i and Savai‛i were originally meant to denote chiefly rank rather than Hawaiki itself.

Hawaiki [Māori; mythilogical place] --> hou'eiki [Tong.; "chiefs"] --> Hawai‛i [actual place]

(Remember, the assertion of a link between Hawaiki and Hou'eiki is not a definite truth, but is at least suspected.)

Therefore (and assuming that the aforementioned assertion is factual),

Hawaiki [Māori] = Hawai’i [Haw.] (distantly)— the ’okina (glottal stop) stands in some Polynesian languages where “k” would stand in others; “w” is pronounced as “w” in Māori and as “v” in Hawaiian, so “w” and “v” sounds also correspond in the same way.

Hawaiki is thought to be related to the Cook Island Māori word for underworld, Awaiki, and thus Hawaiki itself is sometimes thought of as an underworld.

Hawaiki [Māori] = Awaiki [C.I. Māori; “underworld”]

On Easter Island, the Rapa Nui word for Hawaiki was Hiva, and was thought to lie eastward. In the Marquesas, the word “Hiva” denotes the names of several islands: Nuku Hiva, Hiva Oa, and Fatu Hiva.

The Hawaiian word for the ancestral homeland is Kahiki. Kahiki is actually a cognate of Tahiti.

Kahiki [Haw.] = Tahiti [Tah.]

What is interesting to note is that Tahiti is sometimes identified as the location of the actual Hawaiki.

A Māori Saying:

“Ehara i te mea poka hōu mai: nō Hawaiki mai anō.”
“It is not a new thing done without proper cause: it has come to us all the way from Hawaiki.”

Thalassa (Θάλασσα)

Thalassa is the Greek word for sea. In Greek mythology, Thalassa was also a sea goddess and the personification of the Mediterranean Sea. She was the daughter of Aether and Hemera, and the mother of Halia and (according to one story) the nine Telchines. She was also sometimes thought of as the mother of Aphrodite, Uranus, and Zeus.



Some linguists suspect a linguistic tie between the Greek goddess Thalassa and the Babylonian/Sumerian Tiamat, a Babylonian sea goddess sometimes referred to as a "chaos monster." The Greek and Babylonian words for "sea" directly correspond to the names of sea goddesses in each respective language and civilization. Thalattē was another Babylonian variant of Tiamat. Thalattē, Thalatta, and Thalath were Greek variants of Thalassa.

Thalassa (gr.) = Thalatta (gr.) = Thalath (gr.) = Thalattē (gr./bab.) = Tiamat (bab.)

These linguistic ties are only theory, however they serve as a very convincing indication of cultural and linguistic cross-over.

Linguists Thorkild Jacobsen and Walter Burket further argue that there is a connection between Tiamat and tâmtu, the Akkadian word for sea. Tâmtu is derived from an earlier version, ti'amtum. Burket further argues for a linguistic connection to Tethys [background info: she was an aquatic goddess who in Greek mythology was considered the mother of major rivers such as the Nile, the Alpheus, the Maeander, and around three thousand daughters called the Oceanids (she was also the sister and wife of Oceanus, daughter of Uranus and Gaia)].

It is often thought that Tiamat and the the Hebrew תהום (tehom), meaning deep or abyss, share a common origin (Ugaritic t-h-m is also thought to be a cognate) The word tehom appears in the Torah/Hebrew Bible in Genesis 1:2:

"veharetz hayta tohu vavohu vekhoshekh al-pnei tehom veruach elohim merakhefet al-pnei hamayyim". "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.". (King James version)

Mesopotamian/Sumerian creation myths speak of a "mixing of waters" in what is now the Persian Gulf, where the mixing of fresh and salt water is a natural phenomenon even today (in these myths Tiamat represents saltwater and Apsu or Abzu represents fresh water). Another creation myth tells of the slaughter of Tiamat by the god Marduk (depicted below).

Koro-- A "Hidden" Language

"Koro belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family, which includes some 400 languages such as Tibetan and Burmese."

Please see the National Geographic video about Koro, a language that until recently was unknown to linguists. With only about 800 speakers left, Koro now ranks among the world's endangered languages.



Please also see:

Faces of Koro Photo-Article:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/10/photogalleries/101005-hidden-language-koro-india-new-science-pictures/

"Hidden" Language Found in Remote Indian Tribe: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/10/101005-lost-language-india-science/

Traces of Oscan, Umbrian, and Etruscan found in modern Italian, via vulgar Latin

"In many Italian words, the appearance of an Oscan f where Latin has b between vowels indicates that Oscan forms with f must have existed in vulgar Latin speech, even if unrecorded."

- The Story of Latin and the Romance Languages, by Mario Pei

Dead languages pre-existing Latin have had an impact on modern Italian. Here are some examples from the same source to demonstrate this:

1. Latin "scarabeus" and Italian "scarafaggio" (beetle)
2. Latin "bubulcus" and Italian "bifolco" (ploughman)
3. Latin "bubalus" and Italian "bufalo" (wild ox)

Oscan, as well as Umbrian and Etruscan, are non-Indo-European languages that were once spoken in present day Italy. Although Latin became the dominant language of the peninsula, Latin speakers were known to incorporate words from their neighbors; as implied above, Oscan pronunciation influenced vulgar Latin (which was undocumented, the only documented Latin being the "proper" Latin of the elite), which in turn influenced the Italian language that developped out of not-so-"proper" Latin. [On a side note, I would like to explain that I use the word "proper" in parentheses because linguists do not make distinctions between proper and improper use of language. I can get into this another time]. I would assume that other languages native to the region had a similar effect on spoken Italian via it's predacessor, vulgar Latin.

Now please consider the following Latin words:

1. "asinus" (donkey)
2. "caseus" (cheese)

The letter s is not normally used between two vowels in Latin; a letter r would normally be used in such instances (such as a word for ear, "ausis," which Latin speakers turned into "auris"). Because this usage is inconsistant with normal patterns of spoken Latin, linguists have come to presume that such words as "asinus" and "caseus," are not originally Latin (and therefore not originally Indo-European) as one would think, but rather that these words were borrowed from the Oscan or Umbrian neighbors of Latin speakers.

Source: The Story of Latin and the Romance Languages, by Mario Pei

Latin and Sanskrit Numbers 1-10

The purpose of this comparison is to demonstrate a commonality between two Indo-European languages that were geographically isolated from one another, which further indicates a common root of all Indo-European languages despite geographic dispersal.

[Latin / Sanskrit]

1. Uno / Eka
2. Duo / Dvi
3. Tres / Tri
4. Quatuor / Catur
5. Quinque / Pañcan
6. Sex / Sas
7. Septem/ Saptan
8. Octo / Astan
9. Novem / Navan
10. Decem / Dasan