Discussion Post #4

Bahasa Indonesia has a rich phonetic inventory that is very similar to that of English. Both Bahasa Indonesia and English have twenty-six letters, but most Indonesian letters have only one pronunciation. Most consonants (except most notably C and R) sound the same in Bahasa Indonesia and English. In Indonesian, the letter C sounds like a “ch” or [t͡ʃ] sound in English. For example, “cepat” (fast) is pronounced  [t͡ʃ], [ɛ], [p], [a], [t]. The letter R in Bahasa Indonesia has no equivalent in English. The letter R in Indonesian is equivalent to the Spanish trill in rr (perro) [r]. For example, “orang” (person) is pronounced [o], [r], [a], [ŋ]. [ŋ] is pronounced like the “ni” in onion, which is pronounced [ʌ], [ŋ], [e], [n]. Many words have a voiceless glottal fricative at the end; for example, “sudah” (already) is pronounced [s], [ʊ], [d], [a], [h]. The letter K in Bahasa Indonesia has a full glottal stop, making the [?] sound like in “tidak” (no), which is pronounced [t], [i], [a],…

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Discussion Post #4

There are both sounds in Spanish that don’t exist in American English and letters that sound differently in Spanish than they do in English. An example of a word that uses a sound that exists in English, however, uses a letter formation we do not have, is the word “lleno” (full). In the word “lleno” the double ll is pronounced the same way the y is in English (in words like “yes”), and the double ll does not exist at the beginning of words in this way in English. Examples of sounds that exist in Spanish that do not exist in American English are the Spanish tap /ɾ/ (as in pero) and the alveolar trill /r/ (as in perro). To my understanding, there are 5 Spanish vowel phonemes, and they are as follows: / i / = i iguana, / e / = e elefante, / a / = a arte, / o / = o oso, / u / = uva. There are three open vowels: / a /, / e /, and / o /, and two closed vowels: / i / and / u /. Open vowels are pronounced with the mouth open, and the tongue stays in the lower part of the mouth. Closed vowels…

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Discussion Post #4

Looking at the Mandarin phonetic inventory, I can see pretty quickly that the sound system is organized differently from American English. One big difference is that Mandarin focuses a lot on aspiration instead of voicing, so sounds like p / pʰ, t / tʰ, k / kʰ are treated as separate categories. The chart also shows several alveolopalatal sounds that English doesn’t really have, like x, q, and j. These are the ones i have run into the most in my early studies, hearing them you hear in words like xī, qǐng, and jiàng. Another group is the retroflex sounds, like zh, ch, and sh, which show up in words such as zhōng and shū. Mandarin also uses ü, which doesn’t exist in English, though i have seen it in German. Even though some symbols look familiar, the chart makes it clear that Mandarin organizes sounds by place of articulation in ways that don’t line up perfectly with English categories. In addition to these sounds, Mandarin also uses the four tones to change the meaning of words. For…

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Discussion Post #3

The main structures of language that are discussed in How to Investigate Language Structure such as the medium of linguistic transmission, grammar, phonetics, vocabulary, and semantics are present in Spanish as they are in every language. However, there are specific structures that are unique to the Spanish language that I find interesting. For example, there is a common omission of subject pronouns (due to conjugated verbs), simple negation with “no” before verbs, and formal and informal ways to address someone directly (tu o usted). In order to form a more holistic understanding of Spanish, I will be focusing on phonetics in order to improve my pronunciation, semantics in order to learn more of the nuances of how different ways to communicate the same thing are used, and I will increase my integration of more complex vocabulary in order to be able to better express myself and understand others. 

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