EvC Forum: On the evolution of English as a written or spoken language.

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Topic: On the evolution of English as a written or spoken language.

frako

Member (Idle past 335 days)

Posts: 2932

From: slovenija

Joined: 09-04-2010

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Message 7 of 88 (596274)
12-14-2010 7:20 AM

Interestingly English is supposed to be a Germanic language tough it is not very close to other Germanic languages.

For instance i can understand most Slavic languages if they speak really slow and use their hands

Sure there are some differences that sometimes make you laugh like the Slovakian terms for blow(as in using your lungs to produce a wind current) is Fukati, in Slovenian Fukati means to have sex, and the Slovenian word pihati (blow) means to have sex in Slovakian. Tough their grammar and most of the other words sound very similar. It is real funny to watch the reaction of people say on the beach when few Slovakians try to inflate a beach ball, and one of them cries fukaj, fukaj, fukaj, and the whole beach looks at them going wtf. Or when a Slovenian cop stopped a Slovakian friend of mine and the cop said well you will have to step out of the car and blow (as in preform an alco test), you could see the fear in my friends eyes

On the same note if you compare other Germanic languages to English is not even closely as similar. Sure a few key words sound closely the same as mutter, mother, father, Vater. Tough the more you distance your self from the most used words the grater the difference is.

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	Message 8 by bluegenes, posted 12-14-2010 7:46 AM		frako has not replied

frako

Member (Idle past 335 days)

Posts: 2932

From: slovenija

Joined: 09-04-2010

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Message 11 of 88 (596292)
12-14-2010 9:28 AM

Reply to: Message 10 by Parasomnium
12-14-2010 9:05 AM

Re: "Ghoti"

Does anyone know how to pronounce "ghoti" in English?

If you mean how one used to pronounce gothi
the same way you now pronounce fish

English orthography is the alphabetic spelling system used by the English language. English orthography, like other alphabetic orthographies, uses a set of habits to represent speech sounds in writing. In most other languages, these habits are regular enough so that they may be called rules. In standard English spelling, however, nearly every sound is spelled in more than one way, and most spellings and all letters can be pronounced in more than one way and often in many different ways. This is partly due to the complex history of the English language,[1] but mainly due to the fact that no systematic spelling reform has been implemented in English, contrary to the situation in most other languages.

English orthography - Wikipedia

Ghoti is a constructed word used to illustrate irregularities in English spelling. It is a respelling of the word fish, and like fish, is pronounced /ˈfɪʃ/. Its components include:

* gh, pronounced /f/ as in tough /tʌf/;
* o, pronounced /ɪ/ as in women /ˈwɪmɪn/; and
* ti, pronounced /ʃ/ as in nation /ˈne͡ɪʃən/.

The first known published reference is in 1874, citing an 1855 letter that credits ghoti to one William Ollier (born 1824).[1] Ghoti is often cited to support the English spelling reform, and is often attributed to George Bernard Shaw,[2] a supporter of this cause. However, a biography of Shaw attributes it instead to an anonymous spelling reformer.[3] Similar constructed words exist that demonstrate English idiosyncrasies, but ghoti is the most widely recognized. Linguists have protested that the placement of the letters in the constructed word are inconsistent with the claimed pronunciation.

Ghoti - Wikipedia

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	Message 10 by Parasomnium, posted 12-14-2010 9:05 AM		Parasomnium has not replied

frako

Member (Idle past 335 days)

Posts: 2932

From: slovenija

Joined: 09-04-2010

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Message 26 of 88 (596340)
12-14-2010 12:40 PM

Reply to: Message 21 by dwise1
12-14-2010 11:32 AM

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."

Most languages have the same problem of borrowed words for instance slovenian has NO truly profane word, we borrowed them all from those south of us. And as for new words like pizza at first it is written the same way but now pizza is written in our way pica. And for some words we invent our own the term Cd-Rom was used for a long time then they invented zgočenka roughly translated back "condensed one" lol

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	Message 21 by dwise1, posted 12-14-2010 11:32 AM		dwise1 has not replied

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