Author Topic: Word of the day (Read 5487 times)

Jonathon · « **on:** October 17, 2004, 08:46:47 PM »

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monophthongization, n.

The process by which a vowel sound changes, or is changed, to a monophthong; an instance or result of this.

It's just so much fun to say. The OED lists nine pronuncations for it: one British and eight American.

Nathan Novak · « **Reply #1 on:** October 17, 2004, 09:54:18 PM »

You're mom monophthongizes!

sarcasticmuppet · « **Reply #2 on:** October 17, 2004, 10:04:13 PM »

YOU'RE mom monophtongized when she HAD you!

Brinestone · « **Reply #3 on:** October 18, 2004, 07:42:33 AM »

*dies of apostrophe sickness and monophthongization*

Porter · « **Reply #4 on:** October 18, 2004, 07:51:04 AM »

Please give me an example of monophthongization.

Jonathon · « **Reply #5 on:** October 18, 2004, 07:58:50 AM »

When a Southerner says "I" as "Ah" or when a Philadelphian says "house" as "hass," that's monophthongization. A diphthong is composed of two vowel sounds put together, and when one of them is lost, it becomes a monophthong.

Porter · « **Reply #6 on:** October 18, 2004, 08:03:31 AM »

Thanks.

Jonathon · « **Reply #7 on:** October 18, 2004, 08:05:21 AM »

De nada.

Porter · « **Reply #8 on:** October 18, 2004, 08:30:59 AM »

When I first learned about dipthongs (but not by that name), it took a while for me to wrap my brain around the idea that the sound "I" is not a single sound, but a couple of them smooshed together.

Jonathon · « **Reply #9 on:** October 18, 2004, 08:44:42 AM »

I think it's that way for a lot of people. We generally have an easier time understanding that "oy" and "ow" are two vowel sounds, because they're written with two letters. But we think of the sound in "I" as simply a "long" i, not a combination.

I really think they should teach more about linguistics in school. I was trying to explain the concept of a diphthong to a coworker the other day, using the word time as an example, and he thought that when I was talking about two vowels, I was referring to the silent e. I had to explain that I was talking about sounds, not letters. It seemed natural to me after having so many linguistics classes, but sometimes I forget that not everybody knows all about phonology.

So, Poter, what did you call diphthongs before you learned that term?

Porter · « **Reply #10 on:** October 18, 2004, 09:31:46 AM »

I don't remember if it was called anything at all. It came up as I was studying Portugese on my mission.

I'm not sure that there would be much point in teaching linguistics in America without first making sure that students actually learn a foreign language in school. I had to take two years in Spanish, and I'll I ever really learned is "This is a big yellow pencil."

Edit: if I did learn a word for dipthongs back then, it would have been a Portugese word.

Porter · « **Reply #11 on:** October 18, 2004, 09:36:38 AM »

I eventually connected the idea of the dipthong (which I already had) with the word after watching Oscar.

Jonathon · « **Reply #12 on:** October 18, 2004, 10:06:53 AM »

I took three years of French in junior high, and it wasn't until the end of the third year that we began to learn things like the future tense. I learned more in two semesters in college than I did in those three years.

But it's amazing how much grammar I learned from taking French in junior high. Suddenly English made so much more sense.

Brinestone · « **Reply #13 on:** October 18, 2004, 10:30:09 AM »

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I had to take two years in Spanish, and I'll I ever really learned is "This is a big yellow pencil."

Porter, I'm having deja vu. When I was in first semester Spanish in high school, my teacher said she had a friend who had taken four years of Spanish in high school (years before) and had only retained "I have a big blue pencil." Was there only one Spanish textbook back when you were in high school? And why was it obsessed with Spanish pencils?

Porter · « **Reply #14 on:** October 18, 2004, 10:38:19 AM »

"Is that a big yellow pencil?"
"This is a big yellow pencil."
"Is that your big yellow pencil?"
"This is my big yellow pencil?"
"Can I use your big yellow pencil?"
"You can use my big yellow pencil."

I don't know why.

Jonathon · « **Reply #15 on:** October 18, 2004, 10:55:54 AM »

It's always funny to see what phrases people remember after taking a foreign language. Here are a couple of mine:

Scottish: Tha mi a fuireach anns an taigh-osda. (I live in the toilet.)

Welsh: Dw'i wedi anghofio popeth. (I have forgotten everything.)

Porter · « **Reply #16 on:** October 18, 2004, 10:59:50 AM »

Actually, I learned one more phrase in Spanish class: "Antonio, no moleste Rodrigo, por favor."

My Spanish name was Antonio, and my friend's who sat in front of me was Rodrigo, and I was always talking to him in class. She was really just saying "Don't bother him", but the word moleste sounds so much like the English "molest" that it really stuck in everybody's mind. I was constantly mocked with that phrase.

Porter · « **Reply #17 on:** October 18, 2004, 11:00:33 AM »

There's a separate Scottish language?

Jonathon · « **Reply #18 on:** October 18, 2004, 11:05:09 AM »

Yes. It's often called Gaelic (though Irish is often called Irish Gaelic, so it's helpful to distinguish the two).

Jonathon · « **Reply #19 on:** October 18, 2004, 11:06:54 AM »

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Actually, I learned one more phrase in Spanish class: "Antonio, no moleste Rodrigo, por favor."

My Spanish name was Antonio, and my friend's who sat in front of me was Rodrigo, and I was always talking to him in class. She was really just saying "Don't bother him", but the word moleste sounds so much like the English "molest" that it really stuck in everybody's mind. I was constantly mocked with that phrase.

I think every language has words like that. One of our favorite French words was fatigué. Ha ha! It sounds like "fat and gay"!

pooka · « **Reply #20 on:** October 18, 2004, 01:14:34 PM »

There has got to be a way to combine apostrophe and apoplexy into one word describing Brinestone's demise. Apostroplexy?

A scottish lady who is visiting my in-laws went to the temple and they asked her what language she wanted to listen in. It is funny to me that she was able to explain that she was visitng from Scotland, and they still thought she was speaking a foreign language.

I'm not really sure what use linguistic analysis would serve most high school students. Or rather, to most high school teachers. It couldn't honestly be used to undermine parental authority and build allegiance to society over the family. I guess any knowledge can be used to serve that end. I guess they can always make a god of Noam Chomsky.

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #21 on:** October 18, 2004, 03:03:28 PM »

I took after-school French in elementary school, and we were always really embarrassed to say bras (arm) or botte (boot). The funny thing about bras is that it's where the word brassiere comes from (an apparatus worn about the arms), so when we truncate it in English to bra, we're really just calling it an arm.

Here's the Latin I remember: Abi in malem crucem, which is really ironic considering my rant in the other thread, as it means "Go to Hell."

FLR · « **Reply #22 on:** October 29, 2004, 11:13:44 AM »

Why isn't vermillion a shade of green?

Jonathon · « **Reply #23 on:** October 29, 2004, 11:18:31 AM »

Because if it were a shade of both red and green, people would be confused. Except for color-blind people, I suppose.

I suppose it's worth pointing out that vermillion is related to the Latin word for "worm," not the Latin word for "green."

Icarus · « **Reply #24 on:** October 29, 2004, 12:30:07 PM »

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I'm not really sure what use linguistic analysis would serve most high school students. Or rather, to most high school teachers. It couldn't honestly be used to undermine parental authority and build allegiance to society over the family.

-o-

I first encountered the word "dipthong" in Spanish, as "diptongo." I don't remember when I first saw it in English. I first encountered "monophthong" right here, in this thread.

-o-

Porter, I had the opposite problem. I didn't realize that "molest" had a different meaning from "molestar," so I used it to mean "bother" up until eighth grade or so. I got some funny looks for that, you can bet.