Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2019 August 29

= August 29 =

What is the meaning of "wholesome" in the meme subculture?
The answer is in the title! 42.118.9.103 (talk) 14:29, 29 August 2019 (UTC)
 * So, you asked and answered your own question? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:30, 29 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Presumably the OP meant "question" [is the title]. Answers:
 * "15 minute read":
 * Quick read:
 * —2606:A000:1126:28D:C11B:68F2:2FB:1B34 (talk) 00:08, 30 August 2019 (UTC)

Pronunciation information for Adut Akech
Hi, can the experts here help with a sourced IPA for Adut Akech's name? It would be especially relevant in this article since there is a mention of her Australian teacher being unable to pronounce her name. Thanks 70.67.193.176 (talk) 17:55, 29 August 2019 (UTC)


 * Update: User:Nardog made the addition to the article: sourced to two videos of her saying her name, thanks again Nardog. 70.67.193.176 (talk) 17:58, 31 August 2019 (UTC)

"ou" sound before labial consonants
How come the sound of English ou as in out never occurs before labial sounds except in compound words such as cowboy?? (Read Wiktionary's entry for the word room, specifically information on its etymology.) Georgia guy (talk) 22:40, 29 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Maybe you could provide a link to that. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 01:32, 30 August 2019 (UTC)


 * I've done it for him, here. Not sure I understand the question, though. What about actual "cow"? (as in "How now brown cow?"), or bow (of a ship), row (argument), sow, vow, wow? The Wictionary entry says ". . . /aʊ/ does not occur before noncoronal consonants in Modern English", but the term "noncoronal consonant" seems to be rare and I haven't yet found a clear definition of it, so I'm uncertain as to what the statement means and whether it's correct. Anyone? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.122.61.224 (talk) 01:54, 30 August 2019 (UTC)
 * FWIW, A noncoronal consonant is simply a consonant that isn't in the set of coronal consonants, most commonly a labial consonant or dorsal consonant. They are also sometimes called Peripheral consonants.--William Thweatt TalkContribs 03:22, 30 August 2019 (UTC)
 * The  in "cow" is a consonant letter but not a consonant sound. "Cow" is pronounced /kaʊ/; there's only one consonant in the word, namely /k/. --Trovatore (talk) 03:45, 30 August 2019 (UTC)


 * Georgia_guy -- inhibition of diphthongization is the summary of the result of the various historical changes applying and not applying, but that's not really any kind of familiar linguistic process, as far as I'm aware (it certainly didn't apply to analogous words in German).
 * I'm just speculating here, but maybe ca. 1500 English [uː] had a dissimilated allophone with lower-than-usual tongue height before labial consonants (somewhat similar to how the sequence of sounds [wu] is prohibited in some languages, including Japanese), and this low-u allophone met and merged with [oː] being raised from below. I don't know of any specific evidence for this, but it's an explanation in terms of somewhat natural phonological processes (unlike inhibition of diphthongization)... AnonMoos (talk) 09:10, 30 August 2019 (UTC)


 * I can think of some proper names that fail the test, but I'm guessing you're not including them. Like the name Baum, which some pronounce like "bomb" and others as if it were spelled "bowm". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 20:52, 30 August 2019 (UTC)


 * Some proper names could be relevant, if they've been in English since the 1400s (and didn't originate in a dialect strongly divergent from what became standard English). Baum is not relevant,since it's German for "tree"... AnonMoos (talk) 01:04, 31 August 2019 (UTC)


 * In dialect, some people say "Souf London." TFD (talk) 01:13, 31 August 2019 (UTC)


 * See Reference desk/Archives/Language/2013 September 24 for a similar discussion. --Theurgist (talk) 18:43, 4 September 2019 (UTC)