111–120 of 123 posts
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Maybe bath and bathe? Breath and breathe? Also found this, which agrees with yours and adds teethe::teeth, and wreathe::wreath. https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-minimal-pairs-between-vo...
Bath/bathe and breath/breathe also change their vowels, so they wouldn't count. But teeth/teethe is another good one! As for wreathe, that too... I didn't even know that was a word. :)
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"either" can be pronounced two ways in the first vowel, "ee" (like "eek!") or "eye" (like "eyeball"). Same as "neither". To compare with "ether" I'm assuming the first. But "ether" can only be pronounced with unvoiced "th". If you pronounce it voiced, that would be very unusual. Are you sure? Check out: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ether
The question is about the "th". Neither one I pronounce voiced.
Before you said you use "thy" for both, which is voiced. So you say "aythur" like "Arthur" for the word either?
> For thousands of years, in some written languages, there was no space between words. People were expected figure out sentences and clauses while reading aloud. Really?! Addingspacesbetweenwordsseemslikeanobviousthingtodo. According to Wikipedia, spaces weren't added because: (1) Free form of speech is so continuous, adding inaudible spaces to manuscripts would have been considered illogical. (2) At a time when ink…
FORTRAN code requires no space (to save space on punchcards) ; it seems an appropriate similitude between protohistoric languages.
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FWIW, Replacing "th" with "θ" would really be a "re-placement": Theta and the "voiced dental fricative"[1] were smeared together in Old English long ago.[2] I.e. "there" and "theater" are two different "th"'s.[3] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_dental_fricative [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th_(digraph)#Voiced_fricative_... [3] English speakers: if you pay attention to how you speak those two words you'l…
Not to mention that the English letters were ð and þ rather than θ.
> For thousands of years, in some written languages, there was no space between words. People were expected figure out sentences and clauses while reading aloud. Really?! Addingspacesbetweenwordsseemslikeanobviousthingtodo. According to Wikipedia, spaces weren't added because: (1) Free form of speech is so continuous, adding inaudible spaces to manuscripts would have been considered illogical. (2) At a time when ink…
> I'm not convinced by reason #1 because words are distinct even in speech. No matter how fast or continuous your speech when you say, "The dog jumped", everyone will agree that "dog" is a distinct thing, even if you're illiterate. It seems quite logical to separate "dog" from the words before and after when you write. Clearly you've never tried to learn a second language? Word segmentation is a very difficult task f…
The statement/question "Clearly you've never tried to learn a second language?" is an expression pattern I see frequently. A statement ended with a question mark.
Perhaps it was meant to be intentionally cheeky? Which would be funny, if I knew to interpret it that way. A /s would make this more obvious to me
Or possibly, the sentence was started based on an assumption. This was realized part way through, then a ? was tacked on at the end?
Is there another way to interpret this expression that I am not aware of?
Assumptions of others' knowledge seems to be commonplace, yet we seem to still convey ideas somewhat decently. "Rum and Coke" vs "Roman Coke". Maybe Roman's love their rum and Coke? Either way, odds are, I'll receive the correct drink.
In regards to the original article. Here are my assumptions.
I perceive a sentence as a train-of-connected-thoughts that conveys an actional expression of a person's experience, as well as their attached feelings to that experience. In that regard, I similarly view any attached grammar.
"The dog did a backflip?!" - A person receives data of an experience, first checks it's validity, realizes it falls outside their current understanding of possibility, then proceeds to double-check that they received the data correctly
> Receiver of data: "Wait, did I hear that correctly?"
"The dog did a backflip!?" - A person receives data of an experience, first accepts it (likely first-hand or from a reliable source), then realizes it falls outside their current understanding of possibility based on other reinforced models of reality, and proceeds to doubt said data)
> Receiver of data: "I didn't believe my own eyes!"
"The dog did a backflip‽" - A person doesn't have a preconceived notion for the data they are receiving, and has received it in a way that conveys that it is extraordinary - conveyed below
> Presenter of data: "The dog did a backflip!"
> Receiver of data: "Do dogs not usually do backflips?"
Feel free to correct me if I am wrong
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe bath and bathe? Breath and breathe? Also found this, which agrees with yours and adds teethe::teeth, and wreathe::wreath. https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-minimal-pairs-between-vo...
Bath/bathe and breath/breathe also change their vowels, so they wouldn't count. But teeth/teethe is another good one! As for wreathe, that too... I didn't even know that was a word. :)
Interesting article
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That's a good point! But wouldn't we need better mobile keyboard support before that happens?
The default keyboard on my Sony Xperia… something can already type a fair number of characters, but I don't think most people discover them. These are all accessed by holding down keys on the number/punctuation view: ¢ ¯ — – ≈ ≠ ± ‡ † ‰ ÷ × « » ½ ¼ ⅛ ⅓ ⅔ ¾ ⅜ ² ³ ⁴ ⅝ ⁿ ⅞ • … ¿ ¡ They're not very discoverable like that. Some are repeated, but these ones are on the second page of punctuation: § ¶ ° ¬ ~ © ® | ¦ I'm missi…
SCNR
Earlier quoted context omitted.
FWIW, Replacing "th" with "θ" would really be a "re-placement": Theta and the "voiced dental fricative"[1] were smeared together in Old English long ago.[2] I.e. "there" and "theater" are two different "th"'s.[3] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_dental_fricative [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th_(digraph)#Voiced_fricative_... [3] English speakers: if you pay attention to how you speak those two words you'l…
Similarly, there's no letter for the voiced palato-alveolar fricative in English (and as I recall it's actually one of the newest sounds that is part of English). It's the voiced version of the "sh" sound -- an example is the "si" part of "vision".