Timeline for Does English language stand special in terms of phonology?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
18 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jul 4, 2019 at 1:15 | answer | added | Mitsuko | timeline score: 6 | |
| Dec 13, 2014 at 4:10 | vote | accept | Anixx | ||
| Nov 21, 2012 at 4:41 | history | edited | Anixx | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Nov 17, 2012 at 7:11 | answer | added | Netch | timeline score: 6 | |
| Nov 15, 2012 at 7:47 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/#!/StackLinguist/status/268983712077721600 | ||
| Nov 14, 2012 at 1:37 | comment | added | lapropriu | Here's a vague suggestion that doesn't merit a full "answer": perhaps what's tripping you up is the rhythm of the language, which could be an important cue to word boundaries. Traditionally, English has been called a "stress-timed" language, compared to Italian, Romanian etc ("syllable-timed") or Japanese ("mora-timed"). Phonetically, it's unclear what these impressionistic descriptions are picking up on, but it might be worth looking into other "stress-timed" languages and seeing how you do there. Wikipedia "isochrony". | |
| Nov 14, 2012 at 1:33 | comment | added | lapropriu | @Anixx Reading your exchange with Damkeng T. below, it seems that the problem is not English in songs, but spoken English in general. This is an important detail. | |
| Nov 13, 2012 at 20:44 | comment | added | Anixx | @lapropriu while there are really contrived examples, I suggest a song that many English speakers would not consider that difficult: Madonna's "Don't cry for me, Argentina" youtube.com/watch?v=u-XrAyCuXGs . The only word that is clear for me in that song, is the name of the country, Argentina. I think this song's style is typical. | |
| Nov 13, 2012 at 6:21 | comment | added | hippietrail | @Alenanno: Oh yeah that's how other Scandinavians describe spoken Danish! (-: And of course I absolutely have this problem with Danish too - I just didn't think of it when listing Korean and Georgian. | |
| Nov 13, 2012 at 4:02 | comment | added | lapropriu | How about a few examples of English-language songs that mystify you so much. Is it a particular style of music? I'm also curious if you can really write down the sounds of your Romanian/Italian example or if it's just your subjective impression. Has anyone checked your transcriptions and told you that you were very close? | |
| Nov 12, 2012 at 21:05 | answer | added | Damkerng T. | timeline score: 6 | |
| Nov 12, 2012 at 14:41 | comment | added | Anixx | @hippietrail This soung is half in Romanian, half in Italian. youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5yW9Lpjj6iM If I was asked I think I could easily write it down (with my alphabet) and get something close to the original text. I can distiguish all wors, I hear sonds similar to those in Russian etc. I do not understand the speech, but I understand the sounds! | |
| Nov 12, 2012 at 14:38 | vote | accept | Anixx | ||
| Dec 13, 2014 at 4:07 | |||||
| Nov 12, 2012 at 14:24 | answer | added | user483 | timeline score: 8 | |
| Nov 12, 2012 at 14:17 | history | edited | user483 |
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| Nov 12, 2012 at 13:35 | comment | added | Alenanno | Three words: Hot potato accent. Who hasn't heard/read about this, like when someone talked as though they had a hot potato in their mouth? | |
| Nov 12, 2012 at 9:15 | comment | added | hippietrail | For me all the languages you list seem to have a pretty clear sound except for Romanian which tricks me with all its fluid vowel combinations. I find male speakers of Korean and Georgian to be very mumbly and indistinct though. Then again all languages are much clearer in typical (not all) singing styles than in colloquial speech. This might or might not be subjective, or maybe there is an acoustic explanation. | |
| Nov 12, 2012 at 4:53 | history | asked | Anixx | CC BY-SA 3.0 |