Some South African English for you
“Don’t be a doos. Naartjies are much better than spanspek. You can get the best ones at the shop near the petrol station. Just go down the street, and turn right at the robot. When you get there, you have to ignore the bergies, they just want to suip. I would’ve gone, but I have […]
An overview of “g” in the history of English
The “g” sound has had an interesting journey in English. It used to be in many words of Germanic origin in English, but the sound changed over time. It is found in the word “bridge”, where the “g” is part of a “j” sound (like in “judge”). It was originally a “g” sound (like in […]
The Fox and the Eagle in Atlaans
Een adler en een fuks is een enga friendshap bilded en is een dag enzeeded blieze su mekaar leben. De adler is saar lage in de asten fon een vieshoka boum, vaarend de fuks is in een unnaholt krieched en dord saar kinder ergebed. Niet lang danak esse is su dies zamiesh beslused, de adler, […]
There is no such thing as an easy language
Languages play many roles in a society. Because of this they have evolved to have some pretty fine distinctions about things. “Drunk” vs “intoxicated”, “retard” vs “mentally disabled”. These are registers and exist to paint a picture. Maybe you want to be intentionally rude (to offend the other person, or because you don’t care if […]
How the debate over languages vs dialects can lead us astray
I think the problem with the words “language” and “dialect” is that it tries to put people who speak a certain way together even though there may be great differences between those people. “American English” and “British English” are both called dialects of English despite there being huge cultural difference between the speakers. I think […]
Phonetic description of annoying sounds teenagers make
This is what linguistics was made for 😀 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY2R_K3NFPo
