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I am in the process of writing a short story featuring a character known as "The Pè". However, I do not want to spell the character's name with an accent, as this is unusual in English. I also want to avoid spelling it "Peh", as this could conceivably be pronounced "pay". What other combinations of letters, if any, would lead to the same pronunciation as "Pè"?-- 142.166.223.135 ( talk) 00:39, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
I had a Hong Kong friend called 'Pei', but she pronounced it as 'poi' (because she was Cantonese). I'd go with using the accent, as it may look strange to English eyes, but at least the name will stand out. KägeTorä - (影虎) ( TALK) 06:36, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
Is there a French/Latin term (that is somewhat used in an English-speaking context) that literally means a "fall from grace" or fall from one's prime? I thought that was what coup de grâce (and coup means stroke, I know) meant, but that refers to death, and that's not exactly what I'm going for. CL ( T · C) — 01:16, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
talk:Pallida_Mors| Mors]] 03:59, 18 October 2011 (UTC)
What specifically do you want to say? The fall of Adam, which in English is the prototypical fall from grace is <<la chute d'Adam>> in French. You could literally say <<la chute de la grâce>>, although that seems a literal and ambiguous translation that doesn't have any support I can find from actual French texts.
Yes, I also imagined the fall of Adam when thinking "fall from grace." I used Google Translate to see what it had to say for that term and it gave me la chute de la grâce, as was said above. An alternate translation was la chute en disgrâce (or would it be en la disgrace? I've never understood the intricacies of definite article usage of Romance languages fully). CL ( T · C) — 04:03, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
There is a character from Oishinbo called...
How is the whole name read? I think I got the last name, but can't make out the first Thanks WhisperToMe ( talk) 02:34, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
is there actually such a phrase? the thing is, I needed to express the idea that a habit wore off on some person (due to exposure to people who had the same habit). I tried to look up "to wear off on s.b." but in all dictionaries I looked in I found only "to wear off" in the sense of diminishing in effect or deteriorating mechanically. But I found "to rub off on s.b.", so, naturally, I thought that maybe I had confused "wear" and "rub", but I definitely remembered there being such a phrase and, in addition I've "wore%20off%20on%20him" found numerous instances where "to wear off on sb" is used by native speakers in what seems exactly that sense. So, is there actually such a phrase with the meaning as above (and is it correct usage)? Уга-уга12 ( talk) 12:53, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
I am used to hearing "rubbed off on somebody" not "wore off". μηδείς ( talk) 18:30, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
language is the only form of communication . how far do you agree ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by HuEy YiN ( talk • contribs) 12:57, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
These homework/test/exam questions are silly. They ask if you agree, so you tell them 'no', and get marked down. Seriously. They ask for an opinion, so you tell them your opinion, and you lose marks for doing exactly as the question asked. KägeTorä - (影虎) ( TALK) 22:35, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
In Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West ( and its sequels), Gregory Maguire uses the term "maunt" in place of "nun" (and "mauntery" in place of "nunnery"). Is he borrowing the term from LFB or does it have a different origin? -- 182.232.245.193 ( talk) 13:58, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
Any Icelandic experts here? Is the pronunciation given at Keflavík correct? The chart at Icelandic orthography suggests it should be [ˈcʰɛplɑˌviːk] rather than [ˈkʰɛplɑˌviːk]. We even have a sound file of it here, but unfortunately I don't have speakers on my computer. Pais ( talk) 16:05, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
See the German interwiki article, de:Isländische Aussprache, and see also the IPA at de:Keflavík. I've been noticing, over the years of my browsing across various Wikipedias, that our German-speaking friends have particularly good content on topics concerning Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and insular Scandinavian languages. The table at the German article suggests ['cʰɛplaviːkʰ] or ['cʰɛʰplaviːkʰ], depending on whether the /p/ is pre-aspirated or not. The initial sound, whether palatal /cʰ/ or palatovelar /kʰ/, is surely aspirated, because in Icelandic, not unlike in Danish and Chinese, plosives are distinguished as aspirated and unaspirated and not as voiced and voiceless.
Here is how Bruno Kress describes Icelandic palatal consonants in his Isländische Grammatik (1982), p. 24.
German
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Palatale Konsonanter § 33. k, g werden vor den palatalen Vokalen í, ý, i, y, e und den Diphthongen ei, ey und æ mit einem besonderen Laut gesprochen. Der Mundverschluß wird mit dem Zungenrücken gegen die höchste Stelle des Gaumens gebildet, weiter nach vorn als bei gewöhnlichem k und g. Dadurch erhält dieser k- und g-Laut einen j-haltigen Charakter, den man bei der Explosion des Lautes am deutlichsten hört. Man glaubt, ein gewöhnliches g + j zu hören. In Wirklichkeit aber sind diese isländischen Laute nicht zusammengesetzt. Umschreibung: [kj], [gj]. [kj] ist palatale aspirierte Tenuis, [gj] ist palatale stimmlose Media und stellt sich als vierte zu den anderen stimmlosen Medien [b], [d], [g].
Anm. Vor anderen Vokalen findet sich ebenfalls palatales [kj] oder [gj]. Die Laute werden dann kj bzw. gj geschrieben.
§ 34. hj. [...] Anm. Nach der geltenden Rechtschreibung wird die Lautverbindung [xjɛ] mit hé- wiedergegeben statt mit hje-: hérað [xjɛ:rað] 'Bezirk' (veraltet: hjerað). § 35. ng. Die Verbindungen ngi, ngj enthalten palatales g [gj], vgl. § 33. [...] § 36. sj. [...] |
In short, Kress describes the characteristics of Icelandic palatal consonants, and both the description and the adduced examples imply that k is indeed palatalised before e but not before é, and that's what the German Wikipedia article says, too. I suspect the reason could be that Icelandic orthographical rules may actually require *ké- to be spelt kje-, see the note at § 34.
Sorry for the too much German text. I will clarify anything if anyone requests it, even though I'm a native speaker of neither German nor English. -- Theurgist ( talk) 23:54, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
In preparation for a visit, I recently asked a German friend, "Is there anything you don't eat". Her response was, "No, there is nothing I disrelish."
Funny, that:
Any suggestions? (Her word OUGHT to exist in English, don't you think?)
-- DaHorsesMouth ( talk) 19:43, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
See productivity (linguistics). The meaning is evident from the roots, so making it up from scratch is acceptable. μηδείς ( talk) 23:03, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
Language desk | ||
---|---|---|
< October 16 | << Sep | October | Nov >> | October 18 > |
Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives |
---|
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages. |
I am in the process of writing a short story featuring a character known as "The Pè". However, I do not want to spell the character's name with an accent, as this is unusual in English. I also want to avoid spelling it "Peh", as this could conceivably be pronounced "pay". What other combinations of letters, if any, would lead to the same pronunciation as "Pè"?-- 142.166.223.135 ( talk) 00:39, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
I had a Hong Kong friend called 'Pei', but she pronounced it as 'poi' (because she was Cantonese). I'd go with using the accent, as it may look strange to English eyes, but at least the name will stand out. KägeTorä - (影虎) ( TALK) 06:36, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
Is there a French/Latin term (that is somewhat used in an English-speaking context) that literally means a "fall from grace" or fall from one's prime? I thought that was what coup de grâce (and coup means stroke, I know) meant, but that refers to death, and that's not exactly what I'm going for. CL ( T · C) — 01:16, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
talk:Pallida_Mors| Mors]] 03:59, 18 October 2011 (UTC)
What specifically do you want to say? The fall of Adam, which in English is the prototypical fall from grace is <<la chute d'Adam>> in French. You could literally say <<la chute de la grâce>>, although that seems a literal and ambiguous translation that doesn't have any support I can find from actual French texts.
Yes, I also imagined the fall of Adam when thinking "fall from grace." I used Google Translate to see what it had to say for that term and it gave me la chute de la grâce, as was said above. An alternate translation was la chute en disgrâce (or would it be en la disgrace? I've never understood the intricacies of definite article usage of Romance languages fully). CL ( T · C) — 04:03, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
There is a character from Oishinbo called...
How is the whole name read? I think I got the last name, but can't make out the first Thanks WhisperToMe ( talk) 02:34, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
is there actually such a phrase? the thing is, I needed to express the idea that a habit wore off on some person (due to exposure to people who had the same habit). I tried to look up "to wear off on s.b." but in all dictionaries I looked in I found only "to wear off" in the sense of diminishing in effect or deteriorating mechanically. But I found "to rub off on s.b.", so, naturally, I thought that maybe I had confused "wear" and "rub", but I definitely remembered there being such a phrase and, in addition I've "wore%20off%20on%20him" found numerous instances where "to wear off on sb" is used by native speakers in what seems exactly that sense. So, is there actually such a phrase with the meaning as above (and is it correct usage)? Уга-уга12 ( talk) 12:53, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
I am used to hearing "rubbed off on somebody" not "wore off". μηδείς ( talk) 18:30, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
language is the only form of communication . how far do you agree ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by HuEy YiN ( talk • contribs) 12:57, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
These homework/test/exam questions are silly. They ask if you agree, so you tell them 'no', and get marked down. Seriously. They ask for an opinion, so you tell them your opinion, and you lose marks for doing exactly as the question asked. KägeTorä - (影虎) ( TALK) 22:35, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
In Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West ( and its sequels), Gregory Maguire uses the term "maunt" in place of "nun" (and "mauntery" in place of "nunnery"). Is he borrowing the term from LFB or does it have a different origin? -- 182.232.245.193 ( talk) 13:58, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
Any Icelandic experts here? Is the pronunciation given at Keflavík correct? The chart at Icelandic orthography suggests it should be [ˈcʰɛplɑˌviːk] rather than [ˈkʰɛplɑˌviːk]. We even have a sound file of it here, but unfortunately I don't have speakers on my computer. Pais ( talk) 16:05, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
See the German interwiki article, de:Isländische Aussprache, and see also the IPA at de:Keflavík. I've been noticing, over the years of my browsing across various Wikipedias, that our German-speaking friends have particularly good content on topics concerning Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and insular Scandinavian languages. The table at the German article suggests ['cʰɛplaviːkʰ] or ['cʰɛʰplaviːkʰ], depending on whether the /p/ is pre-aspirated or not. The initial sound, whether palatal /cʰ/ or palatovelar /kʰ/, is surely aspirated, because in Icelandic, not unlike in Danish and Chinese, plosives are distinguished as aspirated and unaspirated and not as voiced and voiceless.
Here is how Bruno Kress describes Icelandic palatal consonants in his Isländische Grammatik (1982), p. 24.
German
| ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Palatale Konsonanter § 33. k, g werden vor den palatalen Vokalen í, ý, i, y, e und den Diphthongen ei, ey und æ mit einem besonderen Laut gesprochen. Der Mundverschluß wird mit dem Zungenrücken gegen die höchste Stelle des Gaumens gebildet, weiter nach vorn als bei gewöhnlichem k und g. Dadurch erhält dieser k- und g-Laut einen j-haltigen Charakter, den man bei der Explosion des Lautes am deutlichsten hört. Man glaubt, ein gewöhnliches g + j zu hören. In Wirklichkeit aber sind diese isländischen Laute nicht zusammengesetzt. Umschreibung: [kj], [gj]. [kj] ist palatale aspirierte Tenuis, [gj] ist palatale stimmlose Media und stellt sich als vierte zu den anderen stimmlosen Medien [b], [d], [g].
Anm. Vor anderen Vokalen findet sich ebenfalls palatales [kj] oder [gj]. Die Laute werden dann kj bzw. gj geschrieben.
§ 34. hj. [...] Anm. Nach der geltenden Rechtschreibung wird die Lautverbindung [xjɛ] mit hé- wiedergegeben statt mit hje-: hérað [xjɛ:rað] 'Bezirk' (veraltet: hjerað). § 35. ng. Die Verbindungen ngi, ngj enthalten palatales g [gj], vgl. § 33. [...] § 36. sj. [...] |
In short, Kress describes the characteristics of Icelandic palatal consonants, and both the description and the adduced examples imply that k is indeed palatalised before e but not before é, and that's what the German Wikipedia article says, too. I suspect the reason could be that Icelandic orthographical rules may actually require *ké- to be spelt kje-, see the note at § 34.
Sorry for the too much German text. I will clarify anything if anyone requests it, even though I'm a native speaker of neither German nor English. -- Theurgist ( talk) 23:54, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
In preparation for a visit, I recently asked a German friend, "Is there anything you don't eat". Her response was, "No, there is nothing I disrelish."
Funny, that:
Any suggestions? (Her word OUGHT to exist in English, don't you think?)
-- DaHorsesMouth ( talk) 19:43, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
See productivity (linguistics). The meaning is evident from the roots, so making it up from scratch is acceptable. μηδείς ( talk) 23:03, 17 October 2011 (UTC)