Danny Bate’s recent book Why Q needs U: a history of our letters and how we use them (2025) is an entertaining guide to the histories and shapes of the letters in the modern English alphabet. It contains 26 chapters (‘numbered’, unsurprisingly, A to Z), and an introduction and an epilogue. Content Each chapter address…… Continue reading Enjoyable history of English letters
Tag: Glottal
Sounds of Czech
In this post, I summarise the sound system of Czech and comment on spelling and on contrasts between Czech (a West Slavonic language) and Russian (n East Slavonic language). Consonants Table 1 lists Cech consonants. Table 1. Czech consonants LabialAlveolarPalatalVelar /GlottalNasalmnɲ PlosivepbtdcɟkgAffricate t͡s(d͡z)t͡ʃd͡ʒ FricativefvszʃʒxɦTrill rr̝ Approximant lj Comments on consonants the letters <ň ď ť > represent palatal consonants, although…… Continue reading Sounds of Czech
Learning Welsh and Irish
I’ve set myself a challenge of working through textbooks on Welsh (Colloquial Welsh) and Irish (Teach Yourself Irish). I’ll work through the 2 books in parallel. Spotting similarities and differences will help me learn both these Celtic languages more thoroughly and more quickly. I’ve had a copy of Teach Yourself Welsh for about 50…… Continue reading Learning Welsh and Irish
Sounds of Vietnamese
Vietnamese (tiếng Việt) is in the Vietic subgroup of the Austroasiatic language family. Vietnamese is spoken as a first language by around 85 million people, mainly in Vietnam, where it is the official language. It has several times as many native speakers as all other Austroasiatic languages combined. This post covers: syllable structure word structure consonants vowels reduplication…… Continue reading Sounds of Vietnamese
More words distinguished only by tones
I posted recently about 4 words in Mandarin and 6 Vietnamese words, each pronounced ma, but distinguished phonetically (and phonologically) by bearing different tones. Some words distinguished only by tones – Language Miscellany I’ve now come across a list of 4 Burmese words, each pronounced ma, and also distinguished by bearing different tones. Burmese…… Continue reading More words distinguished only by tones
Cockney in Tower Hamlets
My attention fell in March this year on press reports that Tower Hamlets Council in East London had recognised Cockney as a community language. In this post, I discuss: what Tower Hamlets Council will do Cockney official recognition languages in Tower Hamlets What Tower Hamlets Council will do On 15 March 2023, Tower Hamlets Council…… Continue reading Cockney in Tower Hamlets
Another way to classify English consonants
I have discussed before how many consonants there are in English. In this post, I consider whether it is possible to classify English consonants in a more economical way. Previous post In an earlier post, I discussed how many consonants there are in English. The variety of English I looked at was standard southern British…… Continue reading Another way to classify English consonants
How many sounds are there in English?
How many sounds are there in English? It all depends on what you mean by English and what you mean by sounds. In this post, I will talk about the sounds of standard southern British English, generally known as Received Pronunciation. Phonemes The only feasible way to analyse the set of sounds used in a…… Continue reading How many sounds are there in English?