SCHWA: Word of the Day #10 - November 4, 2005

schwa (n.)

Pronunciation: shwä

Definition: 1. A mid-central neutral vowel, typically occurring in unstressed syllables, as the final vowel of English sofa.

2. The symbol () used to represent an unstressed neutral vowel and, in some systems of phonetic transcription, a stressed mid-central vowel, as in the English but.

Heh heh. That just sounded funny. "The English but."

I was looking up all kinds of linguistic terms last night and stumbled upon this one, of which I was unaware. I've always wondered about that upside down e! And now we know! And knowledge is power!

I wonder, Sonia, if they'll have a schwa week at Kreider's school. ;-D

This word, I suppose, is a bit unuseful unless you're talking about vowels. Well, perhaps you should know more about them. At least then you'd have an excuse to use the word "schwa" in actual speech. And we're all looking to do that, aren't we?

You've noticed by now, perhaps, the large table below. It is a table of vowel sounds that I purloined from Wikipedia (actually, I am fully entitled to use this table and I have documentation). Let me explain it a bit.

Vowels
	front	near-front	central	near-back	back
close	i • y		ɨ • ʉ		ɯ • u
near-close		ɪ • ʏ		ʊ
close-mid	e • ø		ɘ • ɵ		ɤ • o
mid			É™
open-mid	ɛ • œ		ɜ • ɞ		ʌ • ɔ
near-open	æ		ɐ
open	a • ɶ				ɑ • ɒ

This table is meant to diagram where and how vowel sounds are created in the International Phonetic Alphabet, by describing the positionings of the tounge and mouth. It is incredibly complex and mind-boggling if you actually sit down and try to memorize it (the IPA lives for confusion, I think).

I will go over, briefly, the characteristics of this table, mainly because that's as far as I understand them. If you feel inclined, please feel free to click around the actual table).

Sounds are distinguished by formants, which are the preferred resonating frequencies of any acoustical system (in this case, the human mouth). It is formants that secern between speaking and singing. In short, just how you make a sound. We will concentrate simply on the vowel sounds and their formants.

There seem to be three defining characteristics (or formants) of a vowel sound: vowel height, vowel backness, and vowel roundedness. The first formant (F1) is vowel height: the positioning of the tongue in relation to the roof of the mouth. A close vowel height means getting the tongue as close to the roof of the mouth without creating a consonant. An open vowel height is when the tongue remains low in the mouth. Close vowel are often called high vowels and result in vowel sounds such as mine, die, sky and others. The IPA defines seven different vowel heights (open, near-open, open-mid, mid, close-mid, near-close, and close) though no language distinguishes all of them. The schwa is the ONLY mid vowel identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet. GO SCHWA!!!!
The second formant (F2) is vowel backness: the position of the tongue in relation to the back of the mouth (these terms are becoming apparent in their nomination, eh?). A front vowel backness means getting the tongue as far forward as possible (again, without creating a consonant). A back vowel backness means quite the opposite, as you might imagine. The IPA identifies five degrees of vowel backness (front, near-front, central, near-back, and back).
The third formant, I believe (though the encyclopedia I am using for reference does not define this as being the third formant), is vowel roundedness: the amount of rounding in the lips during the articulation of a vowel. Rounded vowels are created by forming a circular opening, while unrounded vowels are created through relaxed lips. In most languages, front vowels tend to be unrounded, while back vowels are rounded; certain languages (e.g. French and German) distinguish between rounded and unrounded vowels at the same height and backness. In the table, the vowels that are in the boxes are listed as unrounded and rounded, respectively, separated by a little dot. For instance, the close front vowels are "i" and "y," separated by a tiny dot.
There are two ways of creating a rounded vowel: endolabial and exolabial. Endolabial rounding occurs when you draw the corners of the mouth slightly in to form an O with your mouth, but without protruding your lips (as with your jaw dropping in shock). Only the outer part of the lips are exposed. Exolabial rounding occurs when you draw the corners in, but push out your lips, as in kissing. The inner surface of the lips is exposed. Ellen, you'll be happy to hear that Swedish is an unusual language, making a phonemic distinction between exolabial and endolabial forms of close-mid front unrounded vowels. Apparently this is an unusual phonemic distinction. As with much of this, I have no idea what that means.

This is all so stuffy, but it's nice to know there's a very clear, scientific understanding of language. It's a wonderful intersection of physics and English and I'm very much interested in it.

Well, I had fun, anyway. Though I really ought to sleep at some point. Grading may have been a more productive use of my time, but I know this was more educational.

I've created links for the top row (vowel backness) and the left column (vowel height), so please click on them just to make me feel better. The actual vowel sounds in the chart are links as well, though some of the symbols did not show up in my humble, little journal.

If you're interested, here is a list of phonetics topics to browse at your heart's content.








post script: does anyone know anything about this GNU Free Documentation License? Joseph Price, Mark LeVota, DeCelles? Are you guys out there? I know you'd know. Frère Jacques, tu sais ce que je veux dire?

LEXIPHANIC: Word of the Day #9 - November 3, 2005

lexiphanic (adj.)

Pronunciation: lex-ê-'fahn-ik

Definition: Employing pretentious words; using overblown language in speech or writing.

Oh, I don't know anyone like that.

There are many synonyms you could also use for this; or, if you look at it another way, this is one more synonym for you to use for words you may already know. Pompous, bombastic, ostentatious, obfusticated, etc. I suppose if you subscribe to my word of the day, you may be hearing these words pretty soon. Lexiphanic has a kinder sound to it than bombastic or ostentatious. Today's word is a heavy reminder that one's love for language may often put him at odds with those around. A lexicon laden with $5 words when a 10 cent word will do often will just confuse and not impress. They won't care that the word went trippingly off your tounge as you pronunciated orotundly, or whispered susurrously, or employed syzygy with the word "ever." 'Tis a mad mad mad mad mad world. 'Tis an unweeded garden grown to seed.

The doting wife: servuxorial?

Trying to think of a response for you, Paul, concerning your response to "uxorious," I ran across this article from the National Review, a conservative biweekly magazine. They are actually letters concerning an article about Bill Clinton and Hillary written by William F. Buckley. He apparently "misused" the word uxorious, applying it to Hillary and her apparent attitudes and actions toward her husband (let's keep in mind, by the way, that this is from 2001). He received a deluge of pedanticism reprimanding him (well, I'm being hyperbolically savage about it; we all know I love words and discussions of their usage). He has, as Paul pointed out, a good excuse. There seems to be no word for a woman who is submissively doting to her husband.

Except, perhaps, uxorial, which is suggested in one of the letters. Buckley seems to agree, to a degree, with this proffer; he points out, thankfully, that uxorial "doesn't carry the sense of excessive, going no further than dutiful." Perhaps a clever elision with a good adjective might carry us there. (see subject)

Incidentally, Buckley uses a wonderful Latin phrase, mens rea, in one of his responses. It means "the intention to commit a wrongful act, the element that establishes criminal responsibility; a criminal mind."

I don't know a lot about Buckley (and I just know someone, or myself, will look up other articles he's written and I'll eat my words), but I'm quite fond of his reply to accusations of his "misapplication." As he says, "I knew that uxor is the wife, but I use(d) 'uxorious' to suggest excessive docility in either direction, i.e., husband to wife, wife to husband. It is a liberty, but something less than a neologism." Awwwwww. I feel for you, bro. His soi-disant linguistic rule, "for every word there was a felt need."

I feel the need

the need for speed!!!! (Cue high-five)

NOSOPOETIC: Word of the Day #8 - November 2, 2005

nosopoetic/nosopoietic (adj.)

Pronunciation: [no-sê-po-'et-ik]

Definition: Not what you think - disease-causing, infectious. This word bounds through Greek, Latin, and French to arrive at our lingual doorstep in its present form. Noso means "disease," poi(etik)os "making, producing." A close synonym is pathogenic.

My classroom seems to have a nosopoetical air about it. That mold growing on my ceiling cannot be soothing for my infected chest.

There are many related words to the noso root, such as nosophobia (fear of disease), nosology (the classification and study of diseases), nostrophy (the care and treatment of diseases), nosography (the description of diseases). There's even nosocomial (caused by or in a hospital).

The Pumpkin!!!

So I had to include a picture of this at some point.

For Halloween, Ellen, her father, and I bought pumpkins and carved them this past Saturday.

I was stunned. I had no idea what to carve. So I freehanded.................

................James Joyce.

Notice the ominous "Paris" in the background of the last photo. It's where he spent much of his time!

UXORIOUS: Word of the Day #7 - November 1, 2005

uxorious (adj.)

Pronunciation: êk-'sor-ee-yês or êg-'zor-ee-yês

Definition: Overly devoted or submissive to, dotingly or irrationally fond of, one's wife.

This fun little word comes from the Latin (again!! didn't see that coming!) uxor meaning "wife." It wasn't a quick jump to today's meaning. "Uxorial" is anything that is of or befitting a wife. There's also "uxoricide." Do not mistake me. I'm not advocating anything, just giving you the words.

Run the gambit of today's root!

SEPULCHRAL: Word of the Day #6 - Word of the Day - October 31, 2005

sepulchral (adj.)

Pronunciation: seh-PULL-krel

Definition: Of or relating to a burial vault (sepulcher) or a receptacle for sacred relics; suggestive of the grave; funereal.

Today's word comes from Old French sepulcre and Latin sepulcrum, both meaning - yes, tomb. That noun comes from a verb, sepelire, meaning "to bury." If you check with Sanskrit, you have saparyati, "to perform rituals on a corpse."

Use this word when intoning your favorite Poe poems, or telling someone a good ghost story. This word has much more weight in it than your usual "scary" or "ghostly" or "ghastly." Most other words related to gloom and Halloween have lost their edge, but pull out "sepulchral" for special occassions to get people on their toes. Don't forget sepulchrally. A really good synonym (and heavy-weight contender for today's title) is charnel n., adj. (CHAR-nel) (A repository for the bones or bodies of the dead; a charnel house. Resembling, suggesting, or suitable for receiving the dead). Charnel comes, in root, from carnale and carnalis meaning "of the flesh." Related words are: carnage, carnivore. You know, there was an Old English word flæschus meaning "flesh-house." Talk about an abattoir (a word that, to me, always seemed much more relaxed and sophisticated than it should have been, given its meaning).

It's a 2-for-1 Halloween special!!!! Walk sepulchrally!

SYZYGY: Word of the Day #5 - October 30, 2005 - 1st Sunday Root Word

syzygy (n.)

Pronunciation:"si-zê-jee"; "SI-zuh-jee"

Definition: This word was made for a physics/English double major.

1) The alignment of two (or more) celestial bodies, as the Moon and Sun are in alignment vis-a-vis Earth during an eclipse; by extension, any two distinct objects or ideas in alignment or conjunction with each other. It originated to describe the Moon, Sun, and Earth aligned.

2) The combining of two feet into a single metrical unit in classical prosody (as in "ever" to "e'er," "isn't" to "in't," and many others).

3) The association of gregarine protozoa end-to-end or in lateral pairing without sexual fusion; the pairing of chromosomes in meiosis.

NOTE:

This is the first entry of the ostensible roots game. I will post a word every Sunday without explanation of the roots of the word. All those reading this journal are welcome to play. The rules and guidelines are:

1) This is an honor-coded game.

2) Players are to use no resources. Only their encyclopedic knowledge of words.

3) The first participant to e-mail me with a full account of the roots (note the plural) and 7 related (at least one for each of the roots) words will receive a prize in the mail.

4) Particpants who e-mail me should send also their addresses. I will mail out the prize the Saturday following the previous Sunday's roots game.

5) As sole arbiter of the winner, originality in examples is a key factor in winning. The more original (read, perhaps, "unexpected"), the more likely your chance at winning...whatever it is I'm going to mail to you.

6) Let the games begin!

*I reserve the right to ammend the rules here, as I have not thought this through entirely.

Note to self: need entries related to elision, epenthesis, etc.

SUSURRUS: Word of the Day #4 - October 29, 2005

susurrus (n.)

Pronunciation: su-SUHR-uhs

Definition: A low, indistinct, and often continuous sound: mumble, murmur, sigh, sough, susurration, whisper.

In a quite boring turn, susurrus comes from the Latin susurrus meaning - you guessed it - a murmering, whispering, or humming.

In a much more interesting turn, our word of the day has a close link to Ellen's childhood. When she was a young girl (and inventing her own language - more on that in future words of the day) she was unable (or unwilling) to pronounce her brother's name: Nathaniel. For reasons lost to the ages, she called him Susuh. The whole family calls him that to this day. (It's pronounced: suh-suh. A quick little pyrrhic foot.)

So go wild; but softly. Be a susurrant. Susurration is another noun. If you want to speak susurrously, you may have to repeat yourself. If, when you drift to sleep, you need susurrous noise to lull you, as Ellen does, make sure you have no guests whom you have to give your fan to in order to drown out the incessant whining of your porch cat.

Eeks

So last night, after my play (a subject requiring its own journaling), I finally met Ellen's father.

My first impression: it's after ten o'clock and I need to pick up some instant coffee for him (we have no coffee maker) and I scour the aisles at Walmart and they DO NOT HAVE INSTANT COFFEE . I still don't understand it. But in my naivete, I try to find some anyway. I get ground coffee, stupidly thinking it could, in some way, be instant (note: it cannot). I show up, 11 o'clock - everyone's tired - makeup on, ground coffee in hand and I shake hands. Wonderful. We make a midnight instant coffee run and come back.

I'm mainly joking, because I think I made a good impression. He likes my beer, my books, the general cut of my jib. Instant coffee mishap aside, I think we'll get along swell. I have the rest of the weekend to continue the impression. Here's to hoping.

ABSCOND: Word of the #3 Day - October 28, 2005

Abscond (v.)

Pronunciation: [æb-'skahnd]

Definition: To leave surreptitiously to avoid prosecution, persecution, or some similar unpleasantry.

From the Latin abscondere ("to hide") from the roots ab "away" and condere "to put."

Paul, I considered your thought: leaving the roots of the words to the greater glory of the readers. I think we can trust the viewer's of this site to eschew usage of the internet in puzzling over the words. I'll start it next week, rules and all. It might be fun (and unifying) to have some sort of contest. I could mail out prizes! I'll look into it.

Incidentally (and I can explain why it is of incident), I would like to talk about interesting grammatical and literary points on this journal. I'm expanding my domain! Not on the internet, of course, but proverbially. I'm really getting carried away with this blogging (note: I've decided that Paul is right about the blog/journal thing; sorry, Alyssa. Blogs may only be personal web logs, I've looked into it. They need not pertain to social or political commentary - I do, however, really like the word "journal").

Oh, and why it is incidentally (because I rarely use words without having a precise meaning behind them; it's just a hound on my trail, a monkey on my back) - I was wondering about the difference between "into" and "in to." "In to" is used when the "to" is part of an infinitive phrase. "He looked in to see if Paul was there." "Into" is a preposition modifying action: "He walked into the house," "He looked into her soul."

You'll never read these again, will you? My speech is filled with bombastic orotundity and repetitious, reiterative redundancy. Gee, I wonder what the meaning of the root "re" is.

Active Being

This is my response to something Paul posted on his site about a Kurt Vonnegut article. I encourage active reading of his website.

"Fascinating! I haven't read Noam's article yet, but I will. Vintage Vonnegut. The poor guy's right. Partially wrong, though, I think. Well, not exactly wrong, but a bit pessimistic (as if I couldn't see that coming from him).

I'll explain myself. I believe his analogy between proper reading and going to a concert and being handed your own violin is accurate and poignant. And the problem with many readers today is that they don't know how to play. The reader is as important to reading as the writer. Sometimes more, I believe. But I think his article is incorrect in its assumption that no knowledge is needed for proper understanding of stories through film.

You can read stories without understanding them, just as you can play a violin without knowing how: poorly. But it can be done. The very same is true with watching film. The problem is never the medium qua medium, always the "mediee" qua complete and utter idiotic human being.

I don't know, what's the word for a person who receives "stuff" through a medium? "

OROTUND: Word of the Day #2 - October 27, 2005

Orotund (adj.)

Pronunciation: ('or-ê-tênd)

Definition: (1) Clearly and elegantly articulated (speech), sonorous, full of deep, rounded sounds; (2) bombastic, pompous.

Originally, our word was used specifically to relate to clear and articulate speech, with round Os and thunderously rolling Rs, but that was quickly associated with stage actors and orators and we know how pompous they are (Out-ah, out-ah, brrrrrieeef cAn-dal!). Go ahead, speak orotundly (adv.) today. Speak your words with orotundity (n.).

Today's word is most certainly related to "rotund" and "rotunda," both coming from the Latin word "rotundo," meaning "round." It is also related to "oral" and "oreo" (though not nearly as closely; ok, I'm really stretching on that one), coming from ore, meaning "with the mouth." In fact, it specifically comes from the Latin phrase ore rotundo: "with a round mouth."

QUEAN: Word of the Day #1 - October 26, 2005

Today's Word of the Day is "quean." (pronounced: kween). No, that's not a misspelling. A quean is a bold, impudent, or ill-behaved woman, even a hussy or a strumpet. So, far from queen.

So much room for puns! Go wild with today's word! Call someone a little drama quean! Use it in an e-mail and people will try to correct you until you point them in the right direction. At worst they'll think you're a bad-speller. It's worth the price.