Alliterative Rooster

My teenage boys have a new favorite condiment - Sriracha Chili Sauce.

I was unsure about the standard pronunciation, so I looked it up and came across a New York Times article titled "A Chili Sauce to Crow About ".

The pronunciation, according to the article is: SIR-rotch-ah.

But that is not the only reason I mention Sriracha.

My favorite part of the article is the author's alliterative description of the origin of the sauce -

"... an American sauce, a polyglot purée with roots in different places and peoples."

"Polyglot purée", as a description of the sauce, is based upon the incorrect perception that the sauce is Vietnamese or Thai in origin.

pol·y·glot

adj.
Speaking, writing, written in, or composed of several languages.
n.
1. A person having a speaking, reading, or writing knowledge of several languages.
2. A book, especially a Bible, containing several versions of the same text in different languages.
3. A mixture or confusion of languages.

Definition from thefreedictionary.com.

Photo from NYT article.

Awesomely Appropriate (Albeit Alternative) Definition

boy, n.

Forgive me for the post title; I am addicted to amusing alliterations.

Image via Facebook (origin unknown). Thanks to my friend Colleen for sharing.

Random Linguistics Definitions Beginning with the Letter "P"

pandialectal A term used primarily in dialectology and sociolinguistics to characterize any linguistic feature, rule, etc., which is applicable to all the dialects of a language.

paronymy A term sometimes used in semantic analysis to refer to the relationship between words derived from the same root. It is especially applied to a word formed from a word in another language with only a slight change: French pont and Latin pons are paronyms and the relationship between them is one of paronymy.

politeness phenomena in sociolinguistics and pragmatics, a term which characterizes linguistics features mediating norms of social behavior, in relation to such notions as courtesy, rapport, deference and distance. Such features include the use of special discourse markers (please), appropriate tones of voice and acceptable forms of address (e.g. the choice of intimate v. distant pronouns or of first v. last names).

Definitions from: A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, Sixth edition, 2008
Image credits: Wikipedia - Greek Pi

Linguistics Links Worth a Look

Why Study Linguistics? - An informative slideshow produced by the Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies.

50 Years of Linguistics at MIT - A link to 11 MIT linguistics lectures.

Dyslexie, A Typeface Designed To Help Dyslexics Read - A video explanation about how dyslexics read and how this typeface created by a dyslexic designer improves the reading experience for those who suffer from dyslexia.

Shapecatcher: Unicode Character Recognition - Draw a character in the "drawbox" and this site will provide a list of the most similar unicode characters. The database has 10,877 characters currently. Great for IPA.

North American English Dialects, Based on Pronunciation Patterns - Tons of information, dialect maps and dialect samples.

Random Linguistics Definitions Beginning with the Letter "O"

obligatory (Element) that cannot be deleted from a syntactic or other structure. E.g. in She left quickly, neither the subject (She) nor the verb (left) can be removed from the construction: cf. She quickly, Left quickly. Therefore both are obligatory. But She left is complete without quickly: therefore the adverb is optional.

Oghams Alphabet attested by inscriptions in the British Isles from the centuries after the collapse of the Roman empire. The letters are formed by groups of one or more lines inscribed horizontally to the left or right of, or diagonally across, a vertical line or the edge of e.g. a stone. The precise origins both of the system and of its name are uncertain.

Definitions from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics, Second edition, 2007
Image credits: symbol and alphabet.

Language Fun with Savage Chickens

Love these Useless Mutants.

Captcha Recap and Update (reCAPTCHA)

In a post last year I referenced an article in the New York Times that explained the acronym-based etymology of the word Captcha and told how entering a Captcha code helps transform old articles and books into computer text files.

One of the inventors of CAPTCHA is heading up a new project that will not only help translate the web, but will also teach people a new language for free.

I urge you to take a few minutes to watch this entertaining presentation about the project.

DuoLingo has my support.

The official CAPTCHA Site

The official reCAPTCHA Site.

Further/Farther on up the Road

Lord knows the difference between further and farther has been covered on the internet too many times to count, but if a ballpark number helps to illustrate, consider the following google results:

"difference between further and farther" About 14,900,000 results (0.23 seconds)
"difference between farther and further" About 1,510,000 results (0.22 seconds)

Traditionally (and prescriptively), farther is used when referring to a distance of literal, physical movement and further is used when referring to a metaphorical distance or a degree.

I walked farther into the forest to delve further into the wonders of flora and fauna.

But Eric Clapton was not incorrect when he sang "Further on up the road, baby, just you wait and see."

Many consider the two words to be interchangeable in most uses. See here, here and here.

The reason I bring this up is that I saw the following brochure at the bank today.

Though I grew up instilled with the traditional differences in meaning, I have recently noticed that I am becoming more accustomed to the interchangeability of farther and further when referencing distances involving actual physical movement. I barely noticed the phrasing in the brochure.

There was also a poster at the bank from the "Go further" campaign that showed a couple behind the wheel of a boat. So the brochure and the poster both illustrated physical movement while using the word further.

Look how far fur has come in its non-figurative use.

Though I will say that I have quite a hard time with the reverse interchangeability. Using farther for metaphorical distances or degrees still sounds unnatural to me.

Random Linguistics Definitions Beginning with the Letter "N"

natural-kind terms In the semantic analysis of nouns, a type of general term for entities which have an identity in nature (as opposed to artefactual, abstract and other general terms). They include some sortal terms (e.g. lion), where a notion of individuation is involved, and some mass terms (e.g. water), where there is no such notion. Their study has been important to the development of theories of direct reference.

network In sociolinguistics a term which defines the set of linguistic interactions that a speaker has with others. In a uniplex network people relate to each other in just one way - such as through the family, work, church or a sporting activity. In a multiplex network, people relate to each other in a variety of ways, repeatedly renewing their contact through sharing a range of social activities.

nonce A term describing a linguistic form which a speaker consciously invents or accidentally uses on a single occasion: a nonce word or a nonce formation (which may involve units larger than the word). Many factors account for their use, e.g. a speaker cannot remember a particular word, so coins an alternative approximation (as in linguistified, heard from a student who felt he was getting nowhere with linguistics), or is constrained by circumstances to produce a new form (as in newspaper headlines). Nonce formations have occasionally come to be adopted by the community - in which case they cease by definition to be 'nonce' (forms used 'for the (n)once'), and become neologisms.

natural-kind terms In the semantic analysis of nouns, a type of general term for entities which have an identity in nature (as opposed to artefactual, abstract and other general terms). They include some sortal terms (e.g. lion), where a notion of individuation is involved, and some mass terms (e.g. water), where there is no such notion. Their study has been important to the development of theories of direct reference.

Definitions from: A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, Sixth edition, 2008
Image credits: Neologism - new or newly coined word or phrase

Linguistic Riddle Me This

We are little airy creatures,

All of different voice and features:
One of us in glass is set,
One of us you’ll find in jet,
T’other you may see in tin,
And the fourth a box within;
If the fifth you should pursue,
It can never fly from you.

What are we?

I just spotted this riddle by Jonathan Swift at Futility Closet and loved it so much I had to share.

Scroll down for answer.

▼

▼

▼

▼

▼

▼

▼

▼

▼

▼

▼

▼

Vowels.

I love that he mentioned voice and features.

There are five vowels in the English alphabet, but the English language has approximately 20 vowel sounds depending on the speaker's dialect. All English vowels are voiced.

Here is the International Phonetic Alphabet chart for vowels.

And here is a list of English vowel phonemes with words in which the sounds occur from phonemicchart.com.

i: ɪ ʊ u: sheep ship book shoot e ə ɜ: ɔ: left teacher her door æ ʌ ɑ: ɒ hat up far on

ɪə eɪ / here wait ʊə ɔɪ əʊ tourist coin show eə aɪ aʊ hair like mouth