| Linguistics; ET languages; your comments (2)... |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|12:42 pm] |
The second batch of your comments I want to tackle -- about a possible "third class of meaningful sounds" in an ET language -- is those that propose various kinds of noises. The noises described in your comments included percussives [sounds that could be made with drums, rattles, and the like]; crackling; clicks; whistles; burps and belches; teeth-clicks; farts; squeaks; squeals; and more.
Those of you who've complained that I didn't define my terms -- neither "vowel" nor "consonant" -- are absolutely right, and I apologize. For me, vowels are speech sounds that are produced without any obstruction of the flow of air through the vocal tract; consonants are speech sounds for which that flow of air is obstructed in some fashion. That of course means that the vowel/consonant distinction has to be a continuum, not an either/or binary split. As ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) pgdudda has pointed out, the English liquids [L and R] and the English glides [Y and W and H] are neither strictly vowels nor strictly consonants; they fall in between the two, somewhere on the continuum.
My opinion -- and it's only that, an opinion, since I've never encountered an ET language -- is that all of the varieties of noises proposed in your comments would be perceived by Terrans, and by Terran linguists, as falling somewhere on the vowel/consonant continuum; that is, as either vowel-like or consonant-like. I don't believe they would perceive the noises as a separate, third class of meaningful speech sounds.
I could be wrong about this. For sure. |
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| Police Sgt. Kimberly Munley, Nidal Malik Hasan, Ehren Watada |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|11:22 am] |
America's Brand New Hero - Twit/Pic
I have added Police Sgt. Kimberly Munley to my long list of heroes. Lord knows how many more would have been killed or wounded had it not been for the heroism she displayed at the Fort Hood massacre. This heroine is greatly appreciated, and we all wish her a speedy recovery.
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan reminds me in a way, of First Lieutenant of the United States Army Ehren Watada. Of course, he didn't go to the extremes that Hasan did, but just as Hasan refused deployment to Afghanistan, Watada refused deployment to Iraq. Watada's excuse was that he felt war was "illegal and immoral". Hasans excuse was that he was "a Muslim first and an American second."
Thanks to the U.S. Army, and the taxpayers, both men received their degrees free and clear. Both these men knew that when they signed on the dotted line of the enlistment agreement, that they were signing a binding contract. They knew that they would have to follow all orders, whether they agreed to them or not, one being that they could very possibly be sent out to war. In short, you agree to sign your very life to the Armed Forces.
I find both of these men despicable cowards, and may Nidal Malik Hasan rot in hell for the evil he committed at Ft. Hood.
Pros and cons of joining the military
Ten Points to Consider Before You Sign a Military Enlistment Agreement
Moveon.ORG
Join The NRA
"The Right Of The People To Keep and
Bear Arms, Shall Not Be infringed."! |
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| Conclusions from the experiment |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|10:44 am] |
For some reason, LJ was not sending me the email messages to approve submissions.
As such, I had three in the queue waiting for me.
thesigother's post DID generate a message in my inbox, which took me to the moderation queue, which allowed me to see the big back-log of posts!
I am very sorry, fellow St. Louis Steampunks! The previous posts are somewhat out-of-date. The posters have been approved for future postings, however. No need to wait for a moderator's approval more than once. :)
It's set that way due to a large and obnoxious quantity of spam posts (both here and in the Yahoogroup) when these communities were first created. Prove that you're not a robot (or that you're a robot that posts on-topic), and you will be automatically approved by your hostess for future postings.
Please, post away! |
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| Anybody free on Monday night? |
[Oct. 24th, 2009|10:38 am] |
Hey guys! The group's been a little quiet as of late (that, or you've all moved to some other means of communication because I'm not cool enough), so I thought I'd check in, see what's going on.
Sorry I missed the Mad Scientist thing at Archon- how'd that go? Anybody get any cool pictures or the like?
Anyway, on to the main point of the message- namely, to see what everyone's doing on this Monday, the 26th. The reason I ask is because Voltaire (the singer, not the long-dead writer) is gonna be playing The Complex. I figured I'd get goggled up for it, as 1) Any excuse is fun, and 2) I don't really have any 'goth' stuff anyway.
And, with that in mind, I figured I'd toss the idea out to see if anyone else wanted to go too! Sure, it's not Abney Park, but I've seen Voltaire play before, and he's really, really entertaining. Well worth checking out! |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|09:36 am] |
i have tons of i have the 18 month (july 2009 through december 2010) weekly notebook planners right now so i am selling them.
and they are like this:
they come in these sizes:
large version hardcover, black
and that's 8.3 x 5 x 0.6 inches
click here if you want one. |
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| Testing for... SCIENCE! |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|09:43 am] |
I have reports that there is something amiss with the posting to this community.
As such, I'm attempting a post here. If you are reading this then the experiment was a success.
I'd also like to point out that it took me a couple of tries to get to the community, which may be a LiveJournal issue. Not sure.
So... test begins in 3... 2... 1.... |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|09:04 am] |
Did a round at Farmer's Market to say hello/goodbye to the remaining market folk, letting them know the tendon issues will probably keep me from doing any more bagels next year. If I find something else that doesn't cause more injury, I'll consider it, but won't promise anything. I have until February when new Market applications come out.
I came home with hot chestnuts for Marz, some honey, and a plethora of pears that were selling for $1/lb. Someone had an unexpected bumper crop at the end of the season.
Later tonight is the KaCSFFS Thanksgiving dinner, I'll have to make up something in awhile. Tomorrow we may hit the zoo if the weather holds. |
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| Linguistics; ET languages; your comments... |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|08:44 am] |
The first batch of your comments on my ET phonology question that I want to tackle is the batch that doesn't try to answer my question. I don't know whether it's because I didn't make myself clear, or because the question was perhaps read too quickly, or because the commenters just preferred not to color inside the lines. In any case...
My question was narrow and specific:
Suppose the ET language we're dealing with has three classes of meaningful sounds: vowels; consonants; and something else. What could the something else be?
Comments proposing that the something else could be colors, or smells, or the position of the speaker's face/ears/tail/fur -- something other than a class of meaningful sounds -- are answering a different question. It's an interesting question, and I thank you for the comments, but it's not the question that I asked. |
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| Confused: Blackface Costumes Rile University |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|08:06 am] |
Please help me... I am confused. I read this article and I am almost tempted to get pissed, but stopped myself. I am more baffled than anything else. Read, and I will continue my comments...
Blackface Costumes Rile University
(Nov. 6) -- The pictures shocked the campus -- two students at Northwestern University in Chicago cavorting at a Halloween party in blackface.
The images prompted such an outcry that university officials held a forum on racial issues Thursday. More than 600 students and staff attended, according to The Daily Northwestern, the college's student newspaper.
The controversy began when one student reportedly dressed as Bob Marley by painting his body black and donning a T-shirt that read "Jamaica," NBC Chicago said. Another student appeared as a black woman and carried a tennis racket, the NBC affiliate reported. Their photos appeared on Facebook.
Blackface "still says you don’t belong in ways that are echoed throughout our society today, both off-campus and on," Professor Sandra Richards said in The Daily Northwestern. She teaches African-American studies and theater.
Student reactions have been mixed, NBC Chicago said.
"[I] have to realize I'm in a place where some people might not understand that something like blackface is not appropriate," student Julia Haskins told the station. While the pictures created a tempest at Northwestern, they didn't violate any campus codes, according to Chicago's WGN.
"The students, using very poor judgment, did not break any rules," a station reporter said, quoting Northwestern officials.
http://news.aol.com/article/blackface-halloween-costumes-rile/756540?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl1|link7|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fblackface-halloween-costumes-rile%2F756540
I am really trying to understand, and I don't. So I did what I usually do in a situation like this, I translate it. I say, "Okay, what if a couple of people dressed up in costumes where that they were gay. How would I feel?"
It would depend! Were they dressing up as gay people to make fun, or because of something else? One student was dressing up as Bob Marley. Should he have done it without the blackpaint??? Wouldn't that be like dressing up as from "Wicked" and not painting your face green? Or to be more appropriate, if I were to dress up as any famous person NOT of my racial color, wouldn't OF COURSE paint my face for that racial group?
I saw people dressed up as Mexican characters this Halloween. Not sure why, but they painted their faces. I didn't see anyone offended.
Maybe there just isn't enough information in this article?
I am confused and would like to get UN-confused. If I am being ignorant, which I have accused people of being, I want to get UN-ignorant.
HOW HOW HOW does 'Blackface "still [say] you don’t belong in ways that are echoed throughout our society today, both off-campus and on??"' WHY is it that the student has to "realize [she's] in a place where some people might not understand that something like blackface is not appropriate?" WHY isn't it appropriate?
Because the United States used to have slaves?
WHEN can I dress as Bob Marley? Two thousand years from now?
Isn't there a point where WE has individuals MUST take responsibly for our being upset or not upset, offended or not offended?
Not know that I don't like it when my daughter or anyone says, "Oh, that's so gay!" But that is because they are using the word "gay" to mean stupid. "That is so stupid."
Now if she said, "That is SO gay," when she sees a guy in pink walking a pink poodle I would laugh and agree. I tease I guy at work for being "so gay." He goes out of his way to make everyone know, but I ALWAYS make sure to do all buy hug him. He knows I like him. He invited me to his birthday party last night.
A MAJOR thing I had to do in my growth was to learn not to be offended. I can still get offended, but YOU can't offend me. That is all about you. YOU are trying to do something to upset me. That is YOUR trip. If I get offended, then I am taking on something I don't need to take on. I am taking on emotions and stress and head-trips that I don't need to take on. Taking it on only perpetuates problems.
If a gay person got upset over a gay costume that was not meant in bad taste, we would say that gay person has his own internalized homophobia. Maybe I, even today, have a little bit of that for wishing this guy I worked with wouldn't be so flamboyant.
SO, isn't it possible that this student and this teacher of African American Studies has a little internalized self-hatred?
REMEMBER, if you want someone to learn something - in this case me - tell me logically where I am going wrong and why I am being stupid or ignorant. Yelling will only turn me off to what you have to say...
Namasté,
Ben |
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| Saturday Reading Material |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|01:51 pm] |
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http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/11/07/saturday-reading-material/ http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=9013 I’m out and about again today, so no more from me today here. I know, it’s so unfair. But to keep you occupied all day long, allow me to point you in the direction of “Bone Shop,” a short novel by T.A. Pratt, (who in his other incarnation is the Hugo Award-winning author Tim Pratt) featuring his magic-wielding heroine Marla Mason in an early adventure, which is to say it’s a prequel story, which means you do not need to have read previous works in the series. It’s fun, fast and it’s free to read — but if you like it, T.A. Pratt is accepting donations for the work. So if you read it and like it, which I expect you might, think of sending some love (and a few bucks) in the direction of the author.
Having thus pointed you in the direction of a full day of reading pleasure, I now tip my hat in your direction and bid you adieu for the day.
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