July 26th, 2010
This post is about idiosyncratic pronunciations. When I was at SOAS in the 60s, the head of the Department of the Far East, in which I was studying, regularly pronounced English as [ˈeŋɡlɪʃ] and England as [ˈeŋɡlənd]. I have just checked a few dictionaries and can find no reference to these pronunciations anywhere. As far as I remember, the guy had a perfectly normal General English accent.
Going a bit further back in my academic career, a schoolteacher of mine always pronounced the word aborigine as [əˈbɒrɪdʒɪn]. Again the guy’s accent was pretty close to General English. I haven’t found reference to this pronunciation anywhere either.
Finally, while listening to a sample clip of an audiobook read by an American with a Gen Am accent, I was confronted with the word pulpit pronounced as [ˈpʌlpət] (Yes, with a real genuine STRUT vowel). The only reference I can find to this is in LPD where it is labeled as British English Non-RP.
I find idiosyncratic pronunciations like these mystifying. It is easy to see sometimes where they originate. A fairly uncommon word, met with only in writing, can be interpreted using a common, but erroneous, spelling-to-sound rule. What mystifies me is why the pronunciation persists in the face of evidence that it is idiosyncratic.
Posted in Phonetics | 1 Comment »
July 25th, 2010
Camelia sinensis
|
It occurred to me a few days ago that the words for tea in various languages fall into two groups: those that begin with a plosive and those that begin with an affricate. Presumably, they all derive ultimately from the Chinese word 茶 which in Putonghua is pronounced [ʈʂʰá].
Your faithful blogger has investigated and it appears that the plosive words (English, French, German, Italian etc.) derive from the variety of Chinese spoken in Fujian where the word is pronounced [te] (I don’t know about the tone). The affricate words (Russian, Portuguese, Turkish etc.) derive from the Cantonese pronunciation, which as far as I can gather is the same as that for Putonghua.
Posted in Wonderful words | No Comments »
July 21st, 2010
View Larger Map
The Logan Rock
|
The village of Treen in St. Levan parish, just across the bay from Porthcurno, boasts a pub, a few houses and not much else. However, a short walk south from the village brings you to the coast and a quite magnificent headland. This is the site of the Logan [ˈlɒɡən] Rock. You can see it on the upper right in the picture. It is granite, weighs about 80 tons and its name derives from an English dialect word log meaning “to rock to and fro, to oscillate”. Indeed, at one time apparently it could be made to rock with the pressure of one finger applied at the right point.
In 1824 a bunch of sailors, led by a Lieutenant Goldsmith (nephew of Oliver Goldsmith, the poet), took it into their heads to dislodge the rock, possibly in response to local claims that this could never be done. They succeeded and the locals were furious, not least because the rock was a well-known attraction and the local economy benefited greatly from tourists coming to see it. There were calls for Goldsmith to be thrown out of the navy, unless he replaced the rock at his own expense. The Royal Navy stumped up £25 and lent Goldsmith equipment. Eventually, after months of toil, the rock was replaced at a total cost of £130 8s 6d. The original receipt can still be seen in the pub in Treen.
Although the rock doesn’t log as it used to, some claim it can be made to move, if you know how.
——–
Photo credit: Jim Champion, GNU Free Documentation Licence
Posted in Cornwall and Cornish | No Comments »
July 17th, 2010
This is not a rant. Honest. I shall stay calm and reasonable throughout. Honest.
The first lot comes from our old friends, the estate agents, whose recent, entirely understandable and forgivable errorettes include the following:
- A compliant sitting room What the sitting room complies with is not stated. Possibly it is the European Sitting Room Directive, which states: Sitting rooms, wherever possible, should afford a wealth of space for sitting.
- A much sort after location
- A well tendered garden
Then last night on the Film 4 channel the continuity announcer, giving notice of a forthcoming showing of the film Walk the Line, used the word biopic, which she had as [baɪˈɒpɪk]. All I am going to say isː surely it should be [ˈbaɪəʊpɪk].
There. I thought I did very well, don’t you? Of course, what I really meant to say was…
Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »
July 16th, 2010
Following on from yesterday’s post about Lafrowda and the somewhat fanciful etymology proposed for the name, today’s topic is the tiny hamlet of Trevegean, which is not far from St. Just. The name has the rather unexpected pronunciation [trevəˈdʒɪən]. It appears in the records in 1297 as Trevegyon. The name means “chaff farm”. The Revived Kernewek Kemmyn word meaning “chaff” is us [yːz], which is a collective noun. The ‘singulative’ is usenn [ˈyzen]. In West Cornwall [z], when followed by a front highish vowel or [j], often got replaced by [dʒ].
|
The fanciful explanation of the name is “farm of the giant” or even “farm of the giant’s grave”. The story goes that in the 17th century the bones of an enormous person were found in an underground chamber near the hamlet. His arms, they said, were so long that, when he was alive, he could pluck sailors off the decks of ships passing Land’s End and plonk them on the rocks where Longships lighthouse now stands. Why he thought this was a good idea I do not know. He did all sorts of other horrible things, like cooking children in a cauldron and eating them. The Cornish have always seemed inordinately fond of stories about giants — both good and bad.
Posted in Cornwall and Cornish | No Comments »
