Norman Alexander
Penultimate Amazing
there is a law inside the alphabet
- Thread starter alphabetlaw2018
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alphabetlaw2018
New Blood
what is the scientific definition of a vowel ?
Wudang
BOFH
[Citation needed]
Mojo
Mostly harmless
Some sort of AI?
Wudang
BOFH
The Op or the quote?
JayUtah
Penultimate Amazing
Why yes, linguists exist.
Helen
Implicitly explicit
And again; linguists only try to describe vowels, and all the other building blocks of spoken languages - the actual language comes first, and linguists only ever come trotting behind, trying desperately to keep up with their ever-changing subject. They do not lay down the law on anything, they just report on the rules set the users of languages.
We are quite harmless, in my experience. Nerdy about languages, certainly, but yes; mostly harmless, as one very clever user of vowels and consonants phrased it.
I have no idea if this addresses any of your concerns, since I have not yet managed to understand what you are on about. Which only goes to show that language, despite being used by most of us in order to communicate with others, sometimes is painfully inadequate (but then it's often just a variation on PEBKAC).
We are quite harmless, in my experience. Nerdy about languages, certainly, but yes; mostly harmless, as one very clever user of vowels and consonants phrased it.
I have no idea if this addresses any of your concerns, since I have not yet managed to understand what you are on about. Which only goes to show that language, despite being used by most of us in order to communicate with others, sometimes is painfully inadequate (but then it's often just a variation on PEBKAC).
alphabetlaw2018
New Blood
the blindmen and the elephant: The first one happened to put his hand on the elephant's side. "Well, well!" he said, "now I know all about this beast. He is exactly like a wall."
Helen
Implicitly explicit
Linguist do not claim to describe the whole alphabet soup, with or without elephants (and if with, you should always allow it to simmer for as long as possible, by the way, in order to make their derms less pachy), you know. Have you ever actually read up on what linguists do? You may be surprised.
Also, please try to use the alphabet to communicate, and not just to write random words. It can be done, you know, it doesn't happen very often, but I've seen a few instances where it was actually quite efficient.
JayUtah
Penultimate Amazing
Except that linguists are hardly the equivalent of blind men. They are quite able and eager to broaden their horizons and expand their understanding, even while admitting they will always be a reactive field of study.
You might be the blind man in your analogy. As you said, you somehow arrived at your conclusions from an inexpert examination of two of the world's languages that you admit you only know the rudiments of. And your conclusion from your own elephant-groping exercise seems to be that all the world's vowels can be simplified down to a few variations on a few basic sounds, some "law inside the alphabet" that you seem proud to have discovered where all those Alphabet People failed. But to me it sounds like you're simplifying an elephant down to a wall.
Mojo
Mostly harmless
What predictions does this 'law' make?
Now I want to write the phrase "dizzying heights of mediocracy," but I can't
find the letters. They must be hidden inside the alphabet somewhere.
Can't someone please help?
ETA: Disclaimer. I am not now nor have I ever been.
find the letters. They must be hidden inside the alphabet somewhere.
Can't someone please help?
ETA: Disclaimer. I am not now nor have I ever been.
Mojo
Mostly harmless
Here you go:
Quick brown foxes jump over the lazy dog.
Quick brown foxes jump over the lazy dog.
Mojo
Mostly harmless
I don't think so. And that includes the OP.
JayUtah
Penultimate Amazing
Best I've been able to do is try to unravel this post.
Since ancient time, it has always been the central intention of the “alphabet people” for symbols to represent the speech sounds; since ancient time “alphabet people” has been looking into the human speech sounds for discovering the vowels and consonants, just like panning for the gold element. They knew those were the elemental sounds of the human speech.
Latin Based Alphabets:
Both English Alphabet and Vietnamese Alphabet are Latin based Alphabets...
In it he seems to say that the formal study of linguistics has been unable to find a "unified law in the alphabet" and hence must rely upon the International Phonetic Alphabet to express a plethora of vowel sounds. The alphabet he's referring to is the English alphabet, the basis of writing both the English language and (with diacritical markings) the Vietnamese language. He admits only a rudimentary understanding of English—as if that's not obvious in his writing—and claims an unspecified understanding of Vietnamese (which I'm assuming without evidence is his native language).
According to the text in the graphic, he claims he has discovered a "law inside the alphabet" by which vowels can be simplified into three variations on each of five elemental vowel sounds. He has given symbols to each of these: the canonical five English vowel letters each with (1) no diacritical mark, (2) a circumflex ˆ, or (3) a breve ˘. The rest of his argument seems to be sneering at linguists (= "the alphabet people") for not being as clever as he is in discovering this miraculous law.
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Mojo
Mostly harmless
Which particular English accent is he talking about?Best I've been able to do is try to unravel this post.
Since ancient time, it has always been the central intention of the “alphabet people” for symbols to represent the speech sounds; since ancient time “alphabet people” has been looking into the human speech sounds for discovering the vowels and consonants, just like panning for the gold element. They knew those were the elemental sounds of the human speech.
Latin Based Alphabets:
Both English Alphabet and Vietnamese Alphabet are Latin based Alphabets...
In it he seems to say that the formal study of linguistics has been unable to find a "unified law in the alphabet" and hence must rely upon the International Phonetic Alphabet to express a plethora of vowel sounds. The alphabet he's referring to is the English alphabet, the basis of writing both the English language and (with diacritical markings) the Vietnamese language. He admits only a rudimentary understanding of English—as if that's not obvious in his writing—and claims an unspecified understanding of Vietnamese (which I'm assuming without evidence is his native language).
According to the text in the graphic, he claims he has discovered a "law inside the alphabet" by which vowels can be simplified into three variations on each of five elemental vowel sounds. He has given symbols to each of these: the canonical five English vowel letters each with (1) no diacritical mark, (2) a circumflex ˆ, and (3) a breve ˘. The rest of his argument seems to be sneering at linguists (= "the alphabet people") for not being as clever as he is in discovering this miraculous law.
JayUtah
Penultimate Amazing
Exactly. It's a "law" that holds only if you simplify away all the important differences.
Mojo
Mostly harmless
I still want to know what predictions it makes. Without that it isn't even a hypothesis.
Thank you.Best I've been able to do is try to unravel this post.
Since ancient time, it has always been the central intention of the “alphabet people” for symbols to represent the speech sounds; since ancient time “alphabet people” has been looking into the human speech sounds for discovering the vowels and consonants, just like panning for the gold element. They knew those were the elemental sounds of the human speech.
Latin Based Alphabets:
Both English Alphabet and Vietnamese Alphabet are Latin based Alphabets...
In it he seems to say that the formal study of linguistics has been unable to find a "unified law in the alphabet" and hence must rely upon the International Phonetic Alphabet to express a plethora of vowel sounds. The alphabet he's referring to is the English alphabet, the basis of writing both the English language and (with diacritical markings) the Vietnamese language. He admits only a rudimentary understanding of English—as if that's not obvious in his writing—and claims an unspecified understanding of Vietnamese (which I'm assuming without evidence is his native language).
According to the text in the graphic, he claims he has discovered a "law inside the alphabet" by which vowels can be simplified into three variations on each of five elemental vowel sounds. He has given symbols to each of these: the canonical five English vowel letters each with (1) no diacritical mark, (2) a circumflex ˆ, and (3) a breve ˘. The rest of his argument seems to be sneering at linguists (= "the alphabet people") for not being as clever as he is in discovering this miraculous law.