lugal @ lugal @lemmy.dbzer0.com

Posts

0

Comments

413

Joined

1 yr. ago

Since I have an eBook I carry it everywhere

You do not seem to be aware of that since your variety also lacks the a/an distinction, but '"strong the" before vowel' is a rule at least promoted by my teachers. So it is the same phenomenon. This is true for other words, too like to (/tə/ vs /tuw/). "a/an" is just the only example visible in writing and your variety doesn't seem to have these distinctions at all so your excused for not knowing about them. Lindsey has a video, I can look it up later.

since speakers clearly don't need their pronunciation eased in this environment.

Saying it is possible to pronounce doesn't mean it can't be eased (is that wording right? You know what I mean). Language changes isn't that regular. There are distances I sometimes walk or take the bus to ease the travel. This isn't that strict. Language change often effects some words, or a single one but not others. For instance "listen" has a silent "t" in most varieties even tho it's easy to pronounce and speakers didn't need this shift, it just happened. Examples where this didn't happen prove nothing.

And your f/v example fails because it's fossilized. The "e" that softens the f to v went silent but the v stayed voiced and even voiced the s (to z). The a/an distinction on the other hand is productive. It's "an honor to join a union" since the h in honor is silent and "union" starts with [j]. People even say "an historical event" because the unstressed h is too weak. Even the glottal stop, while not consciously perceived as a consonant, can trigger this. Lindsey also shows this in a video.

When the sound change originally took place, of course, it could be argued that it was for "ease of articulation" purposes since the change was regular, but post facto explanations for sound change are always a bit dicey.

So when did it stop ease the articulation? When it fossilized? When it stops being productive? Because, as shown above, it didn't. It's still regular. Silent letters don't effect it, it's still all about pronunciation, about easing the articulation and only implemented where it does this job. And it always only effected this word so it was never as regular as [f]>[v] between vowels. It always, and still does, effect this one word in a very regular way.

And it's not an inserted "n". I think of it as an "a/an alternation" but you can also think of it "an losing its n" just like to (/təw/) loses its w. And this framework also explains why "my/mine" didn't stay: when /i:/ shifted to /aj/, there was a consonant at the end anymore and the /n/ no longer needed to ease the articulation.

I hope you see why I don't think your position is very convincing. How can you ignore than simplifying pronunciation is a key factor in language change?

If it can be twisted to suit anyone's narrative, why demonize it instead of using it for our narrative? Why focus on how it can be used instead of using it for good? Why alienate people who enjoy it instead of trying to win them over? I'm not even sure if you defend the post because you do not really seem to agree but neither do you explicitly disagree.

Hope and imagining a better future is a crucial element of working towards such goals. Hope, like memory, is a mental capacity that can be trained. Reading solar punk novels can be part of motivation, even agitation. Calling it fascistic because it isn't enough is like calling walls anti-housing because a wall is worthless without a roof. Well, it is a start.

First, I agree with most of what your saying, but:

This means that the "a"/"an" alternation in Modern English is not to "ease pronunciation" in any way - like with many phenomena in English (and all languages for that matter), it's just a vestigial remnant of an accidental historical process.

Why do you frame that as a dichotomy? To ease pronunciation, we take the older form (containing the consonant at the end) when a vowel follows and the reduced form (without the consonant) when a consonant follows. We alternate between these forms to ease pronunciation. Same for "the": Arguably, the "strong the" is not /þi:/ but /þıj/ ending in a constant (/j/) and is therefore favored when a consonant follows to ease pronunciation. Sometimes it's used for emphasis which also happens with "an" so it's basically the same phenomenon.

There are other factors at play, as you pointed out the break to indicate quotation and regional differences. Also the glotal stop might not be consciously perceived but still trigger the same result as any consonant.

I for one use the a/an distinction as I learned it at school while having a glottal stop heavy accent due to my native language so I will say stuff like /ʔən ʔɛpl/ and act surprised when people know where I'm from.

Let's get that straight: You call me a moth just because I'm little, have no external genitalia or secondary sexual traits and like lamps? Be honest: Who doesn't like lamps?

If I was a moth, I would say so but I explicitly said I'm not! You totally fail at critical thinking! Why would I say it if it wasn't true? Humans make me sick! All you ever talk about is your phallus and phallus symbols!

And even if I was a moth, I wouldn't be a weirdo because humans are weirdos, moths are not. Checkmate atheist, destroyed by pure logic.

Also: I hereby do not wish you a good day and explicitly do not remind you to drink a glass of water to stay hydrated

You make me sound like a weirdo while in fact you are. You make me sound like I'm in a cult or something while I'm clearly not. Why would I be? I'm just a normal human being doing normal human being stuff like turning the light on and off all by my self for no particular reason. I'm not a cultist or a moth, just an ally who raises their voice for the unheard because most of us moths do not have access to the internet by themselves. All I want is justice for a group of animals I'm not part of but deeply sympathetic with for not particular reason. I want bigotry to stop once and for all and for hateful people like you to get all your delicious cloths eaten so we finally find justice. If that's weird or cultist, maybe I am but if that sounds reasonable (as it does), than you are the weirdo.

Also you seem to be a non-moth because you reproduce all the specicist prejudices about moths and non-moth supremacist behavior

Check your privileges

Pretty sure that's not what the moth is saying and it's not ok to call them little without consent. I appreciate the message but you can be positive online without spreading misinformation. Even if this isn't harmful misinformation, you're normalizing misinformation none the less

Not this time. It was the gold fish in the pond

You did not mean to, but did you care?

Demn, I ollweys confuse English vowels

Imagine a grill without the latest firewall

And than there is me who is bold and still goes to the barber because the feeling of someone else cutting your bold head with a razor knife is just great. Also I have a long beard which is the main reason to go to the barber but I digress

The string is how the roommate tried to kill themselves and it just tore apart

It's called nostalgia

Hi Couiours, I'm dad

Yes, this catches just anything, hyphens, digits, spaces, ...

Especially sentences