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Why are the phonemes of Tutankhamun's throne name transliterated out of order?
Tutankhamun's throne name in the sacred writing is as follows:
Which, from the bottom, represent ideograms conventionally pronounced as Neb-U-Kheper-Ra.
However, when the name is transliterated (for example on the Wikipedia) it is given as…
Tyler Durden
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How to synthesize French vowels
I am trying to synthesize the French vowels [o] and [ɔ] for running a perception experiment. I have been using the Praat Vocal Toolkit and got pretty nice results with the following formant values: F1(o)=430, F2(o)=800 Hz, F1(ɔ)=490, F2(ɔ)=1000 (I…
ben
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Does paucal always represent the same number range per language?
In some hypothetical language, could ten grains of rice be paucal but ten people be plural because ten grains of rice are only a few, whereas ten people are a lot?
Or is paucal grammatically stricter than that and applies to an exact range per…
CJ Dennis
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What sounds do the graphemes ⟨ś⟩ and ⟨ź⟩ represent in Montenegrin?
As of 2009 the Montenegrin alphabet was adopted in Montenegro. It consists of the same alphabet as used in Serbia, with the addition of two graphemes.
The graphemes ⟨ś⟩/⟨с́⟩ and ⟨ź⟩/⟨з́⟩ are said to represent sounds unique amongst the Shtokavian…
Danger Fourpence
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7
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2 answers
Basic syntax notation: noun phrase vs determiner phrase
I'm a first-semester student in linguistics and I need clarifications regarding the following trees:
(1) and (2)
My course notes seem to stick with the first kind of notation but when I read about X-bar, I find both being used in different…
fauxneticien
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7
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What is the best linguistic term for describing the kw > p / gw > b change, and its usual companion s > h
Celtic, Italic, Greek and several other IE languages have a P- and a Q-variety (from kw > p and gw > b). The P-variety usually also has h for ancient s.
What would be the best linguistic term for describing this combined phenomenon? Labialization?…
7
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What's weird about Proto-Indo-European Stops?
I was reading Wikipedia, and it maintains that it's unusual for a language to have a voiceless-voiced-breathy distinction (without a voiceless aspirated), but that the Sanskrit 4-way distinction is less weird. I've also heard of the glottalic theory…
Mr. Nichan
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7
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At what point did the feminine ending fall silent in Semitic languages?
Hebrew and Arabic both mark feminine nouns with a final consonant in writing, which is pronounced /t/ in certain sandhi-conditioned environments (and is otherwise silent). From what little I know of Punic, it was the same: the name written Elišat…
Draconis
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7
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Which language has the most vowel phonemes?
Which language has the largest number of vowels with minimal pairs?
Rock
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7
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3 answers
Why isn't intervocalic /ŋ/ analyzed as an onset in English?
I think that sɪ.ŋɪŋ does not seem too unreasonable as a syllabification of the word singing, so I'm a bit puzzled why that option for the syllabification of intervocalic /ŋ/ seems to be dismissed in all of the literature about English…
brass tacks
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7
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Why does ambient conversation in the same language confuse me when I recite, but in another language not?
I pray in Hebrew. Many of my prayers have fixed wordings; as such, sometimes (alas) I wind up reciting them without wholly concentrating on what I'm saying.
When I'm doing so, I find that concurrent ambient conversation in Hebrew tends to confuse me…
msh210
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7
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What exactly is the definition of a syllable?
I do not consider myself a linguist. I just teach English to Japanese audience. So please excuse my ignorance if this is too basic a question.
What exactly is the definition of a syllable? What I often see is essentially this: a syllable is a series…
Yasuro
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7
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Is there a convenient tool for drawing (dialect) maps?
I need to draw a dialect map, splitting an area up into differently coloured regions. Is there an online tool for creating dialect maps?
Of course, any map drawing tool where I can take an existing map and draw lines, shade areas, label etc. would…
Danger Fourpence
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7
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How do languages with negative concord express the actual negation of negative polarity items?
This is something I started wondering while working on formal logic, but I'm having trouble finding any papers that address it. Obviously, the standard way to express negation with a polarity item in languages/dialects with negative concord is as…
eijen
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7
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Will the pitch of a vowel influence its formant values?
Since that the F0 i.e. the pitch is the first harmonic and all formants are the i-th harmonics, is it possible that the formants of a vowel in a high tone are higher than those in a lower tone?
For example, imagin a language which has a L tone and…
C.K.
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