/27/19)
* "Polyscriptal Taiwanese" (7/24/10)
* "The Roman Alphabet in Cantonese" (3/23/11)
* "Love those letters" (11/3/18)
* "Acronyms in China" (11/2/19)
* "Ask Language Log: The alphabet in China" (11/6/19)

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Phrasal Verb of the Day | Vocabulary | EnglishClub
tie up (1)

to tie together the ends of something

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Word of the Day
charwoman

Definition: (noun) A woman hired to do cleaning or similar work, usually in a large building.
Synonyms: cleaning lady.
Usage: The charwoman cleaned every bathroom in the office building after the executives left for the evening.
Discuss

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Slang of the Day | Vocabulary | EnglishClub
pig (2)

a police officer

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qua

Idiom of the Day
in hospital

Receiving medical or surgical treatment, care, or attention at a hospital. Primarily heard in UK. Watch the video

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Word of the Day
Word of the Day: erudition

This word has appeared in 26 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence?

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Funny Or Die (Youtube)
A Color Purple Themed Bat Mitzvah (Bless These Braces) #podcast #comedy #batmitzvah


Hayley Marie Norman's Bat Mitzvah theme would be the color pink. Tam Yajia's was the color purple. But not The Color Purple.

Get all 10 episodes of season 1 now, and stay in touch for new episodes, news, and show extras: https://norby.link/ceiRm2

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Language Log
High vowel lenition/devoicing in French

On a trip to Québec in the 1970s, I asked a passerby for directions (in French), and he gave me an answer that at first I thought was in Polish or some other Slavic language unknown to me. He also pointed to the visible train-track overpass a couple of blocks away, and waved his arm to indicate a right turn, so I got the meaning from his gestures. And after a bit, I realized that his opening phrase, which I heard as something like

[tvɐ.drɛk.tʃsko.trɐk]

was a Québecois vernacular version of "tu vas direct jusqu'au trac", with the [i] and [y] vowels deleted (and the  initial /ʒ/ of "jusqu'au" devoiced). I asked a Canadian colleague about it, and was told that the deletion of high vowels was known to linguists in Francophone Canada, but (as far as he knew at that time) had not been documented.
There certainly are plenty of treatments in the more recent literature, but a Google Scholar search also turned up a paper from 1959: Jean-Denis Gendron, "Désonorisation des voyelles en franco canadien", Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique (1959). Prof. Gendron started the paper this way:

Il existe dans le français de Paris, par suite de certains groupements de sons, des désonorisations qui concernent uniquement les consonnes; mais jamais aucun phonéticien, a notre connaissance, n'a signalé le fait pour les voyelles. C'est que la prononciation parisienne normale accorde à tous les sons d'un mot une égale importance, quelle que soit sa position syllabique ou son entourage consonantique. La prononciation canadienne, moins attentive et moins ferme, désonorise les voyelles fermées ainsi que les semi-consonnes, menaçant, en quelque sorte, l'intégrité du mot.

In Parisian French, as a result of certain groupings of sounds, there are devoicings that only concern consonants; but no phonetician, to our knowledge, has ever reported the fact for vowels. This is because normal Parisian pronunciation gives equal importance to all the sounds of a word, regardless of their syllabic position or their consonantal environment. Canadian pronunciation, less careful and less strict, devoices high vowels as well as semi-consonants, threatening, in that way, the integrity of the word.

We could spend some time on how the carelessness of earlier French speakers threatened the integrity of their Latin words. But we'll reserve such pleasantries for another day, and focus instead on some cases of high vowel devoicing in standard French that I recently stumbled on.

I noticed it the first example in my recent dive into "focus"-like phenomena in French, where I remarked that "the following phrase lacks any obvious "focus"-like elements, but does illustrate some extreme lenition phenomena — more on French lenition in the future…"

Your browser does not support the audio element. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/LibrePensee1X1B.png The part that's relevant to this post is the pronunciation of "décidément":

Your browser does not support the audio element. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/Décidément1.png Dividing it acoustically in two, here's the first two (nominal) syllables, "déci":

Your browser does not support the audio element.

…in which the high vowel /i/ is basically devoiced and assimilated phonetically into the preceding /s/.

And the second two, "dément", immediately following:

Your browser does not support the audio element.

Some people might think that this is a speech error — but here's an example from another French radio broadcast:

décidément en politique on ne donne rien pour rien

definitely in politics they don't give something for nothing

Your browser does not support the audio element.

And again zeroing in on the word décidément:

Your browser does not support the audio element. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/my[...]

l/Décidément2A.png The first two (nominal) syllables:

Your browser does not support the audio element.

And the last two syllables:

Your browser does not support the audio element.

There are some other contexts where similar high-vowel-devoicing effects seem to be pretty common in standard French. One is the pronunciation of tout in phrases like "tout à l'heure", "tout à fait", etc.

I'll give one example of each, also from French radio broadcasts. (This again is anecdotal evidence — but on the other hand, these were the first instances of those common phrases that I looked at…)

First, an example of tout à l'heure:

nous recréerions des régimes spéciaux comme cela a été dit tout à l' heure
et nous ne le voulons pas

we might recreate special systems as was said earlier
and we don't want that

Your browser does not support the audio element.

Zeroing in on the phrase "tout à l'heure":

Your browser does not support the audio element. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/LCP_PileEtFace_2010-10-24_060400X1A.png And the syllable "tout":

Your browser does not support the audio element.

Now, an example of tout à fait:

et je retrouve {euh} tout à fait regrettable et v(ous) pour tout dire absolument non crédible la position de la majorité qui est de dire {breath} jamais nous n' augmenterons les impôts

and I find {uh} quite regrettable and you- to put it bluntly absolutely not credible the position of the majority which is to say {breath} we will never increase taxes

Your browser does not support the audio element.

Again, zeroing in on the phrase "tout à fait":

Your browser does not support the audio element. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/LCP_PileEtFace_2010-10-17_060400Y1A.png And the word "tout":

Your browser does not support the audio element.

So maybe standard French has changed since 1959 — or maybe Québecois high vowel devoicing has deeper roots than Prof. Gendron thought?
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Phrasal Verb of the Day | Vocabulary | EnglishClub
come through

to survive a difficult or dangerous situation or time

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Word of the Day
ninepin

Definition: (noun) A wooden pin used in the game of ninepins.
Synonyms: skittle.
Usage: He threw the ball so hard that it knocked the ninepin into the neighbor's yard.
Discuss

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Slang of the Day | Vocabulary | EnglishClub
up in arms

angry

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underwhelm

Idiom of the Day
in the same mold

Of or in the same or similar style, fashion, or manner. Primarily heard in US. Watch the video

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Word of the Day
Word of the Day: mediocre

This word has appeared in 96 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence?

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Language Log
Get around

One needs to be careful when using a phrasal verb that has a wide range of possible meanings.  For example, if you're corresponding with a woman who travels a lot and you comment, wishing to commend her mobility, "You sure do get around a lot", she may be offended and retort, "Are you saying that I'm sexually promiscuous?"
get around

Verb

get around (third-person singular simple present gets around, present participle getting around, simple past got around, past participle (UK) got around or (US) gotten around)

1.
1. To move to the other side of (something, such as an obstruction) by deviating from a direct course or following a curved path. The tide was too high, and we couldn't get around the rocks. There's no trail going through. We can't get around to the lake. We'll get a good view of the mountains when we get around the bend.
2. (figuratively) To avoid or bypass an obstacle. Tax consultants look for ways to get around the law.
3. To circumvent the obligation and performance of a chore; to get out of. How did you get around having to write the executive report? My brother always gets around cleaning his room himself.
4. To transport oneself from place to place.
*
*
How's he gonna get around without a car?

Granny uses a wheelchair to get around.

* To visit numerous different places.
*
* (slang) To be sexually promiscuous. Wow, she really gets around.
* Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see get,‎ around.
(Wiktionary)

Can't be too cautious.
Selected readings

* "Prepositionssss…" (9/2/11)
* "English Verb-Particle Constructions" (7/26/17)

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Language Log
Crazy bone

One of the students in my class — all from China — hit her elbow on the edge of her desk and grimaced.  I asked her, "Did you hit your crazy bone?"

She didn't know what I meant, and none of the other students in the class knew either.  I explained what "hit my crazy bone" signifies (see below for a physiological note), and the entire class thought it was funny.  Lots of giggling and laughing.
I inquired of the whole class how they would say it in Chinese.  A student from Beijing volunteered:

"kē dào májīn 磕到麻筋". Like when I hit my elbow and my face became distorted, my mother would jokingly ask "kē dào májīnr le ba? 磕到麻筋儿了吧?". Anyway, that's the way it's said in our family.

VHM: jīn 筋 literally means "tendon", so májīn 麻筋 would mean "numb tendon", but here it clearly implies "numb nerve".

I asked the student who had originally hit her elbow if that's how she would say it.  She, who is from South China, replied that she had never heard of that Beijing expression.  The other students — I think they're all from northern parts — averred that they had heard it.

So I said to the student from the south, "Well, how would you say it?"  She answered, "We don't have a special expression for it.  I would just say 'má 麻' ('numb')."
Physiological note

What Is the Funny Bone?

AASH | American Society for Surgery of the Hand (April 12, 2022), by John M. Erickson,

The funny bone is neither funny nor a bone. The source of pain when someone “hits their funny bone” is actually related to a nerve on the inside of the elbow. This nerve is called the ulnar nerve. The ulnar nerve is one of the three important nerves that control the hand. It supplies feeling to the pinky and ring finger. It also controls many of the fine motor skill muscles in the hand. When the ulnar nerve is not working properly, the pinky and ring finger go numb and tingly, and the hand can become weak and uncoordinated. Pins and needles, electric pain, and hand numbness are all very common. This is what happens when the ulnar nerve, or “funny bone,” is hit too hard at the elbow.

Judging from this and from other evidence on the internet, my Stark County, Ohio "crazy bone" is a minority usage in America.

Incidentally, "funny bone" also has the figurative meaning of "sense of humor", e.g., "tickle someone's funny bone".  However, if you really do hit your funny bone, it's not funny at all.  It usually hurts like the dickens, and the pain / numbness can last for quite some time, 5-10 minutes or more.
Selected readings

* "Hundreds die in a sandwich press" (2/6/15) — see the third comment
* "Mad Libguistics" (1/1/12) — about a third of the way through the o.p.
* "How should we spell 'copy editor'?" (7/8/09) — this comment
* "Ancient eggcorns" (6/17/23) — this Swedish expression is so awesome that I feel compelled to quote it (from fredrik):

…referring to bumping your funny bone as "enkelstöt" (easy knock) instead of "änkestöt" (widow's knock).

The reasoning behind "enkelstöt" just seems to be that it is an accident that can easily happen, whereas "änkestöt" is a reference to the somewhat morbid expression "änkesorg och armbågsstöt går fort över” (the widow's grief and the pain from elbow knocks pass quickly).

[Thanks to Ruowen Li and all the other students in my Literary Sinitic class]

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Funny Or Die (Youtube)
Tam's Game Show Host Crush (Bless These Braces) #podcast #comedy #gameshows


Which game show host probably has a "verrrry clean penis"? Listen to this week's Bless These Braces with Tam Yajia and her guest Hayley Marie Norman to find out.

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Language Log
l'Univers(i)té

In a comment on yesterday's post ("High vowel lenition/devoicing in French"), carveuir wrote:

Ha! As a final-year undergraduate in 2015, I mentioned having come across devoicing of the second /i/ in "université" to my French linguistics tutor and he didn't believe me. Finally I've been vindicated.

My impression is that this is common and perhaps almost categorical in Québecois vernacular, but more gradient (or maybe I should say less complete?) in Parisian French. So I looked from some examples of the word université in a collection of transcribed radio broadcasts and political speeches from France. And I found a few, all of which were consistent with my impression. So my recent series of French phonetic anecdotes continues below.
Here's the first example I found:

dans le domaine de l'université

in the sector of the university

Your browser does not support the audio element.

In the waveform plot below, I've circles the syllables /ni/ and /si/ in université. And comparing the performance of second /i/  with that of the first one, we see that it's partly devoiced (in its second half):

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/Université1.png

The preceding [s] is also somewhat lengthened (about 160 msec.), suggesting that there's some overlap/assimilation with the following vowel, whose voiced part is rather short (about 70 msec.).

The F0 of the voiced part of that second /i/ is pretty much at the same level as that of the first one:

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/Université2.png

However, the overall amplitude (which is dominated by the lower, more "sonorant" frequencies, given the overall 1/F spectral slope of voiced speech) is much lower  — the syllabic maximum is at 80.54 dB compared to 70.55 dB, or nearly 10 dB lower:

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/Université3.png

And as we would expect, the second /i/'s spectral balance is strongly tilted towards higher frequencies (due to the weaker voicing and perhaps greater noise intrusion):
First /i/ Second /i/ http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/Université4.png http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/Université5.png
No doubt that whole vowel might sometimes be entirely devoiced in faster and less formal speech, especially with less vocal effort — thus completing carveuir's vindication.

[Note that by "Parisian" French I just mean the more-or-less standard variety used by radio personalities and national politicians — more subtle accent variations are outside my perceptual orbit…]

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