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indielinguist · 4 years

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I had the good fortune to be able to attend - not present at - three linguistics conferences during my undergrad. I attended the Harvard Undergrad Linguistics Colloquium in 2012, NACAL 41 at Yale in 2013, and ACAL 45 at KU in 2014. I had a lot of fun at all of them. Great networking opportunities, but I wish I had your advice before going. I made some nice acquaintances with people, but most of them were my seniors. Finding one's place at an unfamiliar conference is tough if you don't have friends there or people who are at the same level as you...

Linguistics Conferences

If you’re writing an honours thesis, doing a research project/independent study, or even are just interested in meeting other linguists, why not check out a local linguistics conference or two!

(This year I am finally making the “go to conferences” post with lots of time in advance to get a project up and running: many undergrad conferences take place in December-April and have deadlines sometime in the fall or winter.)

I want to especially encourage undergraduate conference-going because I think grad students and so on are more likely to already hear about conferences and know people who are going to them (although depending on your advisor it may still be worth looking some up).

Even if you haven’t finished your project yet, you can get comments on a work in progress, or just come and watch things and meet people (but seriously, submit something if you can, it’s worth a try). For smaller conferences, registration is often just enough to cover food, and you can ask the organizers about staying with local students, so your expenses can be quite minimal. Sometimes you can even get travel funding from your own department, especially if you’re presenting (ask a prof, even if you don’t see it advertised anywhere). Audiences of fellow students are generally very positive and non-intimidating, so it’s a good way to get some practice talking about academic things, get a line on your CV or grad school application, and make some ling-friends.

I even remember a high school student who came to McCCLU one year just because they wanted to learn more about linguistics and meet people.

Both Linguist List and the LSA (Linguistic Society of America) maintain lists of international conferences organized by date, and I’m aware of a few undergrad-specific conferences (McCCLU - Montreal, TULCon - Toronto, GLEEFUL - Michigan, Harvard colloquium, Cornell colloquium). I’m not sure if they’re current, but I’ve also heard of OCLU in Ottawa, SCULC in southern California, and a rotating conference hosted by ULAB - Undergrad Linguistics Association of Britain. The current websites may not be live yet, but you can look them up from last year to get a sense of timing, and this gives you plenty of time to work on a project.

I think there are also many student-focussed conferences for both grad students and undergrads, although grad students can of course apply for the general conferences as well! (Heck, I went to one as an undergrad, and while I didn’t present, I met a couple undergrads there with posters.)

Edited to add, from comments: Arizona Linguistics Circle (which is soon, October 3-5!), Minnesota Undergraduate Linguistics Symposium, HULLS (Hunter Undergraduate Linguistics and Language Studies, in New York).

And from more googling (“linguistics student conference” plus ctrl+F for “student” and “undergrad” on this list from LinguistList (note that if you’re viewing this post after September 2014, do double-check because conference calls continue to come out): University of Central Oklahoma, University of Texas (Arlington), Penn State, Tri-College (Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Swarthmore), East Carolina University, North-West (British Columbia/Washington State).

Outside North America: Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi), Arctic University of Norway, ConSOLE (European, rotating, this year in Paris), Austria (rotating, this year in Salzburg), Moscow, Slovenia.

If one of these conferences isn’t convenient: try googling the name of your region or major cities/universities near you with the words student linguistics conference, and you may find something! Many smaller linguistics student conferences aren’t very well-advertised and may not make it onto major lists like LinguistList every year, so if you find evidence of a conference near you from a previous year, try contacting the previous organizer(s) or department to see if it’s happening again.

Can anyone contribute to a list of other undergrad or student-friendly linguistics conferences, especially in locations that aren’t already well-represented here?

#linguistics #conferences #academia

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indielinguist · 4 years

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#linguistics #linguistics jobs #language

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indielinguist · 4 years

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Linguistics and Language Podcasts

Looking for podcasts about language and linguistics? Here’s a comprehensive list with descriptions! I’ve also mentioned if shows have transcripts. If there are any I missed, let me know!

Linguistics

Lingthusiasm A podcast that’s enthusiastic about linguistics by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne (that’s me!). Main episodes every third Thursday of every month, with a second bonus episode on Patreon. (Transcripts for all episodes)

Talk the Talk Every week Daniel, Ben, and Kylie cover the news in linguistics and tackle a particular topic.

The Vocal Fries Every episode Carrie Gillon & Megan Figueroa tackle linguistic discrimination in relation to a particular group. (Transcripts for some episodes)

En Clair A podcast about forensic linguistics from Dr Claire Hardaker at Lancaster University. Episodes released monthly, with a range of topics from criminal cases to literary fraud. (Transcripts for all episodes)

Accentricity From Sadie Durkacz Ryan, a lecturer in sociolinguistics at Glasgow University. Season one has six episodes.

Field Notes Martha Tsutsui Billins interviews linguists about their linguistic fieldwork.

Toksave – Culture Talks A podcast from the PARADISEC Archive, where the archived records of the past have life breathed back into them once again.

Hooked on Phonetics Maxwell Hope provides an introduction to phonetics, chatting to Geoffrey “average Joe” Farris and interviewing other phoneticians.

History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences sub-30 minute episodes about the history of linguistics from James McElvenny, with the occasional interviews.

The Language Revolution Changing UK attitudes to languages.

Linguistics After Dark Eli, Sarah and Jenny answer your linguistics questions in hour-ish long episodes.

Language

The Allusionist Stories about language and the people who use it, from Helen Zaltzman (Transcripts for all episodes) (my review).

Grammar Girl Episodes are rarely longer than 15 minutes, but they’re full of tips about English grammar and style for professional writing, and more! (Transcripts for all episodes).

Conlangery Particularly for those with an interest in constructed languages, they also have episodes that focus on specific natural languages, or linguistic phenomena.

Subtext A podcast about the linguistics of online dating.

Canguro English A podcast about language for people learning languages.

America the Bilingual Dedicated to the pursuit of bilingualism in the USA.

Words & Actions A podcast about how language matters in business, politics and beyond.

Subtitle A podcast about languages and the people who speak them, from Patrick Cox and Kavita Pillay. For those who miss Patrick’s old podcast, The World in Words.

The Parlé Podcast from Canadian Speech-Language Pathologist Chantal Mayer-Crittenden.

English

History of English Meticulously researched, professionally produced and engaging content on the history of English. I have already reviewed it three times (episodes 1-4, episodes 5-79, bonus episodes).

Lexicon Valley Hosted by John McWhorter, with a focus on English.

That’s What They Say Every week linguist Anne Curzan joins Rebecca Kruth on Michigan public radio for a five minute piece on a quirk of English language.

A Way With Words A talk-back format show on the history of English words, cryptic crosswords and slang.

Dictionaries

Word For Word From Macquarie dictionary, with a focus on Australian English.

Fiat Lex A podcast about making dictionaries from Kory Stamper & Steve Kleinedler. One season.

Words/etymology

Something Rhymes With Purple Susie Dent and Gyles Brandreth uncover the hidden origins of language and share their love of words.

Word Bomb Hosts Pippa Johnstone and Karina Palmitesta explore one word per week, using particular words for a deep dive into linguistic and social issues.

Words for Granted In each episode Ray Belli explores the history of a common English word in around fifteen minutes.

Very Bad Words A podcast about swearing and our cultural relationship to it.

Lexitecture Ryan, a Canadian, and Amy, a Scot share their chosen word each episode.

Wordy Wordpecker Short weekly episodes from Rachel Lopez, charting the stories of English words.

Animology Vegan blogger Colleen Patrick Goudreau uses her love of animals as a starting point for exploring animal-related etymologies.

Bunny Trails Shauna and Dan discuss idioms and other turns of phrase.

Translation

Speaking of Translation A monthly podcast from Eve Bodeux & Corinne McKay.

LangFM Stories of people from the world of language, including interpreters, translators, dialect coaches and many more.

Troublesome Terps The podcast about the things that keep interpreters up at night.

Se Ve Se Escucha (Seen and Heard) Language justice and what it means to be an interpreter, an organizer and bilingual in the US South, from the Center for Participatory Change.

Languages other than English

Parler Comme Jamais A French language podcast from Binge Audio.Monthly episodes from Laélia Véron.

Språket A Swedish language podcast from Sveriges Radio about language use and change.

Back catalogues and Odds & Ends

There are also a number of podcasts that have only a few episodes, are no longer being made, or are very academic in their focus:

The World in Words From PRI (2008-2019).

Language Creation Society Podcast (8 episodes, 2009-2011)

Given Names (four part radio series from 2015, all about names. My review)

Speculative Grammarian Podcast (from the magazine of the same name, about 50 episodes from Dec 2009-Jan 2017)

Linguistics Podcast (on YouTube, around 20 episodes in 2013 introducing basic linguistic concepts)

Evolving English: Linguistics at the Library (8 episodes 2018), from the British Library.

How Brands are Build (season 1 of this show focuses on brand naming)

The Endless Knot is not strictly a language podcast, but they often include word histories, fans of the Lingthusiasm colour episode may find their colour series particularly interesting

Word of Mouth (BBC 4, also available as a podcast)

LingLab (very occasionally updated podcast from graduate students in the Sociolinguistics program at NC State University)

Silly Linguistics (ad hoc episode posting, but episode 7 is an interview with Kevin Stroud for History of English fans)

WACC Podcast (guest lectures at Warwick Applied Linguistics)

Sage Language and Linguistics

Let’s Talk Talk

Queer Linguistics has a couple of episodes, with a bit of classroom vibe

GradLings An occasionally-updated podcast for linguistics students at any stage of study, to share their stories and experiences.

This is an updated listing from December 2019. I’m always excited to be able to add more podcasts to the list, so if you know of any linguistics/language podcasts not here, please let me know! (I usually wait until a show has at least 3 episodes before I add it to the list)

#language #linguistics #podcasts #masterpost

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indielinguist · 6 years

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“If I Had a Hammer” written by Pete Seeger & Lee Hayes, performed here by Peter, Paul & Mary around 1962/63 (I think?). Mary Travers has such passion and intensity here, it makes me shudder! Love this harmony!

#peter paul and mary #if i had a hammer #pete seeger #lee hayes #folk music

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indielinguist · 6 years

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Ratitophilia?

I’ve decided that I generally love/find fascinating the flightless birds of the ratite superorder, e.g. emus, ostriches, cassowaries, kiwis, moas†, rheas, and elephant birds†. It started with emus and ostriches, but the rest are just as fascinating! Is there a subfield of zoology devoted to the study of ratites? Ratitology, if you will?

#ratitophilia #struthiophilia #ratitology

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indielinguist · 6 years

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“The Gardener” by The Tallest Man On Earth, from his 2008 album, Shallow Grave.

(Source: YouTube)

#music #indie folk #the tallest man on earth #the gardener #shallow grave

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indielinguist · 6 years

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Don’t allow your wounds to transform you into someone you are not.

Paulo Coelho (via purplebuddhaquotes)

#paulo coelho #quote #inspiration

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indielinguist · 6 years

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Find someone who has the life that you want and figure how they got it. Read books. Pick your role models wisely. Find out what they did and do it.

Lana Del Rey (via purplebuddhaquotes)

#quotes #inspiration

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indielinguist · 6 years

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Conversational phrases in Ǫgwehǫwehne̱ha:’

(Cayuga)

ęhę:’- yes

tę’- no

sa̱nǫka'ge ǫgwehǫwehne̱ha:’- do you speak Cayuga

ęhę́:’/tę’ ga̱nǫka’ ǫgwehǫwehne̱ha:’- yes/no I speak Cayuga

do:nisohsriya'gǫh- how old are you?

do:nidihsé:nǫ’- how many winters have you crossed?

gaę nhǫ́:disahdęgyǫ:- where do you come from

nǫndá:ge:’- I came from

dę'ho'dę'nihsagyeha’- what are you doing

gitsgodagye’s tsǫ:- I’m just sitting around

gaę ha'se’- where are you going

ha'ge’- I’m going

shogwayádihso:gye:gonohkwa’ nę:gaena'sho'ah- oh god I love this song

ne'tso:gwahs oweh ganohkwa’ nę:gyeh gaę:na’- no but really, I love this song

otse:eksa'ash tę’ gęh dejisahsa’s tę’ ahsoh dejiknihnegagahsta’- come girl, don’t you remember we don’t drink anymore

gwe:gǫ nę:gyę́ ohnegagá'ǫh- do you know everyone

sǫ hne:’ n'áht to:gyę́ haksa:‘ah/eksa:'ah- who is that boy/girl

te’d'eak'nigǫháęda’s- I don’t understand

ak'nigǫháęda’s- I understand

#oneida #language #linguistics

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indielinguist · 6 years

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How to Learn a Language Naturally: Back to the Basics

Lately as I’ve been gradually getting back into independent language learning I’ve found myself struggling with where to begin. Every textbook I would take out would leave me bored and frustrated with either the simplicity or the level it was placed at relative to where I was at that time; yet without some sort of direction, I felt lost. Already battling against lack of motivation, creating a self-study program from scratch seemed like an incredibly daunting task. However, after taking a step back I’ve begun to see other approaches that I can take to learn the language in a more natural way – turning away from standard study that leaves me unmotivated, and focusing instead on fun and entertaining ways of language application. Here is what I’ve come up with.

Starting off as a beginner:

My greatest and first word of advice for starting off as a beginner in your target language would be to start looking around websites such as Memrise and Quizlet for lists of most commonly used words. The “Learn [Language] in 200/300 words” posts on Tumblr by @funwithlanguages are also a great place to start. Start working on pronouns, general sentence structure or basic phrases, and learning the overall conjugation patterns for the most basic verbs. Flashcards and index cards are incredibly useful here. This will give you a good foundation off of which you can build further.

In addition, having some sort of structured course, such as the Teach Yourself series or many available courses on Memrise that teach vocabulary connected with dialogues, is extremely helpful. It has been scientifically proven that a person learns vocabulary much faster when they have some sort of emotional connection formed, and by learning words in context, it is much easier to remember what something means and how it is used.

Reading/Speaking:

Find some good, easy, dual-language books to start off with. Go through them chapter by chapter, making sure to read each paragraph in only the target language before going back and looking up/checking unknown words. Read each section multiple times as to ensure comprehension, and, even better, read it to yourself out loud while working on pronunciation. Later, as you become more advanced, you can move on to books entirely in your target language, and try to write your own definitions of unknown words using the given context before checking them yourself.

Search for different news sources from countries where your target language is spoken. Read through the article and write your own summaries of events.

Try changing the language settings on your phone or social media accounts to your target language, and make note of any new vocabulary – don’t allow yourself to go on autopilot.

Challenge yourself to make short vlogs or general videos in your target language. If needed, feel free to write a script to read off of; otherwise, challenge yourself to speak purely off the top of your head – using as much as you know, even if your sentences start off broken.

Set up Skype sessions with native speakers and practice communicating using whatever knowledge of your target language you possess. If you are unsure of a word, try to use others to describe it instead of resorting to your native language (or even just ask how you would say something using your target language).

Look up the lyrics to different songs in your target language and practice translating. Similarly, try translating other songs into your target language.

Writing:

Find native speakers who would be willing to communicate with and correct you, and practice conversing using only your target language (no matter how often you need to use a dictionary – but make sure you take note of any new vocabulary or concepts you come across!).

Practice writing status updates (whether on a private account or not), journal entries, essays, or fictional pieces in your target language. If able, see if you can find a native speaker who would be willing to give you corrections, or simply post your text on Lang8!

Listening:

Youtube is a great resource for all levels of language learning. Try searching for content creators that make videos in a genre you enjoy, and utilize their channels to practice your listening skills and inferring from context while immersing yourself. Write down any words you are unsure of to look up later.

Music in your target language – listen for words you recognize, and look up those you don’t. Things like lyrics are much more likely to stick in your memory, so use that to your advantage!

Look around for an online radio that broadcasts news in your target language, or even an online news source that posts or broadcasts video.

Watch films in your target language, even if it’s content that was originally in English. Many DVDs come with dubs in other languages depending on where you’re from, and Netflix (especially Netflix Original Series) also offers many different dub and subtitle options depending on the content. Even YouTube occasionally has films or TV episodes uploaded in other languages, so long as you look hard enough.

Grammar:

When it comes to grammar, it is important to have a good, solid grammar book that breaks down all basic ideas into something that is comprehensible. Don’t start off with learning grammar right away, however; give yourself some time to really soak up the language itself and get used to basic concepts first. Once you’re at a higher level, being able to properly break down your target language and put it back together will substantially help your progression to fluency.

Incorporate practice sentences into your writing, utilizing each concept. By forcing yourself to physically use each grammatical structure in a context you’ve come up with yourself, it will be much easier for you to master each idea, as well as help it to become more natural.

Hopefully this was helpful in some way! Good luck, and happy language learning!

#language #learning another language

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indielinguist · 6 years

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Linguistic Excursions (5): Cornish / Kernowek

So after my four previous Celtic excursions it’s fitting that I turn south to visit the final Celtic tongue of the British Isles, Cornish.

Like Manx, Cornish is a revived language, but with a rather longer time between the passing of the last native speaker and the revival – more like 200 years rather than 20-30. So one of the complications this has brought is that there has been less agreement on the exact type of Cornish that should be revived, e.g. Middle Cornish, Tudor Cornish or Late Cornish, and of course there are no recordings available to confirm exactly how Cornish is spoken.

Cornish also did not have a fixed orthography during its last few hundred years, so Cornish revivalists have at times been at loggerheads in terms of the form of writing that should be used to write it (see for example, Kernewek Kemmyn - Cornish for the Twenty First Century (1997) by Paul Dunbar and Ken George, which is essentially a 160 page rant - in the form of a dialogue between the two authors – analysing the criticisms of their orthography by another Cornish scholar, Dr Nicholas Williams, rather than (as I hoped) an introductory grammar of the Cornish language). Fortunately, since then, the disparate groups have come together to cooperate and create a new Standard Written Form of Cornish, which strikes a balance between traditionalists and modernisers, and which also permits alternative forms to be used according to the writer’s style.

Like with Manx, there’s been some attempt to push the revival at the nursery/primary end, as this video suggests, but sadly I couldn’t easily find out what the current status of the early education programme is in Cornwall.

Today’s first text comes from Skeul an Tavas (The ladder of the language), an introductory Cornish language coursebook. The version I have uses the ‘traditional graphs’; another edition is available that uses the more modern ‘main form’ graphs.

Cornish is a Brythonic (or Brittonic) language, and is very close to Welsh, so where possible I’ve shown the Welsh equivalents in the vocabulary, out of comparative linguistic interest.

Text 1

Yma Peder hag y whor, Morwena, ow mos dhe’n lyverva. I a garsa cavos nebes lyvrow tochya an balyow coth y’ga ranndir. Peder ha Morwena a gar whithra an jynnjiow.

“Kemmer with!”

“Yma’n lyvrow na ow codha, Peder”.

Wella a wra aga hachya. Yn y dhorn yma dew lyver da.

“Gwra mires, Morwena, Tas-gwynn a garsa an lyver ma.“

Y whrons i mos tre gans an dhew lyver.

Vocabulary

yma – is . Cf. Welsh (W) mae

ha, hag – and. W. a, ac

y2 – his. Causes the second (soft) mutation to applicable consonants. W. ei

whor (f) sister. NB wh- does not mutate. W. chwaer

ow4 in this case, a verbal noun particle. W. yn, Ir/Sc G ag. Causes fourth (hard) mutation to applicable consonants. Cornish has no fewer than four mutations (!), listed as the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th state mutations in Cornish text books. Compare this with one mutation in modern Scots Gaelic (lenition), two in Irish and Manx (lenition and eclipsis/nasal mutation), three in Welsh (lenition/soft, aspirate and nasal) and Breton (lenition, aspirate and hard); Breton and Welsh both also have a “mixed” mutation but unlike Cornish it doesn’t create a new scheme of mutated consonants that don’t appear elsewhere. The Cornish mutations are as follows:

- the 2nd state mutation is a soft mutation, like the Welsh soft mutation, causing (p>b, b>v, m>v, t>d, d>dh, ch>j, c/k>g, g>w or Ø)

- the 3rd state mutation is an aspirate mutation, like Welsh aspirate mutation, causing (p>f, t>th, c/k>h, qw>wh)

- the 4th state mutation is a ‘hard’ mutation, creating unvoiced sounds, causing (b>p, d>t, g>c/k/q)

- the 5th state mutation is a mix of the aspirate and hard mutations, causing (b>f/v, m>f/v, d>t, g>wh).

Letters not mentioned in the above lists are not mutated.

mos to go

dhe to. W. i, Cf. Irish (Ir) do, Scots Gaelic (ScG) do/dhan

’n, an the. W. y, yr. Ir/ScG an. Note that as in W. the same form of the article is used for singular and plural definite forms, whereas in Ir/ScG an is singular only.

lyverva library. W. llyfrgell, but cf. W. ending -fa ‘place of’ as in swyddfa office.

i they

a garsa would like. From cara to like. i a garsa they would like. Cornish is structurally a VSO language like the other Celtic languages, but it also has a number of “impersonal” verb forms where the subject/pronoun comes before an uninflected (for person/number) form of the verb, separated by verbal particle a2, which causes the 2nd mutation. So the meaning is something like “[it is] them who would like”. In doing so it gives the impression of an SVO word order, possibly something that might have been influenced by the surrounding English language as Cornish declined?

cavos to get, find

nebes (a) few (takes plural form)

lyver (m) book, plural lyvrow

tochya to touch. Here meaning “concerning”

bal (m) mine. pl. balyow. Not sure if cognate with W. pwll pit?

coth old. Does not seem to be cognate with W. hen, Ir sean, ScG seann, but rather Breton (Br.) kozh

y(n) in. W, Ir i

’ga3, aga3their. Probably not cognate with W. eu their but note the similarity with Ir acu, ScG aca at them, often used in possessive constructions, but not used directly as a possessive pronoun as in Cornish.

ranndir (m) area, district. W rhandir

whithra to search, investigate. Similar to W. chwilio

jynnjy engine house. Presumably from Eng. loanword jynn engine + chi house. Plural jynnjiow

kemmer take (imperative form of kemeres take). W. cymryd, cymer-

gwith care. Here with second mutation as with. As in Welsh, the soft mutation used for the direct object of a verb appearing after the explicit or implied subject. Cf perhaps W. gwyliad(wriaeth) caution

na that. Appears after the noun hence an lyvrow na those books. ‘This’ is ma, used in the same way.

codha to fall. Note that the 4th state mutation after ow4 does not change initial c-

Wella boy’s name

a wra does. This is the impersonal (3rd person singular) form of gul do, which is gwra reduced to wra after the soft mutation caused by a2, as above. Cf. W. gwneud. In this case it is used as an dummy auxiliary verb - much as English do has a dummy auxiliary function as in “do you like that?”.

cachya to catch. From English, presumably. Here in the aspirate 3rd state after aga3 their giving aga hachya ‘their catching’. Similar to Welsh, the possessive pronoun is used with the verbal noun to indicate a direct object, i.e. ‘catching them’. So the phrase Wella a wra aga hachya means lit. ‘[It is] Wella who does their catching’ or more naturally ‘Wella catches them’

dorn (m) fist. From which yn y dhorn in his fist

da good. Same as W. da

gwra do! (imperative form of gul). As above, acts as auxiliary verb for following action verb.

mires to look. Hence gwra mires look!

tas-gwynn (m) grandfather. Lit. “white (gwynn) father (tas)“. Grandmother is similarly dama-wynn “white lady”.

y whrons i they do. y5introduces the statement form of the verb (cf. Welsh fe, mi) and takes the 5th state mutation (softening and devoicing g-), which in this case converts gwrons to whrons. As above the verb is acting as an auxiliary to mos go.

tre (f) town, farm (seen in the names of a number of Cornish villages), but here as an adverb meaning home(wards)

gans with

dew (m) two. Here with soft mutation after an, and note the use of the singular noun after the number. The cardinal numbers in Cornish (which are very similar to Welsh) from 1-10 are:

1 onen/unn

2 dew/diw

3 tri/teyr

4 peswar/peder

5 pymp

6 whegh

7 seyth

8 eth

9 naw

10 deg

Translation

Yma Peder hag y whor, Morwena, ow mos dhe’n lyverva.

Peter and his sister Morwena are going to the library.

I a garsa cavos nebes lyvrow tochya an balyow coth y’ga ranndir.

They would like to find a few books about the old mines in their area.

Peder ha Morwena a gar whithra an jynnjiow.

Peter and Morwena like investigating the engine houses.

“Kemmer with!”

“Take care!”

“Yma’n lyvrow na ow codha, Peder”.

“Those books are falling, Peter.”

Wella a wra aga hachya. Yn y dhorn yma dew lyver da.

Wella catches them. In his hand are two good books.

“Gwra mires, Morwena, Tas-gwynn a garsa an lyver ma.“

“Look, Morwena, Grandad would like this book.”

Y whrons i mos tre gans an dhew lyver.

They go home with the two books.

Text 2

The second text is the Cornish version of a well-known song, and a different orthography has been used, reflecting a Late Cornish approach. See if you can work out the song before you read the translation.

Spladn che steran vian spladn,

War an moar ha'n doar en dadn.

Dres an clowdes, otta che,

Carra jowal ‘terlentry.

Spladn che steran vian spladn,

War an moar ha'n doar en dadn.

Vocabulary

spladn bright. Note alternative spelling splann, which can be pronounced /nn/ or /dn/. Further alternative spellings shown in brackets below. Not sure what this may be cognate to, but same word is used in Breton: splann

che (also jy) you. W. ti

steran (also steren) (f) star. Cf. Welsh seren

bian (also byhan/byghan) little, here lenited after feminine noun as vian. W. bach, bychan

war on. W ar

moar (also mor) (m) sea. W. môr

doar (also dor) (m) earth, soil. W daear

en dadn (also yn dann) under. W. tan

dres above, across. W ar draws

clowd, clowdes (also clowdys) cloud(s). From English.

otta behold, here is.

carra (also cara) like. W. caru. The odd thing here is that carra/cara means to like, be fond of, rather than English like=as, which would be avel. I wonder if this is a translation issue on the part of whoever translated the song into Cornish.

jowal jewel. From English

’terlentry.to twinkle. I think the apostrophe here might represent a missing verbal particle ow, described in Text 1 above. Not sure what this word might be cognate to, but note Breton terenn ray of light

Translation

Spladn che steran vian spladn,

Bright, (are) you, little star, bright.

War an moar ha'n doar en dadn.

Upon the sea and the earth below.

Dres an clowdes, otta che,

Above the clouds, there you are!

Carra jowal 'terlentry.

Like a twinkling jewel

Spladn che steran vian spladn,

Bright, (are) you, little star, bright

War an moar ha'n doar en dadn.

Upon the sea and the earth below.

As ever, I hope people found this latest ‘excursion’ interesting. Do let me know if so.

Not sure if there are any Cornish learners on tumblr? If so - corrections or comments welcome!

So where next? I’m basically working my way through my bookshelf and I suppose will work my way round the globe little by little…

#cornish #languages #linguistics #langblr

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indielinguist · 6 years

Text

Oneida sounds and the alphabet:

Vowels:

There are six vowel sounds. They are represented by the following letters:

a, e, i, o, u, ʌ The first four are oral vowels and correspond to the following English sounds:

a as in ah or father e as in they i as in ski o asinno

The last two are nasal vowels spoken as if an n sound always followed: u as in tune ʌ as in ton

Consonants:

Four consonants are known as resonants and are very close to the sounds of the English letters:

l as in low n asinno w as in will y as in yes

Examples: la lo ye yʌ wa wi nu nʌ

 There is also an h sound, which is pronounced as a breath of air as in hello. This sound is far more common in Oneida than it is in English and it occurs in Oneida in places such as before consonants where it does not occur in English. The sound itself is not difficult for English speakers to produce, but it will take some practice to produce it before consonants.

Examples: ha he hi ho hʌ hu ahla ahya ihle ehnʌ ohwa ohlu

Three consonants have sounds that vary slightly depending on the surrounding sounds: t before a vowel or resonant consonant (l, w, y, or n)

as in still (more like an English d) before other sounds (or silence or whispering) as in till

Examples: ta te ti to tʌ tu tha the thi tho thʌ thu tlu atla tye atyʌ twe ʌtwe tni etni thlu athla thye athyʌ thwe ʌthwe thni ethni

k before a vowel or resonant consonant as in skill (more like an English g) before other sounds (or silence or whispering) as in kill

Examples: ka ke ki ko kʌ ku kha khe khi kho khʌ khu klo ʌklo kya akya kwʌ akwʌ kna okna

khlo ʌkhlo khya akhya khwʌ akhwʌ khna okhna

s before a vowel or resonant consonant as in was (more like an English z) before other sounds (or silence or whispering) as in see There is variation among speakers in the pronunciation of s. It is often somewhere between an s and a z sound, but all agree that when the sound comes between two vowels, it is most like a z.

 There is also a glottal stop in Oneida and it is represented by this symbol ʔ This is the catch that is made in the throat between the two vowels in uh-uh or uh-oh or oh-oh. It is used as a regular consonant in Oneida. However, it never occurs immediately after another consonant.

 In the following examples notice the differences between glottal stop and neither before a consonant: ata ahta aʔta

ekʌ ehkʌ eʔkʌ inu ihnu iʔnu iko ihko iʔko

Special combinations:

 A few additional sounds are represented by special combinations of letters.

tsy (before vowels) or tsi (before consonants) is used to represent the sound of the j in English judge or the g in gee whiz

Examples: tsya tsye tsi tsyo tsyʌ tsyu

tshy (before vowels) or tshi (before consonants) is used to represent the sound of the ch in church

Examples: tshya tshye tshi tshyo tshyʌ tshyu

sy is used to represent the sound of the sh in she Examples: sya sye syi syo syʌ syu

#Oneida #language #linguistics

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