Just as when I thought that learning the various sounds the consonants make, broad and slender, and the various sounds the vowels make, stressed, unstressed, long, short, and as vowel sequences, I found myself having problems especially when pronouncing words that have vowels flanking both sides, or just one side, of consonant digraphs like 'mh' … Continue reading Making sense of Irish orthography (Pt Finale)
orthography
Trying to make sense of Irish vowels (Pt 2)
Previously, I shared the various difficulties I faced when learning the orthography of Irish consonants, and how they are pronounced. But this time, I am faced with a bigger challenge -- figuring out how the vowels are pronounced. After all, the Irish language is no stranger to vowel sequences like "aoi" and "uai", building up … Continue reading Trying to make sense of Irish vowels (Pt 2)
Trying to make sense of Irish orthography, again (Pt 1)
Recently, I have taken an interest in learning the Irish language or Gaeilge again, after taking a somewhat extended break from it to learn languages like Maori. But immediately, I found myself in quite a bit of a pickle when it comes to learning how Irish sounds are written, and how written Irish is read. … Continue reading Trying to make sense of Irish orthography, again (Pt 1)
The rise of Rōmaji in post-war Japan
Correlating what is spoken with what is written -- that is the long-standing challenge faced by many writing systems across the world. Some use the alphabet, and using certain letter combinations to represent more sounds, while others use logographic or ideographic writing systems to express more along the lines of ideas and things rather than … Continue reading The rise of Rōmaji in post-war Japan
Swiss High German has one fewer letter than Standard High German. But why?
When prowling through various orthographies, and their changes throughout modernity, I came across a particularly interesting case study on the use of the letter "eszett" (or scharfes es) in relation to the surrounding vowels, the letter s, and the digraph ss. These changes somehow disproportionately applied to Standard German, particularly those used in Germany and … Continue reading Swiss High German has one fewer letter than Standard High German. But why?
Speaking Japanese — The Four Kana (Yotsugana)
If you have learnt Japanese, you most likely have been introduced to how it is spoken in Tokyo, or to a lesser extent, Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, or any Kansai variant. However, there are some kana sounds that may or may not sound different based on the prefecture you are in. These four, づ, ず, じ, … Continue reading Speaking Japanese — The Four Kana (Yotsugana)
The Language Closet 