Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2014 April 12

= April 12 =

Possible slang meaning of Czech word
Lousy Bastards is a film by Czech filmmaker Roman Kašparovský. Its Czech title is VŜIVÁCI, which Google translates to tufting, meaning a type of textile weaving. Given that the film is dramatic and even violent, I don't get the relationship of the Czech title to the content. Is VŜIVÁCI some kind of slang? --Halcatalyst (talk) 02:51, 12 April 2014 (UTC)
 * všiváč (pl. všiváči) is a pejorative for "vagabond" from vši "lice".--Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 06:08, 12 April 2014 (UTC)


 * Halcatalyst -- the letter Ŝ actually has an Esperanto diacritic, not a Czech one... AnonMoos (talk) 00:34, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

"AAAAAA!" but not "BBBBBB!"
How is it that I can shout "AAAAAA!" but it doesn't work so well if I try to shout "BBBBBB!"?

Some consonants can be "stretched out" like this:
 * "MMMMMM" = hum
 * "RRRRRR" = trill (if I roll it) or growl (if I don't)
 * "SSSSSS" = hiss
 * "ZZZZZZ" = buzz


 * "NNNNNN" = ??? (what is this sound called?)

So why can't I shout -- or even say -- "BBBBBB"? 108.233.194.156 (talk) 09:04, 12 April 2014 (UTC)


 * See the opening paragraph of Stop consonant. Such consonants involve a stoppage of airflow, so that one can't even utter them in isolation; one has to say [bə] or similar. It should be obvious why a sound that involves ceasing to exhale can't be stretched out. Deor (talk) 09:37, 12 April 2014 (UTC)


 * 108.233.194.156 -- If an [n] sound not next to a vowel is used as part of a language's phonology, then it's known as a syllabic nasal. At one point, the names of the letters F, L, M, N, R, S in Latin were apparently just the syllabic versions of the consonant sounds that they wrote (while the name of X was [k] plus syllabic [s]), but this was later changed so that the letter names had a prefixed [e] vowel: "ef", "el", "em", "en", "er", "es", "ex"... AnonMoos (talk) 10:22, 12 April 2014 (UTC)


 * just to mention the term, technically, the opposite of a stop is a continuant. μηδείς (talk) 16:18, 12 April 2014 (UTC)


 * The way to articulate a series of "B" (or "P") sounds would be to "trill" your lips, imitating the "putt-putt" sound of a motorboat, for example. Or, try to say it like Porky Pig would. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:36, 12 April 2014 (UTC)


 * Linguists consider those separate sounds, they do exist as phonemes in many languages: [ɸ] voiceless bilabial fricative, [β] voiced bilabial fricative. Although those sounds seem to be an eff and a vee to English speakers.  So maybe you mean a raspberry. μηδείς (talk) 16:57, 12 April 2014 (UTC)


 * Not exactly, as the razz requires the tongue also. Note how Woody Guthrie makes the car sound in this song. But I guess the OP means a single continuous sound rather than a series of like sounds - in which case his "R" as a trill doesn't work either, as it would be a series of little trilled "R", just like the "B" or "P" that I described. Or "D". So it's as the first responder said: Some sounds can be stretched out and some can't, because of the way they're formed in the mouth. The sounds of those letters as standalones are like, "buh", "duh", "kuh", "puh", "tuh", "wuh", etc. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 17:30, 12 April 2014 (UTC)


 * Baseball Bugs seems to be describing a Bilabial trill, a sound which has frequent non-linguistic use, but only rather limited and restricted use as a phonological speech sound in a few languages... AnonMoos (talk) 01:15, 13 April 2014 (UTC)

It's possible to pronounce, but they sound like with a head cold, and nothing like what we think of as , since the main cue for those sounds is the effect of the release on the following vowel. are even easier, but they all sound the same: silence. — kwami (talk) 02:33, 13 April 2014 (UTC)

Arabic help: What is the Arabic in the poster?
Would anyone state what the Arabic is in this poster? File:Nine Parts Poster (Fishelson).jpg it is for Nine Parts of Desire (play).

Thanks WhisperToMe (talk) 10:15, 12 April 2014 (UTC)


 * تسعة اجزاء من الرغبة equivalent in meaning to title. Not sure about the من there; I notice the other translation in the references to the article omits it (I guess its actual function is to make تسعة اجزاء indefinite rather than definite)... AnonMoos (talk) 10:30, 12 April 2014 (UTC)
 * Thank you so much! WhisperToMe (talk) 14:56, 12 April 2014 (UTC)

Chinese Taipei
The Chinese Taipei article notes Japan's linguistic approach to the topic: In Japan, the PRC is referred to by its official Japanese name Chũka Jinmin Kyōwakoku (中華人民共和国), but an English transliteration, Chainiizu Taipei (チャイニーズタイペイ), is used for Chinese Taipei. I'd like to have it present the Japanese version of "Chinese Taipei" as a counterfoil, i.e. "...is used for Chinese Taipei, rather than a literal translation, _____". My complete lack of familiarity with Japanese makes this impossible. What would be the Japanese original and transliterated text for this? I was imagining basically the adjective for "Chinese" applied to 台北市, if that makes sense in Japanese, i.e. simply applying "Chinese" to 台北市 as if it were a common noun like "politics" or "cuisine". Nyttend (talk) 13:16, 12 April 2014 (UTC)
 * It's always チャイニーズタイペイ or チャイニーズ・タイペイ in Japan. The name in kanji is 中華台北, but it's rarely used. Sorry, but I don't understand what you want. Oda Mari (talk) 15:54, 12 April 2014 (UTC)
 * Imagine that there are two places named "Taipei": one in China, and one in Bolivia. In English, we might call them the "Chinese Taipei" and the "Bolivian Taipei".  What would be the natural Japanese equivalent in this situation?  Nyttend (talk) 22:47, 12 April 2014 (UTC)
 * If there are two Taipeis, "Chinese Taipei" would be "台湾の台北/Taiwan no Taipei (Taihoku)/Taiwanese Taipei" and "Bolivian Taipei" would be "ボリビアのタイペイ/Boribia no Taipei". If there's a Taipei in PRC, it would be "中国の台北/Chūgoku no Taipei (Taihoku)/Chinese Taipei". ROC is called 台湾/Taiwan. PRC is called "中国/Chūgoku/China" far more often than the official ja name/reading. Oda Mari (talk) 15:26, 13 April 2014 (UTC)