languageoficeandfire:

                                                   (Prichard 2012:17)

So a few years back, I wrote my Master’s thesis while an Erasmus student in England and I thought I would share an abridged version with you. I wrote my thesis about the Northern Vowel Shift, under the title : The Old Scandinavian element and its impact in the actuation and development of the Northern Vowel Shift. 

• But first of all, what is the Great Vowel Shift ?
  

It’s an event described as a chain-shift where the lower vowels, in a push-change movement, forced the higher vowels to raise and the highest ones to diphthongise, as such:

                                        [ɔː] → [oː] → [uː] → [aʊ]

                                        [ɛː] → [eː] → [iː] → [aɪ]

This partly explains the discrepancy between sounds and orthography in English. For instance, <ee> in “meet” now pronounced /iː/ used to be pronounced /eː/and <oo> in “goose” now pronounced /uː/used to be /oː/. This large-scale shake-up took place between the mid-14th and the 18th century.

• Why is the Northern Vowel Shift important? 
  

Because, generally, when dealing with the Great Vowel Shift, it is often assumed that it affected the whole of England. However, the upward movement of vowels was not a unified motion as some British English varieties retain pronunciations that were left unmodified by the Shift and thus retain certain pronunciations similar to those of the period before the Shift intervened. The study of the phonological history of the English language, more often than not, tends to describe the evolution of the vowel set of English by the representation of its southern version.

It matters because this focus on the southern version is probably due to a form of social bias; the most prestigious variety in the United Kingdom in present days is RP (Received Pronunciation) / SBE (Southern British English).

The bulk of the literature published to this day on this matter does not really concern northern England. This fact is quite a shame for there are many differences between the Northern Vowel Shift and the Southern Vowel Shift that seem to indicate that the two phenomena are not likely to be connected and merely share a common vocalic shift.

• How did the Great Vowel Shift/Southern Vowel Shift happen ?
  

In a nutshell, this Shift took place because of dialect contacts in the south of England. Smith (2007) mentions that early Tudor London offered economic opportunities to the people of the surrounding countryside, attracting large number of people with different dialectal traditions to the same place. 

Smith (2007:130) argues that the socially salient pronunciation of [e̝ː ; o̝ː] inherited from French was used by a category of the population; System I speakers, and System II speakers from outside London, would perceive these raised [e̝ː ; o̝ː] as /i:/ and /uː/. A third group of speakers from System III, would come to London during the 18th century from East Anglia and bring more chaos to the situation. Smith believes that the diphthongisation of the long close vowels comes from System III speakers.

• How did the Northern Vowel Shift happen and how is different ?
  

In my thesis I concluded that the NVS and the SVS were triggered by very different factors; while the SVS took place because of dialect contacts, it would seem that the NVS happened because of instability in Northern English vowels after the introduction of long /ɛː/ in the phonology following Open Vowel Lengthening, which took place between the Old and Middle English period. Open Vowel Lengthening happened as follows: CVCV structures became CVːCafter final vowels like -ewere dropped. 

Examples: 

• Old English “nama” => Middle English “nām”(“name”) 

• Old English “faran” => Middle English “fār” (“go”)
  

However, as you can see, there is a blatant lack of symmetry in the upward movement of Northern English long vowels compared to that of the SVS. Basically, when looking at this graph, the NVS only concerns the front vowels, and not the back ones. I’ll add there is a level of detail missing in the graph depicting the rise of /ɔː/ to /oː/. However, contrary to what occurred in the SVS, the raising of Vowel 5, as Aitkens (2002) calls it, had no impact because once     /ɔː/ rose to /oː/, there was nothing to move upward and force /uː/ to change quality in turn. This is why in Northern English and Scottish dialect, you can hear speakers pronounce the word “house” as /hu:s/ with a long monophthong instead of the usual diphthong /aʊ/.

The reason for that is relatively simple: the absence of /oː/ in the pre-NVS phonology. This vowel had seemingly fronted to /ø:/ in earlier stages, leaving the mid-high back vowel slot open. Thus when /ɔː/ rose, there was nothing to push towards /uː/.

Since the NVS didn’t happen for the same reasons as the SVS, and it looks like the culprit is the fronting of /oː/ to /ø:/ : whence does this fronting come? My hypothesis was that it was under the influence of Nordic languages that /ø:/ arose or was maintained longer in the northern dialects of English than in the southern, which had lost its front rounded vowels by the 11th century (an example of what I called south-eastern distaste for front rounded vowels).

In a nutshell, what I argued is that northern varieties of English may have started losing their front rounded vowels, like down south, but contact with Old Norse speakers ranging as far back as the late 8th century in Northern England may have played a role in re-introducing a decaying phoneme in northern dialects of English. Furthermore, Scandinavians tended to remain in their own little closed communities, exchanging little with the outside world for a few decades after the end of the Danelaw. Their contact with neighbouring population must have played a role in the upholding of /ø:/. 

Basically,tl;dr, English underwent massive phonetic change because of the Great Vowel Shift. However, it would me more accurate to refer to it as the Southern Vowel since its effects did not affect northern regions of England, which had experienced its own shift; the Northern Vowel Shift. It arose because of phonetic evolution between Old and Middle English. A back vowel was absent from Old Northern English, rendering a SVS chain-shift-like motion impossible in northern dialects. This back vowel may have fronted because of Old Norse influence in the region, which lasted longer in the north of England than in the south.

If you want to read my dissertation, here is a link to it. 

finnishfun:

languageturtle:

I just stumbled upon a site called Cooljugator - it provides conjugated forms of verbs in over 40 languages. Here’s an example of what looks like:

I think it might be quite useful!

Oh, this is pretty good, does adjectives and nouns in Finnish as well as verbs!

nanastudies:

inspired by @malteseboyandthis post

• 亲吻 - qīnwěn - kiss
  
• 电影 - diànyǐng - movie
  
• 偎抱 - wēibào - cuddles
  
• 毛衣 - máoyī -sweater
  
• 枕头 - zhěntou - pillow
  
• 咖啡 - kāfēi - coffee
  
• 袜子 - wàzi - socks
  
• 书 - shū - book
  
• 安慰 - ānwèi -  comfort
  
• 毯子 - tǎnzi - blanket
  
• 小睡 - xiǎoshuì - nap
  
• 壁炉 - bìlú - fireplace
  
• 猫（咪） - māo(mī) -cat
  
• 暖意 - nuǎnyì - warmth
  
• 明星 - míngxīng - stars
  
• 查 - chá - tea
  
• 拥抱 - yǒngbào - hug
  
• 蜡烛 - làzhú - candle

• 柔软（的）- róuruǎn (de) - soft
  
• 娇嫩 （的）- jiāonèn (de) - delicate
  
• 甜蜜 （的）- tiánmì (de) - sweet
  
• 舒服 （的）- shūfú (de) - comfortable
  
• 暖和 （的）- nuǎnhuo (de) - warm

• 亲嘴 - qīnzuǐ - to kiss
  
• 抱抱 - bàobào -to hug
  
• 照料 - zhàoliào -to take care (of smb.)
  
• 躺下 - tǎngxià - to lie down
  
• 搂抱 - lǒubào - to cuddle / （依）偎 -  (yī) wēi is also commonly used
  
• 读书 - dúshū - to read (a book)
  
• 睡觉 - shuìjiào  - to sleep
  
• 休息 - xiūxí - to rest

keep in mind that most of those nouns can be used as verbs too and that i put different (cuter and more cuddly) words for verbs  ☕️

amillionlanguages:

amillionlanguages:

Sometimes it can be tricky to know what to learn if you are teaching yourself a language. Here are some ideas for what you can focus on learning each day for the first two months of learning a new language! I formatted it so there is the general topic for the day and then in parentheses are some ideas to get you started but you can definitely learn a lot more than what I’ve written down! These are just to help generate some ideas!

This definitely would move pretty quickly if you covered all this material in 2 months so you could definitely spend more time on each topic if you need! This would require quite a bit of time each day in order to learn it all. This could totally work for a 4 or 6-month challenge where you spend 2 or 3 days on each of the topics I listed if you don’t have enough time to cover each topic in just one day!

1. Polite phrases (thank you, please, yes/no, you’re welcome, I’m sorry)
2. Introductory phrases (hi, my name is, I’m from, I speak, how are you?)
3. Pronouns (I, you, he, she, they, we)
4. Basic people vocab (girl, boy, man, woman, person, child)
5. Basic verbs in present tense (to eat, to drink, to walk, to read, to write, to say)
6. Sentence structure (how to form some basic sentences)
7. Negative sentences (I do not __)
8. Question words (who, what, where, when, why, how, how to form questions)
9. Numbers (0-20, 30, 40, 50, 100, 1,000, 1,000,000)
10. Time (hour, minute, half hour, reading the time)
11. Meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, dessert, appetizer)
12. Basic foods (apple, banana, rice, bread, pasta, carrot, soup, water)
13. More foods (beef, pork, fruit, vegetable, juice, coffee, tea, chocolate, cake)
14. Kitchen (stove, oven, kitchen, fridge, table, chair, bake, boil)
15. Eating supplies (knife, spoon, fork, plate, bowl, cup, glass)
16. More verbs (to make, to have, to see, to like, to go, to be able to, to want, to need)
17. Family (father, mother, son, daughter, aunt, uncle, cousin, grandmother, grandfather, parents, grandparents)
18. Transportation (car, train, plane, bus, bicycle, airport, train station)
19. City locations (apartment, building, restaurant, movie theater, market, hotel, bank)
20. Directions (north, south, east, west, right, left)
21. Adjectives (good, bad, smart, delicious, nice, fun)
22. More verbs (to give, to send, to wake up, to cry, to love, to hate, to laugh)
23. Colors (red, yellow, blue, green, purple, black, white, brown)
24. Emotions (happy, sad, calm, angry)
25. Physical descriptions (tall, short, blonde, brunette, redhead, eye color)
26. Body parts (arm, leg, hand, finger, foot, toe, face, eye, mouth, nose, ears)
27. Descriptors (rich, poor, beautiful, ugly, expensive, inexpensive)
28. Basic clothing (shirt, pants, dress, skirt, jacket, sweater, skirt, shorts)
29. Accessories (belt, hat, wallet, gloves, sunglasses, purse, watch)
30. More verbs (to keep, to smile, to run, to drive, to wear, to remember)
31. Animals (cat, dog, horse, cow, bear, pig, chicken, duck, fish)
32. More animals (turtle, sheep, fox, mouse, lion, deer)
33. Months (January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December)
34. Seasons (fall, winter, spring, summer)
35. Weather (sunny, cloudy, hot, cold, snowing, raining)
36. States of being (I’m hungry, I’m tired, I’m thirsty)
37. House (bedroom, living room, bathroom, stairs)
38. Furniture (bed, lamp, couch, door, window)
39. Electronics (phone, TV, computer, camera, radio, headphones)
40. Nature (tree, flower, plant, animal, grass, animal, outside, sky, sun, moon, clouds)
41. More verbs (to teach, to learn, to understand, to know, to listen, to hear)
42. School (classroom, elementary school, high school, college, student, class, grade, homework, test)
43. School subjects (math, science, English, art, music, chemistry, biology, physics)
44. School supplies (book, pencil, pen, paper, notebook, folder, backpack, calculator)
45. Classroom features (student desk, teacher desk, whiteboard, chalk, clock, bell)
46. Jobs (teacher, scientist, doctor, artist, dancer, musician)
47. More jobs (surgeon, manager, engineer, architect, lawyer, dentist, writer)
48. More verbs (to buy, to sell, to work, to ask, to answer, to dance, to leave, to come)
49. Comparisons (less than, more than, same, __er than)
50. Languages (French, German, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, English, Japanese)
51. Countries (France, Germany, China, Russia, Spain, Mexico, United States, Japan)
52. Religion (church, temple, mosque, to pray, Judaism, Christianity, Islam)
53. Past tense (I was, he ran, she wrote)
54. Hobbies (shopping, sports, soccer, chess, fishing, gardening, photography)
55. More verbs (to describe, to sleep, to find, to wish, to enter, to feel, to think)
56. Art (paint, draw, painting, gallery, frame, brush)
57. Morning routine (to wake up, to brush teeth, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, soap)
58. Future tense (I will run, he will write)
59. TV + internet (online, internet, to watch TV, TV show, movie, documentary, cartoon)
60. More verbs (to look for, to stay, to touch, to meet, to show, to rent, to wash, to play)

Some language learning prompts for those of us with way too much free time right now

celtic-pyro:

cutthroatchorus:

female-twink-deactivated2021032:

queerautism:

queerautism:

On the topic of English people being shitheads towards Welsh people - This fucking dude today on AITA

Yeah pretty sure we’re all hoping for a divorce on this one lol

how did this fucker say it’s “not as bad as it sounds” and then somehow end up being even worse than it sounds by the fourth sentence

Further updates, I couldn’t resist looking this one up.

Character development.

adventuresinlearningfinnish:

*look at train station menu*

‘What’s kääryleet?’ I ask

'It’s hard to explain.’

*Google it*

Still no idea.

So I uh, like reading dictionaries, and I happened to find this in an ASL dictionary, and

linghxr:

The Most Satisfying Feeling I Get from Learning Chinese

One of the most satisfying feelings I’ve experienced in learning Chinese is the feeling I get after hearing a new word and just *understanding* it. This isn’t that hard when reading (and that’s why we love 汉字), but when it comes to listening, it’s a whole different story. So the moments when I’ve heard a new word and intuitively known what 汉字 it consists of plus its meaning of have made me feel so accomplished. Over time I’ve jotted down some of these words, and I thought they would make a fun post.

1. 迷失 míshī - to lose (one’s bearings) / to get lost
   I was able to understand this word thanks to knowing words like 迷路, 迷茫, 失去, and 消失. I first remember identifying this word in Escape Plan’s song 夜空中最亮的星.
2. 旅途 lǚtú - journey / trip
   I know a lot of words with 旅 like 旅游, 旅行, and 旅程, and I was also familiar with 途 via 路途 and 前途. So 旅途 was very easy for me to understand.
3. 心愿 xīnyuàn - cherished desire / dream / craving / wish / aspiration
   心愿 is similar in meaning to 愿望 and 意愿, which I already knew. I believe I first heard this word in the song 有点甜 by 汪苏泷 and BY2.
4. 高傲 gāo'ào - arrogant / haughty / proud
   I heard this word in the song 寻宝 by 沈以诚. I’ve listened to this song many times, and one day it just clicked! It’s all thanks to the similar words 骄傲 and 傲慢.
5. 安稳 ānwěn - smooth and steady
   There are so many words with 安 like 安定 and 平安. I also know some 稳 words, such as 稳定 and 平稳. So I was able to put two and two together for 安稳.
6. 还原 huányuán - to restore to the original state / to reconstruct (an event)
   The meaning of 还 here is very familiar from 还给 and 还清. Also, I know a lot of words with 原: 原来, 原本, 原始, 原先.
7. 选拔 xuǎnbá - to select the best
   There are so many 选 words I see all the time like 精选, 选举, and 选择. I also know 拔 from 拔苗助长 and 自拔, so I was able to piece together the overall meaning of 选拔.
8. 解压 jiěyā - to relieve stress
   I’ve already learned the word 缓解 which is related in meaning. Also, I’ve learned 施压 (or 施加压力), which is basically the opposite of 解压.
9. 感人 gǎnrén - touching / moving
   I think this word is pretty easy to put together if you know similar words like 感染, 感动, and 动人.
10. 认输 rènshū - to concede / to admit defeat
    I distinctly remember hearing this word in the Tanya Chua song 救生圈. I think I was able to understand it thanks to knowing that 认 can mean to admit like in the words 承认 and 公认.

Here’s to many more of these satisfying moments in 2022!

Since making this post, I’ve been taking note of other instances. Below are 15 more words I was able to get from hearing alone.

1. 离散 lísàn - (of family members) separated from one another / scattered about / dispersed
   Of course, I know many words with 离, such as 离开 and 脱离. I also know some words containing 散, like 分散 and 散发. So it’s not a big leap to figure out what 离散 means.
   
2.  星体 xīngtǐ - celestial body (planet, satellite etc) 
   I was able to guess the meaning of 星体 because I am already familiar with 星球, which has a very similar meaning. I know it from Star Wars, aka 星球大战! But 星体 is from the EXO-C version of History.
3.  堆积 duījī - to pile up / to heap / accumulation 
   I basically understand 堆积 as 堆满 plus 累积. These are two words which I’ve learned previously.
4.  魅惑 mèihuò - to entice / to charm 
   Here’s another example where I know two similar words that I can essentially “combine” to get 魅惑. The words I already knew are 魅力 and 诱惑.
5.  插播 chābō - to interrupt (a radio or TV program) with a commercial insert, breaking news etc / to put a call on hold 
   I know 播 from words like 广播 and 播放. I also know 插 primarily from the expression 插一句. And thanks to the context (I heard 插播 used while watching a Chinese TV show), I was able to put two and two together.
6.  杂乱 záluàn - in a mess / in a jumble / chaotic 
   乱 is such a common character, I see it all the time. As for 杂, I know the word 嘈杂, and my brain seemed to think that was somehow similar, and I guess I was right? There aren’t many characters pronounced za after all.
7.  掩埋 yǎnmái - to bury 
   埋 is a 多音字, and I know the mái reading from the word 埋葬. I don’t know 掩 as well, but I’ve encountered the word 掩盖, so I was able to guess that the yan I was hearing was probably 掩.
8.  期盼 qīpàn - hope and expectation / to anticipate / to look forward to / to await expectantly 
   期盼 is very similar to the words 期望 and 盼望. I hear 期望 all the time. 盼望 is not a word I encounter as often, but I’m familiar enough with it.
9.  任一 rènyī - any / either 
   Don’t quote me on this, but I understand 任一 as essentially meaning 任何一个. They at least seem to be interchangeable in the contexts I’ve heard 任一 in so far. I either heard it in 青春有你3 or 创造营2021, I can’t remember.
10.  见证 jiànzhèng - to be witness to / witness / evidence 
    I already knew 证据, meaning proof or evidence, and I was vaguely aware of 证 being used in other words having to do with evidence and witnessing.
11.  打散 dǎsàn - to scatter / to break sth up / to beat (an egg) 
    Not gonna lie, I wouldn’t have guessed the beat an egg meaning, but I was able to approximate the other meaning(s). There are so many words starting with 打, so it’s a familiar structure.
12.  支撑 zhīchēng - to prop up / to support / strut / brace 
    If you watch the 创造营 series, you have heard the words 支持 and 撑腰 about five million times: party girl之道 姐妹为你撑腰~ 支撑 is very similar in meaning.
13.  自律 zìlǜ - self-discipline / self-regulation / autonomy (ethics) / autonomic (physiology) 
    I kinda know the word 纪律, meaning discipline. I think being familiar with how 自 is used in words like 自卫, 自学, etc. helped as well.
14.  方位 fāngwèi - direction / points of the compass / bearing / position 
    I think I heard this word in a song, but I can’t remember what song at the moment. I connected it to the words 方向 and 位置. And 百科 defines 方位 as 方向位置, so I was spot on!
15.  停歇 tíngxiē - to stop for a rest
    I know many words containing 停, including 停止, 停留, and 暂停. I don’t think I actually know many words with 歇, but I was aware of its dictionary definition for some reason. Must have looked it up at some point.

Too many of these are from survival shows…I guess that shows that I am learning from them!

katiejstudies:

If you’re learning a language and need to polish up on your grammar I would 100% recommend the language gym where you can:

• select tenses to be tested on
  
• test your vocabulary knowledge
• play games that test these skills

I only use the grammar testing part but as far as I’ve seen its a very useful resource!

When I’m feeling good about my French speaking

vs

When I make an obvious mistake and freeze

I’ve mentioned Language Reactor on here before, which is a language learning chrome extension, but I’ve been introduced to another useful extension by a friend of mine which I’d also like to recommend.

It’s a feature called Toucan, which allows you to input the language that you’re learning and then as you browse, it changes random words on your webpage into your target language to help you discover new vocabulary. You can see it in your native language when you hover over the word and make lists or play games to improve your vocab skills. I’d definitely recommend it if you want an easy way to find new vocab!

There are many translations within Squid Game which don’t do justice to the original script, and this is one of the most significant for me. After the first game, where the players have realised that losing the game results in their death, player 271 steps forward and pleas ‘우리가 빚을 졌지, 죽을죄를 지은 건 아니잖아요!’ There are two significant phrases here, the first being 빚을 지다 (to be in debt), and the other 죽을 죄를 지었습니다, which has many connotations attached to it.

Firstly, focusing on 죽을 죄를 지었습니다, this is likely a phrase which you have heard before even if you don’t recognise it. 죽을 죄 means unforgiveable sin/crime, and 지었습니다 means to commit. This is a common phrase in historical dramas where someone has to bow down to a member of the royal family or a army general to express their guilt at their actions in the hope of a lenient sentence (even if they’ve done nothing wrong). Someone of a lower class or place within society may also be forced to say it by someone above them as a way to demonstrate power and ‘put them in their place’. 

If we look at the phrase as a whole, then, we have ‘yes, we’re in debt, but we haven’t committed some unforgiveable sin/crime. You know that.’ Whilst the translation in the subtitle is similar (we may be in debt, but that doesn’t mean we deserve to die), I feel that this translation points more towards the games being unfair and immoral, rather than the writers’ intention of highlighting the players as good people. Yes, some of the players, such as Jang Deok-su have committed crimes, and are in debt due to their own immoral lifestyles, but many are just unfortunate victims of an unjust society. Seong Gi-hun is an example of this. His character provides a reference to the real-life 2009 Ssangyong Motor strike, where nearly 2,600 workers who occupied the plant for seventy-seven days to protest layoffs were violently beaten down by police. Many of these protestors went to jail, which may be the reason that Gi-hun struggles to find and hold down a good job. As a result, he is desperate for money, especially since he wants to give his daughter expensive gifts. He gambles, and this causes his debt. Ultimately, Gi-hun did nothing wrong. He is a victim of his circumstances, and this is what the writers wanted to highlight - that almost all of the players are unfortunate victims of society, who are victimised yet again through the games. Therefore, ‘we haven’t committed some unforgiveable crime/sin’ is much more fitting to me, even if it isn’t a very natural phrase in English. Maybe the subtitle translator should have gone with something like ‘yes, we’re in debt, but we were pushed into it through no fault of our own. Does that really mean that we deserve to die?’. This highlights the innocence of the players much more.

Themes of unjust society, and the widening of the income gap are incredibly important to Squid Game’s narrative. Some great articles to read to learn more about these themes can be found here:

❥Squid Game lays bare South Korea’s real-life personal debt crisis
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/08/squid-game-lays-bare-south-koreas-real-life-personal-debt-crisis

❥Squid Game’s Strike Flashbacks Were Modeled on Our Real-Life Factory Occupation
https://jacobinmag.com/2021/11/squid-game-ssangyong-dragon-motor-strike-south-korea