Search results for 'tag:Numbers tag:Phonetics' matching tags 'Numbers' and 'Phonetics'

the ~ thee

Philip — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 04:47:49 GMT

Native speaker here, asking for perceptions of other native speakers, especially those who have a basic knowledge of linguistics.

Of course, I know the rule about pronouncing 'the' as 'thee' before vowel sounds: thee afternoon, thee apple, thee orange, thee hour. However, how about when the first vowel sound of the word is 'eee'. I would say the utopian concept, the usual suspects. I believe this is standard. Keep in mind that the first vowel sound of these words is eee rather than u. [Keep in mind I'm using standard English spelling to represent the sounds rather than the International Phonetic Alphabet.]

The real question now: do we actually say thee evening, thee even numbers, thee eventuality or do we say the before these words? I've tried to evaluate my own speech patterns, and I think I use the. Just wondering if I'm alone. Thanks for any ideas.

Re: How to remember all the vocabulary and use them well?

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:34:12 GMT

To remember words; you rely on mnemonics my friend. Memory is one of the wonders of the world , to understand it you must learn about it . The more one knows about memory the better s/he can take advantage of it.

Back in the days we used the old fashioned method's . Simply looking at the word and recall. We then relied on "repetition" and flashcards . Back in the days.

In the new era we use phonetics, associations and visual aids. You want to memorize well is that right? Well then , get rid of the old days and walk into the new world.

Here is how one does it. If for example you get the word Aloof.The word means distant physically or emotionally ;reserved and remote. This may be a bit advanced for now but try this: use the a as an adjective , a will represent the denotation "a" . Now take a look at l . l will represent the denotation "long" . Now we have oof . Add r in front. The result is roof. Make a sentence . A LONG ROOF. So now this is one word , so if you get the word ambulate. Once again , this is the same thing , ambulance , and you got te left , spell out a word with te , make tea. Ambulance with a teapot on top. The meaning of ambulate is moving about place to place. So think of this ambulance with a teapot on top moving about , so find a word for a destination. If you want. Amatory - of , relating to or expression of love , especially sexually. Once again , split the word, A will represent a . m will represent massive , atory , make the word factory , A MASSIVE FACTORY. Now combine the amulance with the factory. Associations , dont stop! Keep going . When the ambulance is going about and about , it will arrive at the massive factory that creates sex toys representing love and sex . The person steps out of the ambulance to see a long roof on the ground , now its your turn what is on top of that roof? This is a chain method. If the chain gets too big you can then think of another world. The number system; think of it this way, 1-10 , number 1 will represent world 1 . In world one this is happening , the next chain you want for a dif category , use it in world 2 . If you play an mmorpg you have a very big advantage , you should contact me at dominator194@gmail.com . I will be able to help you out more , that is , if you play an mmorpg , because one has two worlds to memorize with. This is the step towards photographic memory , one keeps on learning this technique. Play with the words and control them.

hi.please help me can any one check statement of purpose and can guide me f

Ahnajfi — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 16:26:53 GMT

My interest in Science and English dates back to my school days. Being an inquisitive boy, I always have been eager to learn more and more around me. My interest in wide range of subjects and my inner aspiration helped me a lot to acquire a significant knowledge of the Science, history and culture of the world. With the passage of time my eagerness for knowledge got specified and my desire to go deeper into my subjects intensified.

After completing my graduation with chemistry Biology and English I started teaching in Sir Syed Secondary School âa reputable institute of District Sahiwal (Pakistan). Here I had a chance to instill my curiosity and my knowledge into my students. I gave them the basic concepts of Science and taught them how to use correct English. I also learned from their questions as my teachers had from mine. Along with teaching I also worked as an educational counselor by keeping close relation with students and their parents.

To familiarize my self with latest teaching and management techniques I got admission in bachelor of Education (B.Ed) program of Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad. In this course I learned to teach English and science at elementary level.

Major subjects during this course were school administration and management education psychology, theories of education and Evaluation. At the end of the course I completed ten days workshop in which I was selected the representative of the class. I also helped the other trainee teacher.

The most important decision in my life was when I took admission in master in English language and literature. I have got a chance to get a wide range of knowledge in the realm of English the core courses during my master in English which have a great effect on my personality were English drama, Novel, poetry, linguistics and phonetics, English grammar and teaching of English as a foreign language (TEFL).During this study work I explored the world of English literature. I at once fell in love with a work of CHAUCER, SHAKESPEARE and BERTRAND RUSSEL which are the most humanistic writers of the world. This course has greatly improved my language skills. Now a days, I am teaching English and science in Govt middle school.

My hobbies are reading literature, watching English movies and listening English programmes of radio(like BBC,VOA ).i am also a good player of basket ball .i love to read about the history and culture of different nations and like to discuss and solve educational problems of teachers and students. But my ultimate aim is to improve and develop myself first then works for human beings at higher level in the field of education. My independence and full responsibility for myself have driven me to a higher level of maturity than many of my peers, a quality that differentiates me form many other applicants.

I have studied all about your program of studies, course content really attract me to join this master level program. This will develop in me different skills and broaden my perspective of life in the light of alternative points of views. Also on the completion of this master level program I will be able to analyze and assess the change process in education and may examine all these from a number of perspective

I am highly aware of the superb reputation of your current program. Course contents have served to deepen my interest in attending; I know that, in addition to your excellent faculty, your facilities like libraries are among the best. I hope u will give me the privilege of continuing my studies at the fine institutions of Europe

Re: Which language is most difficult language for people to learn?

Hoa Thai — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 12:43:06 GMT

CalifJim wrote:
I read somewhere that Mario Pei, the linguist, tried to learn a different language every year. He supposedly claimed that Vietnamese was the most difficult.

CJ

I disagree with the linguist Mario Pei not because I am a Vietnamese. It is because I have seen, in my country, a couple of TV hosts and many shop owners speak our language fluently and write better than most of our people do. Amazingly, all of them have lived in Vietnam for only a few years. For instance, Joe Ruelle, who has been in Vietnam for only 3 years or so, has his own blog written in perfect Vietnamese and speaks the language without a foreign trace. People say that Joe is a Vietnamese who had plastic surgery in order to look like a Canadian!

For me, after years of learning French, English, Japanese, and Korean in that order - I find that:

1. Korean is the easiest to learn. After learning its unique phonetic vowels and consonants, one can arrange them together to form / spell various monosyllabic words; and string the words together, using a few grammar rules, to make sensible sentences. After two years learning the language, I now can comfortably watch KBS TV- programs.

2. French is second. Its grammar is structural and without exceptions. Spelling the words is as they sound. The hardest part is to memorize the gender of its vocabulary (i.e., masculine vs. feminine).

3. English is next. This multi-syllable language has the richest dictionary in the world with all of the borrowed words from a score or more foreign languages, including Latin / French / German / Japanese / Vietnamese, etcâ¦you name it. It also has too many exceptions in both grammar and pronunciation, along with its homophones and all of its nym's (homonym, capitonym, etcâ¦) that give Spelling-Bee contestants nightmares.

4. Finally, Japanese is the hardest with its two syllabaries: hiragana and katakana, plus about 8000 kanji's. This multi-syllable ideographic language is too culturally, hierarchically, and gender sensitive. I was told, one needs to know about 2000 kanji's to reach college-level proficiency and 2000 more or so to be considered as a scholar. In number, those are not huge compared to hundred-thousands in English but they take a decade or more to learn! Thus, the language is VERY difficult.

After 2 years learning the language, I can only manage to limitedly engage in daily, social conversation and no more. Now my Japanese friends rather use their broken English to talk to me! I owe them a lot since they have to deal with the language, to them, is the most difficult one in the world.

Having said that, I must say all languages are equally difficult for foreigners, who are not familiar with the cultures in which they are used, to learn. Absorbing literal meanings might be manageable, but understanding the deep connotation is often impossible.

CIAO,

Hoa Thai

Re: Help! What's a syllable!

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 18:07:05 GMT

OK, The syllable is the consisting of a center which has little or no obstruction to the air flow, you shoul see phonetics and phonology from Peter Roach..
U can tell the number of syllables when u find obstruction to the air flow, example:
this is a minimum Sylable; are /a:/
you see , no obstruction.
now see this: cookie; /kuki/ you see KU and then an obstruction to say Ki ,, there are 2 syllables... don't worry I´m studying that too, but I'm from Colombia

Re: What do you know and think about Germany?

Dew 2007 — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 08:02:50 GMT

I can speak German as well as English and Spanish and so I had an opportunity of speaking to Germans and meeting quite a number of people from Germany and can say that they are quite good people.

It took me quite a lot of time to read throught the whole topic and to make up my own opinion about what has already been told here.

First of all I can say I like Germans for their pragmatic views of life and their practical approach to many things. One can say that they are too pragmatic, but I dare say it's a good kind of pragmatism.

As for the pop culture and songs, I think it's not the lack of flexibility of the language (which is not at all true) but for some phonetic reasons that the songs in German do not sound so attractive as in English or Spanish.

I respect Germans for their hard working nature. And though I am from Russia, the ciuntry that suffred most during the World War II and I lost many of my relatives during the war, I don't think we should blame the Germans for what had happened. we should blame fascism - and fascism has no nationality: it can exist in every country.

So, let's be friends. And I am glad that Germany and Russia have very friendly relations now.

Re: Help!!Help!!

MissUAE — Tue, 01 May 2007 11:53:08 GMT

Ok this is my task, but i wana from u to organise and paraphrase it, please??

Really i will not forget ur help

thanks alo0o0o0ot

Historical linguistic:

History and Development

Modern historical linguistics dates from the late 18th century and grew out of the earlier discipline of philology, the study of ancient texts and documents, which goes back to antiquity.

At first historical linguistics was comparative linguistics and mainly concerned with establishing language families and the reconstruction of prehistoric languages, using the comparative method and internal reconstruction. The focus was on the well-known Indo-European languages, many of which had long written histories. But since then, significant comparative linguistic work has been done on the Uralic languages, Austronesian languages and various families of Native American languages, among many others. Comparative linguistics is now, however, only a part of a more broadly conceived discipline of historical linguistics. For the Indo-European languages comparative study is now a highly specialised field and most research is being carried out on the subsequent development of these languages, particularly the development of the modern standard varieties.

Initially, all modern linguistics was historical in orientation - even the study of modern dialects involved looking at their origins. But Saussure drew a distinction between synchronic and diachronic linguistics, which is fundamental to the present day organization of the discipline. Primacy is accorded to synchronic linguistics, and diachronic linguistics is defined as the study of successive synchronic stages. Saussure's clear demarcation, however, is now seen to be idealised. In practice, a purely synchronic linguistics is not possible for any period before the invention of the gramophone: written records always lag behind speech in reflecting linguistic developments, and in any case are difficult to date accurately before the development of the modern title page. Also, the work of sociolinguists on linguistic variation has shown synchronic states are not uniform: the speech habits of older and younger speakers differ in ways which point to language change. Synchronic variation is linguistic change in progress.

The biological origin of language is in principle part of the remit of historical linguistics, but most linguistics regard it as too remote to be reliably established by the comparative method, given the remoteness from historical records. Other techniques, such as mass lexical comparison, are regarded by some as means of overcoming the limitations of the comparative method, but most linguists regard them as unreliable.

The findings of historical linguistics are often used as a basis for hypotheses about the groupings and movements of peoples, particularly in the prehistoric period. However, it is now recognized that relating language to ethnic identity is problematic, as is relating language history to archaeological or genetic evidence.

Generative linguistic

Generative linguistics is a school of thought within linguistics that makes use of the concept of a generative grammar. The term "generative grammar" is used in different ways by different people, and the term "generative linguistics" therefore has a range of different, though overlapping, meanings.

Formally, a generative grammar is defined as one that is fully explicit. It is a finite set of rules that can be applied to generate exactly those sentences (often, but not necessarily, infinite in number) that are grammatical in a given language (or, of course, particular dialect or otherwise sociolinguistically defined way of using a language), and no others. This is the definition that is offered by Noam Chomsky, who popularised the term, and by most dictionaries of linguistics. It is important to note that generate is being used as a technical term with a slightly obscure sense. To say that a grammar generates a sentence means that the grammar "assigns a structural description" to the sentence.^[1]

More popularly, but somewhat to the apparent distaste of certain professional linguists including Chomsky, the term is used to define the approach to linguistics taken by Chomsky and his followers. Chomsky's approach is characterised by the use of transformational grammar - a theory that has changed greatly since it was first promulgated by Chomsky in his 1957 book Syntactic Structures - and by the assertion of a strong linguistic nativism (and therefore an assertion that some set of fundamental characteristics of all human languages must be the same). The term "generative linguistics" is often applied to the earliest version of Chomsky's transformational grammar, which was associated with a distinction between "Deep Structure" and "Surface Structure" of sentences.

Chomsky also launched his approach to linguistics with a virulent attack on alternative approaches, in particular the behaviorist view then popular, in the form in which it had been put forward by B. F. Skinner in a book also published in 1957, Verbal Behavior. A final, and still looser, meaning of "generative linguistics", therefore, might be summarised as "anti-Skinnerian linguistics" - or just generalised anti-behaviorism.

Psycholinguistics, which in the early 1960s was developing rapidly as part of the general movement towards cognitive psychology, found this anti-behaviorist emphasis congenial, and rapidly absorbed many Chomskian ideas including the notion of generative grammar. However, as both cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics have matured, they have found less and less use for generative linguistics, not least because Chomsky has repeatedly emphasised that he never intended to specify the mental processes by which people actually generate sentences, or parse sentences that they hear or read.

Cognitive linguistics emerged in the latter years of the twentieth century as an alternative linguistic paradigm to generative linguistics. Cognitive linguistics seeks to unify the understanding of language with the understanding of how specific neural structures function biologically. This is more a difference in practical research strategy than in philosophy: in principle, neurological evidence has always been considered relevant by generative linguists, but in practice it has usually been regarded as too inconclusive and open to interpretation to be of much use. However, some researchers within generative linguistics (e.g. Alec Marantz) publish in neurolinguistics.

Descriptive linguistic:

Descriptive linguistics is the work of analyzing and describing how language is spoken (or how it was spoken in the past) by a group of people in a speech community. All scholarly research in linguistics is descriptive; like all other sciences, its aim is to observe the linguistic world as it is, without the bias of preconceived ideas about how it ought to be.

Linguistic description is often contrasted with linguistic prescription, which is found especially in education and in publishing. Prescription seeks to define standard language forms and give advice on effective language use, and can be thought of as the attempt to present the fruits of descriptive research in a learnable form, though it also draws on more subjective aspects of language aesthetics. Prescription and description are essentially complementary, but have different priorities and sometimes are seen to be in conflict.

Accurate description of real speech is a difficult problem, and linguists have often been reduced to grossly inaccurate approximations. Almost all linguistic theory has its origin in practical problems of descriptive linguistics. Phonology (and its theoretical developments, such as the phoneme) deals with how native speakers pronounce their languages. Syntax has developed to describe what happens when phonetics has reduced spoken language to a normalized control level. Lexicography collects "words" and their derivations and transformations: it has not given rise to much generalized theory.

An extreme "mentalist" viewpoint denies that the linguistic description of a language can be done by anyone but a competent speaker. Such a speaker has internalized something called "linguistic competence", which gives them the ability to extrapolate correctly from their experience new but correct expressions, and to reject unacceptable expressions.

There are tens of thousands of linguistic descriptions of thousands of languages that were prepared by people without adequate linguistic training. With a few honorable exceptions, all linguistic descriptions done before ca. 1900 are amateur productions.

Re: Changing accent when you move to somewhere else

Marvin A. — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 01:59:52 GMT

Well, it depends on a number of factors. If you know phonetics, you can modify or consciously prevent yourself from modifying your accent. It also depends on how much you like the place that you move to. So, for example, if the 30 year old moved to Texas and loved it, loved the people, and thought of himself as a local, rather than just a Caliornian who moved to Texas, he would readily try to speak with a Texas accent, to differentiate himself from people that just moved moved there from other places. However, if he did not completely assimilate the accent, what is most likely would be that he would sound like a "Yankee" to the Texans, and like a Texan to Californians. The reason being, that he would have some features that sounded like a Texan accent--which would be readily noticible to Californians, but he would have also have some features that would remind Texans of a California accent. However... Texas is a big state, and many people in the major cities, do not have what is thought of as a Texas accent. Also, Western Texas does have a Western or transitional Western accent that is pretty well indistinguishable from a California accent (pretty well indistinguishable from my own accent even...)

But, lets say that the above mentioned ex-Californian, went to Texas and hated it. He did not identify with the people, and wanted to distinguish himself from them as much as possible from the locals. He would hang on to his Californian accent as much as possible, and try to resist any Texas vowels creeping in there. Of course he would have some changes, but chances are his accent would still be pretty darn close to a California accent.

Age (after a certain age) has little to do with it. A 20 year old and a 60 year old that move somewhere else will have about the same changes in accent (depending on the above mentioned factors.) I know someone who is 80, that moved here from Russia when he was twenty, and he still sounds like he just got here a month ago.

Most people in general will get an accent that is somewhere in between--an American that lived in England for 20 years (and moved there when he was 30 lets say), will usually sound perfectly American to the British, and perfectly British to Americans.

Re: four-letter man

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 21:29:58 GMT

Anonymous answer to your question.

four O.E. feower, from P.Gmc. *petwor- (cf. O.S. fiwar, O.Fris. fiuwer, Frank. fitter-, Du. and Ger. vier, O.N. fjorir, Dan. fire, Sw. fyra), from PIE *qwetwor (cf. Skt. catvarah, Avestan cathwaro, Pers. catvar, Gk. tessares, L. quattuor, Oscan petora, O.C.S. cetyre, Lith. keturi, O.Ir. cethir, Welsh petguar).The phonetic evolution of the Gmc. forms has not been fully explained. Fourteen is O.E. feowertyne. Slang four-eyes "person who wears glasses" first recorded 1874. Four-flusher is 1904, from verb four-flush "to bluff a poker hand, claim a flush with only four cards in the suit" (1896). Four-letter word first attested 1934; four-letter man, however, is recorded from 1923 (as a euphemism for a ***). A four-in-hand (1793) was a carriage with four horses driven by one person; in the sense of "loosely tied necktie" it is attested from 1892. To study The History of the Four Kings (1760, cf. Fr. Livres des Quatre Rois) contains euphemistic slang phrase for "a pack of cards" from the time when card-playing was considered a wicked pastime for students. Slang 4-1-1 is from the telephone number called to get customer information.Anonymous! Don't reply.

Re: ONE chart for sounds produced by MANY humans ???

Englishuser — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 14:31:30 GMT

Hi J4mes_bond25,

We can only produce sounds that our speech organs allow us to produce. Therefore, yes, there is a limited number of sounds one can produce. That's why a fifty-five-year-old male cannot quite produce sounds typical of a five-year-old girl (his vocal cords simply prevent him from doing so).

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) includes symbols for almost all known human languages. The most detailed and specific set of the IPA can discriminate between accents, even idolects. However, even more specific transcriptions can be accomplished thanks to sound-spectographs.