Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2017 March 2

= March 2 =

Which novel has a novelist protagonist who can't proceed beyond the first sentence of his novel?
Some Camus or Kafka work? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.232.76.114 (talk) 11:08, 2 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Albert Camus: The Plague. The character's name is Joseph Grand. --Wrongfilter (talk) 11:12, 2 March 2017 (UTC)

Thank you, very much. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 14.139.185.2 (talk) 07:54, 3 March 2017 (UTC)

Voiced and voiceless consonants in Russian
In general, when Russian has a consonant cluster of 2 or more obstruent consonants, the pronunciation is determined by whether the last of them is voiced or voiceless; final consonants are always voiceless. But there's one exception. The Cyrillic letter Ve (Cyrillic) (as a final consonant before a vowel) doesn't affect the sound of the preceding consonant; for example Es before Ve remains Es. What's special about this consonant that makes this true?? Georgia guy (talk) 21:01, 2 March 2017 (UTC)


 * As in wikt:свадьба, wikt:свинец, for example. I don't know the explanation. Other examples: wikt:тварь, wikt:квас, and so on. —Stephen (talk) 22:42, 2 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Because it has dual nature, it is semi-sonorant, semi-obstruent, read here--Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 19:43, 4 March 2017 (UTC)
 * But it has a voiceless counterpart, Ef (Cyrillic). Ef effects the preceding consonant the way all voiceless obstruents do in Russian. And Ve's sound becomes f when before any voiceless consonant. What property does Ve have that's not shared by Ef?? Is Ve sometimes more like a consonant between the V and W sounds?? (Especially in some pre-1900 dialects.) Georgia guy (talk) 19:48, 4 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Please, read sources, especially the former, it explains thoroughly. I cannot help with more than that, I doubt I could do better at speculating the causes than the professional phoneticians cited.--Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 20:05, 4 March 2017 (UTC)