April 2019, Issue #11

April 2019, Issue #11

The Magazine for Language Lovers

Anti-languages
Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers April 2019, Issue #11

Contents 4 Jan
English as the language of creativity
Pinc 28
Modern Hebrew Morphology,
Part 2
Gil Cohen
Empty words in our day to day
8 Stefano Nunes S is for Scientific Study
32 Christopher Davy
How we say what we mean
10 Gabrielle Desaulniers Anti-languages
34 Elena Sheard

12 The closest speech to thought

Diana Vereris An Introduction to Esperanto
Intimacy in the verbal expression of
36 Memes
Robbin Michels
14 Rio de Janeiro
Tom Moore Romanian! Try it now!
39 Biana Ifcu
Consonant crisis in Spanish: massive
20 Apiosibilant lay-offs reported An enthusiast’s guide to
Frito 42 language learning
Foteini Athina Karantoni
Languages of Italy: a journey
24 through the idioms of the Italian
peninsula, Part 2
Simone Villano

This week’s page number language is Chinese

Front cover photo by Ray Bilcliff from Pexels

二 / Èr / 2 Le� photo by Brayden Law from Pexels 3 / Sān /三
Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
You’ve probably heard the joke about how
English isn’t a language, but three languages
stacked on top of each other wearing a trench
coat. Or perhaps the joke that English does not
borrow from other languages; it follows them,
knocks them down in a dark alley and then goes
rifles their pockets for loose grammar. Or any
joke about the shock value of “y’all’d’ve”.
However, despite its numerous flaws and/or
seemingly illogical rules, the truth is (at least at
the western hemisphere), that English is
currently going for something that all the
Civiliza�on die-hards would call a “cultural
victory”.
English, for be�er or worse, dominates most of
the current media; America’s film industry is
s�ll going strong, the internet is likewise an
American inven�on (and the web was a Bri�sh
one), the basics of the modern pop culture
were laid in the former Western Bloc, and so
on. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some
perks that English has compared to other
languages.
While I don't want to start a new “Does
language equal thought?” debate, I do believe
there are certain factors in English that foster
crea�vity. This doesn’t mean that English is
inherently superior or inferior to other
languages; I’d just like to show how lucky
English is to possess certain features.
English as the
Take these, for example:
Gender neutral wri�ng:
language of
English, not being that keen on gendering,
allows quite a bit of experimenta�on regarding
literature. Given how (unlike many other
languages) neither its adjec�ves nor verbs
creativity
possess dedicated masculine/feminine/neuter
suffixes, it’s rather easy to say how “X does Y”
without revealing the gender of X. While you
might be forced to fall back on pronouns like
“they/them” a few �mes, you can s�ll pull off a
Jan Pinc reasonably surprising gender reveal plot-twist
later on, even more so if the ambiguous person
is the narrator themselves and so can benefit
四 / Sì / 4
from the plain, unassuming “I”.
Just an example how this can be a bit
more prac�cal than “merely” an ar�s�c
experiment – when the original Alien
movie was wri�en, the script only
provided outline of the characters’
personali�es and called them all by
their surname. This way every posi�on
could be filled by an actor solely based
on their performance, while ignoring a
gender. In more gendered languages,
this would be flat-out impossible, as
wri�ng the script would require having
a specific gender in mind for each
character (and so reducing your
available cas�ng op�ons by 50%, give or
take a few).
Informa�on technologies also benefit
from this, as they can address the user
without needing to know their gender.
In other languages, the program either
has to ask, or uses both gender variants
separated by slash, such as “s/he”
(which is correct, but tends not be that
aesthe�cally pleasing). That’s the kind
of a hassle that English saves you.
I’m not saying that there is a clear
causality between those two facts – but
it is a rather interes�ng coincidence
that the first na�on to develop
computers just happens to speak a
language that’s perfectly usable by
them. Or perhaps it is that using a
different language would require rather
more complex computa�onal systems.
Ubiquitous puns:
English’s spelling system is a bit of a
double-edged sword. On the one hand,
it’s responsible for countless mistakes
and headaches for students
everywhere, as well as the very concept
of spelling bees (which most of the
world finds ridiculous). On the other
hand, it also gi�ed the world with a
March
April 2019, Issue #11
#10
nearly-unmatched fondness for puns
(with Japanese maybe coming close
second).
Case in point, there’s the genre of
feghoot, a short story that basically
serves just as an extended and
elaborate set-up for a punchline, which
is normally a well known pun. This
literary genre is pre�y much endemic to
English (to the point that Wikipedia lists
only one exis�ng transla�on for the
“Feghoot” ar�cle). Is it strange? Maybe,
but nobody would write these if there
wasn’t any demand, so apparently,
people like to read them.
You know what’s also good about puns?
They have endless versions and
varia�ons, making them a quite handy
source of humor. Be it comics,
entertainment web pages, or TV shows,
they can be easily helped with puns, as
opposed to having to go to the pain of
inven�ng some new, original jokes. Isn’t
it nice, having a language that allows a
steady produc�on of easy to make, yet
s�ll rather enjoyable funny elements?
(If you s�ll don’t believe this, just try to
check the very Facebook page of Steve
the Vagabond and see how much of its
output is humor based on how English
isn’t read how it’s wri�en. )
Absence of cases:
As a mean of player’s immersion, many
video games allow you to input your
own name, le�ng the program address
you personally. This feature falls apart
in any language with dis�nct voca�ve
case, as the game designer’s op�ons
are:
a) somehow come up with a program
capable of correctly inflec�ng up to
thousands of possible words (a very
taxing job that’s probably not worth the
5 / Wǔ /五
Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
trouble),
b) rewrite any dialogue with voca�ve
case to include the nomina�ve case
instead (also laborious, but probably
doable if you find a good translator),
c) exclaiming “I’m not paid enough for
this”, and leave every sentence as is and
so breaking any semblance of
immersion completely.
This doesn’t mean the op�on a) is
infeasible, but so far only big companies
like Google or Facebook have the
resources necessary to pull this off –
and even then, it’s s�ll not 100%
foolproof (both Facebook and its
Messenger can currently recognize and
inflect names rather nicely, but they are
s�ll helpless against fake names and/or
nicknames).
This feature is a clear advantage in the
field of computer programs (although in
no way unique to them). English, as an
analy�c language, creates syntac�c
meanings by a combina�on of special
dedicated words (such as preposi�ons
and determinants) and a reasonably
rigid word order. In contrast, inflec�on
changes the syntac�c meaning of words
by adding various affixes to the basic
root. While undeniably beau�ful,
affixive systems are complex, with
several dis�nct declensions and many
irregulari�es, making it hell to teach
them to a computer. On the other hand,
making sentences in analy�c languages
is about as easy as playing Match the
pairs – something that computers excel
at.
Poetry:
Let’s just very carefully say that the
rela�on of English to poetry is…
interes�ng. On the one hand, it gave us
gems like 'Beowulf' and writers such as
Poe. On the other, William McGonagall
was also very real and also very English.
六 / Liù / 6
English poetry as a whole is rather
peculiar, at least judging from the form
(as opposed to the content – it’s not like
the content isn’t interes�ng, but it
doesn’t really fall into the field of
linguis�cs).
Without going much into detail, this
interes�ng rela�onship is due to the
previous two points – synthe�c
languages can combine mul�ple affixes
at the end of the word, making
gramma�cal rhymes both easy and
more original. English, on the other
hand, having more or less discovered
every possible perfect rhyme, doesn’t
value these as highly and instead uses
more assonance – this �es nicely with
that quirky spelling system men�oned
earlier.
Or, at least, used to. Walt Whitman with
his collec�on of poems 'Leaves of Grass'
revolu�onized poetry forever by his
introduc�on of the free verse and now
you can wonder whether you
see a genuinely good poem
or just a mere prose
sprinkled by random strokes
of Enter.
All the “are those s�ll poems?”
discussions aside, it’s again a nice
coincidence (star�ng to see the pa�ern
here?) that English was the principal
language where the genre of free verse
was established. And as you can see,
free verse is a very important part of
modern poetry.
The Lack of T–V dis�nc�on¹:
Unlike, let’s say, French, English has just
a single catch-all “you” for any level of
formality. (In standard modern English
that is. If you look at works such as
Shakespeare, who wrote in Early
Modern English, you will see you and
April 2019, Issue #11
thou, with you being the V-form and be an interes�ng philosophical exercise,
thou being the T-form.) but also a big piece of extra work.
This, unsurprisingly, poses a problem
when transla�ng originally English Those examples (and sure, there are
works to languages that maintain this many more) are of course just
dis�nguishing. While it’s not as hard for scratching the surface. For every
ordinary stories, the genre of previous point, you can probably find a
specula�ve fic�on shows us just how language that does it even be�er.
badly we are linguis�cally equipped to Though they are not as common as
deal with otherworldly elements. Or, in English. The prolifera�on of English, is
other words, sci-fi literature forces the basically, a self-fulfilling prophecy; all of
translators to imagine how formally we its speakers can fully enjoy the benefits,
should speak to aliens or supernatural whereas foreigners have no other
beings. op�ons but to learn to understand it, or
pray to their favourite deity for some
As proud Earthlings, we are basically blessed translator. Given how English is
hard-wired to T-form anything that’s becoming omnipresent and good
not human (using the more formal V- translators are as rare as any other
form to talk with your pets will make skilled ar�sans, many people eventually
you look a bit eccentric at least). Once learn it themselves – thus bringing this
anything non-existent appears, assimila�on plot to its slow, but u�er
however, all bets are off. You are the victory.
hero of the Federa�on who’s about to … and while I do enjoy good irony, may
stop an infamous alien warlord. Will you I be forgiven for wri�ng this ar�cle in
be rude enough to use the T-form English.
during your face-off? And why? Just
because he’s not human? Or is the alien
of higher enough rank to warrant a V-
form? Calling a�en�on to the ques�on
of “How much are aliens like us?” might
mean opening a new, par�cularly
unpleasant can of worms. What about
fantasy? You might be inclined to use
the T-form for a ghoul, whereas
vampires, with their aristocra�c flair,
would merit the V-form. And yet they
are both undead monsters. Do
vampires get a pass just for usually
being aristocra�c in nature? And while
people in real life are perfectly fine to
use T-form when praying, would they be
s�ll keen to do it if faced by a god’s
physical incarna�on?
In other terms, these are all things you
don’t need to bother with when wri�ng
in English. Transla�ng similar texts into ____________________
1 Have a look at my ar�cle in issue 9 for a full
a language with a T–V dis�nc�on might explora�on of the T-V dis�nc�on in French.
7 / Qī / 七
Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
Have you ever thought of just how many
�mes you use a word that doesn’t actually
mean anything? I’m not talking about
actual nonsense words like
supercalifragilis�cexpialidocious. I’m
talking about those empty li�le words and
phrases that help us go through our daily
lives. You know the ones. They allow you to
fill gaps without thinking. How else can you
avoid having to explain yourself to people
you meet on the street, or sidestep long-
winded discussions about your feelings.
We might not realize it, but we use
meaningless words all the �me. It begins
with someone asking you how you’re
doing to which you reply “I’m doing fine!”.
Fine is one of those slippery li�le words
that you can just put in place of any of your
feelings, thoughts, and emo�ons. You
could be feeling “a li�le sad”, “excited
about a new project”, or “a �ny bit anxious
about moving next week”. And you might
tell someone “that’s so funny” instead of
actually laughing, something all of us who
use the internet regularly have done by
typing LOL and not actually laughing out
loud at all, not even flinching, and that’s
totally fine.
Though I suppose using “fine” to avoid a
more profound conversa�on carries more
significance than the actual ques�on that
led to fine: “how are you?” or “How do you
do?”. Do we actually care about the
answer? (do we know it’ll be as empty as
the ques�on) or are we just performing
some ritual of politeness, where we
pretend to care about someone and they
pretend to tell us? Here in Rio de Janeiro,
八 / Bā / 8
April 2019, Issue #11
without actually enriching your with the full weight of their significance.
understanding of what they were These are words like genocide, fascism,
describing: “The rate of inner-city Nazi, etc. These words deserve to be
schoolchildren with reading difficul�es treated with deference, and before we risk
increased, which is really interes�ng”. This denaturing them, we should take a
sentence means that I didn’t waste my moment to pause, lest Nazi be the new
�me listening to the sentence, because literally.
now I know it was interes�ng, but I really
have no idea why that is. Poli�cs and words have a tortuous
where I live, the ritual is so far extended
rela�onship, and a�ribu�ng meaning and
that at the end of the conversa�on, you
You may have heard Bri�sh comedian symbolism to words is a skillful poli�cal
might hear something like “you should
Eddie Izzard poking fun at Americans for game, but even so, empty words and
come have dinner at my place some�me!”,
their (over)use of the word awesome, phrases are u�ered on a daily basis. Where
“yeah absolutely! Let’s schedule it!”. We
which has long stopped signifying that do “thoughts and prayers” fit into a policy
all know that nobody is going to be visi�ng
something does in fact inspire awe. “This agenda? How many �mes can people say
anyone’s place any �me soon. It's
hot dog is awesome!” - “People landed on that anything on their agenda is their “top
especially funny when a person from Rio
the moon! Wow! Awesome!” - “what? Like priority”. There are bomber jets leaving on
meets someone from, say, Finland, and
a hot dog?”. So it seems we have an missions of “peacekeeping and na�on
they take them at face value. I have heard
increasing necessity to express things building”, governments being toppled in
many stories of cariocas shocked that the
hyperbolically. All fires are suddenly an an authoritarian manner for “democracy”.
friends “actually showed up!”
inferno - a blizzard is an apocalypse -I love The difference between an “act of
this song - I’m dying in this heat. People terrorism” and a “freedom campaign”
When I hear these things, I literally stop
report unfathomable, incredible, might be nothing other than the poli�cal
and die. Literally is probably the best
unbelievable, totally impossible news, whimsy of the one u�ering the speech.
example of an empty word, because it
superhuman feats, in order to sell mass
literally stopped meaning what it actually
produced unique items for a low, low price. I didn’t mean to get too dark too quickly,
means. And now means its exact opposite
This hyperboliza�on of life means, but merely to invite us to reflect for a
80% of the �me. Some people have a real
ironically, that the most extreme words we second on how many empty words we let
problem with this, and so go to the extent
have end up meaning smaller and smaller slip by us without ques�on. It’s literally
of trying to use “figura�vely” in its place,
things. fine to let li�le words get by unchecked,
which is figura�vely the worst, like, totally.
but when weigh�er words receive the
It seems we, as a species, tend to denature same treatment, things might get very
Not all these words bring me such
things: fat-free lactose-free yogurt, vegan interes�ng.
entertainment. I have a personal vende�a
cheesecake, almond milk, and it’s natural
against the word “interes�ng”. It's the sort
that, as we are able to cope with more and
of word that can be lazily thrown at any
more abstrac�on in our lives, the words we
moment to complete a sentence and make
use reflect that distance between us and
it interes�ng. Interes�ngly, it is o�en used
our reality. Languages evolve, and English
in academic contexts, which I find
has been adap�ng pre�y much since it
interes�ng. It's interes�ng that this word is
absorbed two other languages to become
used so o�en, because everything is self-
a single one.
evidently interes�ng if you are interested
in it. And so if you need to bring a�en�on
However, words actually do mean things,
to the interest, and you don’t explain why,
and so occasionally, we’ll stumble upon a
it’s quite an interes�ng thing to see.
word that has not been denatured, and
Silliness aside, this word suffers from
whose meaning carries so much weight
having the ability to fill a hole in a sentence
that it is no longer “emp�able”. We
as it is just so vague. It is this vagueness
absolutely should consider these words
that allows people to finish a sentence
9 / Jiǔ / 九
Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
How We Say What We Mean
Gabrielle Desaulniers
Have you ever got stuck in a situa�on
where you were not en�rely sure of what
the person you were talking meant but
didn’t dare ask, and were stuck wondering
how this had happened, since it seemed
so clear to them? Well the saying that
conversa�on is an art and has been
established for a while. But how much
work do we really put into saying what we
mean, and most importantly,
understanding what the person in front of
us really wants us to get from the
interac�on?
One theory on what lies underneath any
interac�on involving language is Grice’s
Theory of Conversa�onal Implicature,
which can help us understand how and
why we talk to each other the way we do,
and why some interac�ons can feel
weirder than others. First and foremost,
Grice postulates a principle which he calls
the Coopera�ve Principle. This simply
means that, by the nature of human
十 / Shí / 10
April 2019, Issue #11
unneeded informa�on as this might risk of loosing the informa�on that really ma�ered, or
even worse, loosing the other person’s interest.
Say what is relevant (Maxim of Rela�on)
Following the coopera�ve principle, the two people interac�ng should have a common interest,
may it only be func�onal, to the subject of the exchange. That means both par�es should be
working together towards sharing per�nent informa�on that is linked in a way or another to the
purpose of the exchange, and should not derive too much from it, at risk of sounding
inappropriate and crea�ng confusion.
Say it clearly! (Maxim of Manner)
This rule states that the person talking should be clear in what he or she means to say and
should, as much as possible, avoid any ambiguity in their statements. It is also important to be
precise and orderly in the produc�on of the statement. This allows the other person to
understand quickly and easily what has been said, and to answer in a relevant way, without
crea�ng an imbroglio.
What does that all mean concretely?
Let’s set the scene: Alissa and Shelly are building a model plane. When Alissa is trying to glue a
wing to the body of the plane, she extends her hand and waits for Shelly to give her the glue she
needs. Since Shelly does not react, Alissa asks her for glue (Maxim of Manner). Shelly
understands and gives her glue, not scissors (Maxim of Rela�on). Then, as Shelly is trying to
paint a part of the plane, she asks Alissa if she thinks blue or green would look be�er. Alissa
answers with green, her favourite color (Maxim of Quality). She then asks Alissa for the green
paint, and Alissa looks into the paint box to give her only the tube of green paint, since the other
verbal interac�on, each party is willing to
colors are not needed at the moment and would take too much space on the table (Maxim of
make itself understood and to understand
Quan�ty).
the other without having to waste �me or
energy. Based on that principle, Grice
This example shows how all four maxims keep interac�ons going smoothly. However, they can
then states four maxims that can be
some�mes be violated voluntarily by one of the par�cipants in the exchange. If this is done in a
considered unwri�en rules or guidelines
blunt enough manner that the other par�cipant can see the viola�on of the maxim and
to any and all verbal interac�ons.
understand it, the exchange can con�nue without any problem. That is the case when we use
irony or metaphor.
Say what is true (Maxim of Quality)
This rule states that what is said in an
The use of irony
exchange must be true, or at least
Indeed, irony is recognized as a blunt viola�on of the Maxim of Quality, as the person speaking
believed so by the person saying it. This
openly lies and makes sure, whether it be by their facial expression or their intona�on, that the
allows the person on the other hand of
other person sees the lie for what it is. Something like “Oh, I would hate to go to your wedding!”
the conversa�on to assume the veracity of
when said with the right intona�on and when the proximity with the interlocutor permits it,
the statements he or she hears, and so
creates a funny interac�on and alleviate the pressure that could be linked to the demand on the
allows progression in the exchange.
speaker’s side. However, if the viola�on isn’t blunt enough to be no�ced by the person asking,
then it might create a very awkward situa�on, since that person would naturally imply the
Say what is needed (Maxim of Quan�ty)
maxim was respected and that you really are not interested in the wedding.
This means that one should never say too
li�le nor too much and so only say what is
So, the next �me an interac�on doesn’t go as planned and you receive a confused look instead
needed for mutual understanding. Thus,
of the answer you were hoping for, it might be worth thinking about how complicated speech
the speaker must give all informa�on
exchanges actually are and remember that maybe neither one of you is to blame, only the
necessary to be understood but must not
nature of human language!
flood the other party with a ton of
11 / Shí yī / 十一
Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
We, as humans, most definitely think more than we speak. Moreover, most of our
communica�on is non-verbal, contrary to what might be thought, as we primarily seem to
show the phrases we want to express in other ways. Other animals rely on these non-verbal
signs even more – for example domes�c cats only meow at humans, because they feel the
need for a person to understand them and no�ce us talking – they would normally loose such
ability just a�er they grow out of a ki�en stage.
Now this ar�cle is about a very verbal language that very closely resembles non- verbal
communica�on. Jel has been noted to be the closest speech to thought – or so an Argonian
Mere-Glim claims. A bunch of unreasonably weird sounding words? If you ever came across to
an ar�cle of mine (it's a series!), you probably already know it's about another constructed
language and this one is from 'The Elder Scrolls' too. For those of you unfamiliar, in the game,
Argonians are a race of humanoid lizards, kind of the Rep�lians you'd have heard of, and they
notably speak in a par�cularly peculiar manner – even while using Common Speech (The
lingua franca of the Elder Scrolls universe.)
Unlike other Tamrielic (of Tamriel where the games take place) languages, which all devolve
from Ehlnofex (an ancient language of the planet Nirn), Jel originates from the ancient and
intelligent Hist trees of Black Marsh (a land na�ve to
Argonians). It is said that other races could not pronounce it
well enough to freely converse in it – and that is why so li�le
is known about it. Nevertheless, an individual of a more
human race, a Breton, managed to learn enough words to
talk with previously men�oned Mere-Glim, which is where
the �tle of this ar�cle comes form.
The closest speech
to thought
By Diana vereris
十二 / Shí èr / 12 Photo by meo from Pexels
April 2019, Issue #11
Jel is unique in the fact that it has no �me-specific varia�ons of verbs. Argonians believe in
souls and reincarna�on through the Hist, and some bear the memories of events they do not
recall experiencing. And so they have no need for a method of differen�a�ng the specific �me
when something took place. To the Argonians �me is an illusion established to create a linear
version of events and is therefore considered a limited way of perceiving reality.
Much of the language relies on non-verbal communica�on (so-called “body language”) to
convey meaning, which may be lost in transla�on – which is why Argonians speaking in
Common Speech o�en preface their statements with an emo�onal qualifier. Some
representa�ves even consider it necessary to specify the gestures as they speak (eg. “I extend
the claw of welcome, warrior.”). It is also reflected in the translated names, the most famous
one being the Argonian Li�s-Her-Tail.
The pronuncia�on of Jel is strongly linked to Argonian physiology. Their mouths closely
resemble lizards' mouths and so Jel consists of a variety of hissing and clicking sounds, as you
might imagine from a talking lizard. Given the complete lack of a na�ve Jel texts and the use of
an adopted Tamrielic alphabet by the speakers of Round-tongue (the human tongue, the
tongues of the rep�les are long, thin and slick) who lack the ability to properly represent all
the vocal peculiari�es, there exists a set of pronuncia�on rules:
ï G at the beginning of the word o�en is sounded as a voiced consonant, pronounced
firmly, as in ground (eg. geeva)
ï H is o�en used as a connec�ve voiceless consonant and remains not pronounced – it is
suggested that it is actually spoken on the breath-out. However, a non-Argonian ear is
to weak to dis�nguish it.
ï X in most cases is pronounced as Z
ï TS is o�en pronounced as a united short clicking voiced consonant, as in citrus (eg.
tsona)
All this would probably sound more reasonable to a lizard kin (if you understand it, don't admit
it, humans are ge�ng more and more suspicious of a Rep�lian invasion!). In all seriousness
though, more on Jel can be found on UESP, Imperial Library and there's even a translator
available on lingojam! Thank you for reading.
13 / Shí sān / 十三
 Photo by Agustín Diaz on Unsplash

Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers April 2019, Issue #11

Intimacy in the verbal Pois há menos peixinhos a nadar no mar

Do que os beijinhos que eu darei na sua boca
Dentro dos meus braços os abraços

expression of Rio de
hão de ser milhões de abraços
Apertado assim, colado assim, calado assim,
Abraços e beijinhos e carinhos sem ter fim…
Chega de saudade, Vinícius de Moraes

Janeiro
By Tom Moore
Quot linguas calles, tot homines vales.
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Cada lingua é um mundo diferente, cada lingua é o
mundo inteiro…
Vilem Flusser, Lingua e realidade

As I have said elsewhere, every na�on constructs its

iden�ty around certain shared values, creates itself by
acknowledging what its peculiar vices and virtues are, by
the belief that those vices and virtues are not present (or
at least not to such a degree) in other countries. This
superla�vist view of things finds its perfect poe�c
expression in the famous Song of Exile by the Brazilian
poet Gonçalves Dias (1823–1864), the second strophe of
which sings

Nosso céu tem mais estrelas,

Nossas várzeas têm mais flores,
Nossos bosques têm mais vida,
Nossa vida mais amores.

Our sky has more stars,

Our meadows more flowers
Our woods have more life,
Our life has more loves.

It is worth no�ng that the culmina�on here is mais

amores, because fundamental to the Brazilians view of
themselves is the idea that Brazilians are warmer, more
loving, more friendly, more simpa�co, more passionate in
love-making, more connected to each other. (And the
necessary correlate of this is that other na�ons,
par�cularly the United States, are lacking in precisely
these areas.)

Brazilian Portuguese, as it is used in Rio de Janeiro, is

notably full of expressions of in�macy, of relatedness, and
even the way that Cariocas use personal pronouns tends
to blur personal boundaries. The Brazilian way of being
has shaped the language that is used to express that
being, and the language in turn enables expressions of
in�macy to be shared in Brazilians’ interpersonal space.

15 / Shí wǔ / 十五
Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
Simply the act of speaking this language for a non-na�ve makes possible the performance of a
new personality, a new person with new possibili�es, in the same way that even the sound of a
speaker’s voice alters in shaping vowels and combina�ons that are not present in another
tongue. This no�on is found in proverbs and dicta from many countries, da�ng back at least as
far as the saying a�ributed to the mul�-lingual Charles V. Different languages have different
expressive possibili�es, and the romance languages seem to have a par�cular gi� for
romance.[1]
Gree�ngs and farewells (Encontros e despedidas[2])
In the physical sphere, these points of transi�on for Brazilians are almost always marked by
touch, whether handshakes, pats, embraces, kisses. Verbally the Brazilian is also crea�ng and
renewing in�macy here as well.
Some styles of gree�ng:
E aí, mermão, beleza? Tudo bem? Tudo joia?[3]
Here mermão is Carioca for meu irmão, my brother. This may be used for one who is an
acquaintance, a friend whose name you can’t recall at the moment, or simply a stranger on the
street. Cris Dias tells us that alterna�ves here are maluco, or figura for a male; cara (lit. face,
fig. guy), is also possible. Two women gree�ng each other may use
“querida”, “linda”, “menina” (dear, pre�y, li�le girl).[4] The feminine form of mermão does
exist (mermã), but it is much less commonly used. A child or adolescent who addresses a
person of their parent’s genera�on who is a stranger will most likely greet them as �o,
�a (uncle, aunt). The assump�on in Rio is that life is beau�ful (beleza), that things are going
well (bem), that life is joy (joia) (though it is possible to greet someone with the neutral como
vai? (how’s it going?)
Some styles of leave-taking:
A farewell, if not in person (i.e. on the phone, by instant messaging, by mail or email) will
almost always include an expression of inten�on to see the friend again soon (até mais, até ja,
até logo, see you soon, see you again right away, see you soon), an expression of the corporal
affec�on that would be non-verbal in person (um beijo, beijos, beijinhos, mil beijos, um abraço,
abração, a kiss, kisses, li�le kisses, a thousand kisses, a hug, a big hug), and
finally tchau (borrowed from the Italian, and unlike the prac�ce in Italy, used only in farewell,
not in gree�ng). The verbal expression is gender-marked in the same way as the physical
affec�on, so that men will hug men (abração), but not kiss, women will kiss women, and men
will kiss women.
Terms of endearment
The carioca has a wide range of possibili�es in choosing to express rela�onship with another
carioca. In addi�on to the uncles, aunts, and brothers men�oned above, the city is full of
poten�al children, as it is common for a friend, or even a stranger, to address another
as “minha filha”, “meu filho” (my daughter, my son).[5]
This is independent of age as well: it is quite possible for a daughter to address her mother this
way. It is usually used in the context of giving advice, talking seriously about something,
admonishing (olha, vou te contar, quero lhe dizer, look, let me tell you, I want to tell you).
Another very common endearment is nega, nego, neguinha, neguinho (black, blackie), which,
十六 / Shí liù / 16
April 2019, Issue #11
perhaps surprisingly to United States ears, is independent of skin color. It is most commonly
used with the possessive (e.g. minha nega), as it is found in the �tle of the famous samba by
Paulinho da Viola (Coisas do mundo, minha nega “The world is like that, honey”). Here the
force of the endearment is something like “honey, swee�e” in English, and unlike the previous
endearment, is never used in a scolding or reproving way.
The range of expressions used to express affec�on for the opposite sex, whether in the context
of a love rela�onship or not, is almost infinite, and almost always focusing on the
a�rac�veness and desirability of the person being addressed. Here, of course, there is the
possibility of overstepping the line, expressing too much in�macy, but that line is at a different
place than in American culture.
The most commonly used expression is gata, gato, ga�nha, ga�nho, gatão (all forms of “cat”),
used to mean someone who is a�rac�ve (in English, a “babe’ (women) or a “hunk” (men)).
Gata, gato are unmarked as far as age is concerned; ga�nha (the diminu�ve form) is generally
used for adolescent girls in the third person, but as term of endearment it can be used for
older women as well.
Ga�nho seems to be almost as common as the feminine form. Gatão is fairly common (there is
a famous comic strip called Gatao de meia-idade, “Middle-aged hunk”). Also frequent are the
various forms of lindo/a, bonito/a (handsome, pre�y), and also gostoso/a (literally, tasty, but
in its figura�ve use so sexual that it can only be used with great care; in other words,
something that might lead to a slap in the face for the male who used it unwisely).
Diminu�ves and augmenta�ves
The use of the diminu�ve forms (-inho,inha) is pervasive in Brazilian Portuguese, almost always
with an affec�onate and familiar tone. They can be used to modify seemingly unexpected (to
American ears) nouns and adjec�ves, to give the conversa�on a more homey, in�mate feeling
(e.g. leve, levinha “light, nice and light”, cheirosinha “nice and fragrant”. They are ubiquitous
with names (not so different from what obtains in the US, of course) as a way to create
in�macy.
One notable difference in names, in addi�on to this, is in fact the use of the first name of the
addressee even in situa�ons demanding respect (e.g. the President of Brazil is Fernando
Henrique or Lula in public discourse, not Cardoso or Silva), in addi�on to the perhaps more
understandable use of the first name for musical figures or sports icons (Caetano, Chico,
Ronaldinho, Ronaldinho Gaucho).
Almost anything can receive the diminu�ve treatment (um chopp, um choppinho, a dra� beer,
the la�er not being a small dra�, but a “nice beer”), and for many things in Brazilian life, the
diminu�ve form has become the standard (um cafezinho, a li�le coffee, though here the cup
really is small; uma caipirinha, a potent drink of cachaça and lime juice, named for
the caipira or backwoodsman, here the diminu�ve not for it size but the “friendly” quality of
the po�on; um chorinho, a frequent version of the name of the choro, a form of Brazilian
popular music.)
The use of the augmenta�ve can also express in�macy, though here some�mes mixed with a
certain respect. The musician who plays chorinho, if he is a master of his trade, is
17 / Shí qī / 十七
Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers April 2019, Issue #11

a chorão (though literally this would be a “big crybaby”). A man can be lindão, gatão,
even gostosão, and as one might expect, these augmenta�ves are more frequent in for the
male than for the female. In Brazil the Godfather from the movie series did not
become padrinho (a diminu�ve form for the rela�onship denoted by godfather in English, and
hence conno�ng familiarity, friendliness) but rather O Poderoso Chefão (“the Powerful Big
Boss”).
their taboo quality and power, and gaining in�macy.
To paraphrase Paulo Rónai, the translator is one who interprets one culture to another; and to
follow Vilem Flusser, quoted at the top, each language is a different world, an en�re world. I
hope that the observa�ons above give a small window into an aspect of the different world
that is Brazilian Portuguese.

Membership and belonging

The cordial Brazilian is far more likely to define himself in terms of rela�onship to a social
group or groups than the individualis�c and o�en isolated American. A Carioca can be a
member of a torcida (a group of fans for a par�cular team; for someone to be part of
the torcida do Flamengo means that they share some trait with the mul�tude); root for or
march with a samba school or bloco; and almost every carioca has a turma, a “gang” of fellow
students or just colleagues or friends.

Colloquial Portuguese tends to use an impersonal third person form in which the referent can
be vague. This is a gente (lit. “the people”), where the implicit meaning is something between
“me”, “we”, “the gang”. For example, a website may say fale com a gente “talk with us”, or a
common phrase refers to gente como a gente “people like us”. It is certainly true that who
“we” is can be open to interpreta�on and nego�a�on.

But for a gente this seems to be even more the case. The third person equivalent is as
pessoas literally “the people” but colloquially “they”, and again the referent is not quite as
demonstra�ve as elesor elas (which, etymologically speaking, come from the forms poin�ng
out “those over there” in La�n. The whole effect is blur who is in and who is out, so that the
boundaries are more permeable, with less of a clear dis�nc�on between “me” and “you” or
“us” and “them”. Perhaps it is not so surprising that the mo�o on the website for the Brazilian
federal government is um país para todos, “a country for all”.

Tropical heat
Finally, and perhaps entering on treacherous ground here, the level and nature of sexual and
sexualized banter among homosocial and heterosocial groups is notably higher than is usually
the case in North American culture, another facet of Carioca society and language that tends
to create and express a greater level of in�macy. Sexual metaphors are quite common in
normal (if not in formal) discourse.
Tesão is properly used for sexual tension (me da tesão, “it turns me on”), but can be used by
extension for almost anything that is exci�ng — music, clothes, and so forth. Sacanagem (lit.,
illicit or non-standard sexual behavior) was un�l fairly recent sexual enough that it was
shocking for polite conversa�on; now the metaphorical meaning (something that is offensive,
immoral and so forth has come to dominate). Sacanear is to something especially to irritate
someone. Some one who is safado/a is lewd; but the addi�on of the diminu�ve can make this
a posi�ve quality (“she’s lewd, but I mean that in the good sense of the word…).
A well-known song lists the quali�es of the girlfriend the singer is looking for: boni�nha,
cheirosinha, bem safadinha “pre�y, smells nice, very nice and lewd” — the last is almost
impossible to translate into English. For the same reason the various parts of the body which
are unmen�onable in polite conversa�on are o�en so�ened by diminu�ves, losing some of
Sources:
[1] See Ruy Vasconcelos de Carvalho, Pequena conversa sobre tom e tradução, Espéculo, no.
21, Julio-octubre 2002 Año VIII, h�p://www.ucm.es/info/especulo/numero21/traducao.html,
accessed January 23, 2019.
[2] The �tle of a famous LP by the singer and composer Milton Nascimento.
[3] “Se é um papo entre dois homens os velhos truques de chamar o outro de “maluco”,
“mermão”, “figura” e outros adje�vos do �po sempre cai
bem”. h�p://www.crisdias.com/weblog/, entry of April 14, 2004. Acessed April 16, 2004.
[4] Ibidem.
[5] For example, the caller in the joke who says to his friend’s secretary “Olha, minha filha, não
leve a mal…” (look, dear, don’t take this the wrong way…).
[6] An example where an actual daughter is repor�ng her father’s speech, using several of
these in combina�on with minha filha (Olha minha filha, eu só quero te dizer…)can be found in
the interview with Miss Brasil 2002, Michelle Siqueira
at h�p://www.acheiusa.com/arquivo/0045/achei-colunistas-nmar�nez.html. Accessed April
16, 2004.

十八 / Shí bā / 18 19 / Shí jiǔ / 十九

Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
Consonant Crisis in Spanish:
Massive Sibilant Lay-offs Reported
By Apio Frito
I have little to no doubt that looking up
phoneme inventories of various languages, i.e.
the sets of meaningful speech sounds they use,
might comfortably be one of top-ten activities to
procrastinate with at 3 a.m. for many readers of
this magazine. Unless you’re more into syntax
and morphology when it comes to your night-
time fun, which is good, in fact: today’s story
might actually be new to you. Anyway, if you
look at the phoneme inventory of Spanish, and
specifically its consonants, you might notice it
has got fewer of those than its Western Romance
siblings: where Spanish makes do with 17–19,
others have around 20 (Portuguese, French), or
even some 23 (Italian, Catalan). Which makes
you wonder if it’s because of a few small reasons
that coincided, or if there has been a major tiny
phonetic catastrophe that left a bunch of
Spanish consonants closing the lids on their
coffins so hard that the priest’s Latin went
Vulgar: remember that all of the languages I’ve
mentioned are close relatives, and were the same
language not too long ago, there must have been
something going on in Spanish!
Yes, there was! And yes to both the hypotheses:
a few notable smaller changes in the consonant
sounds took place as Mediaeval Spanish
transitioned to Modern Spanish, with one tough
chunky big-shot change, which we’ll talk about
today.
⼆⼗ / Èr shí / 20
The Spanish
Speaker
Another look at the consonant phonemes of
Spanish reveals that there is no /z/ (as in English
‘zed’), or /ʤ/ (English ‘job’), or /ʃ/ (‘shoot’), or
/ʒ/ (last sound in ‘rouge’). All of these, and more,
exist pretty much everywhere else in Romance
languages, and all of these belong to a group of
consonants called the sibilants. Sibilants (Latin
for ‘whistling’) include all affricate and fricative²
sounds that are produced by the front of the
tongue contacting or coming close to an area
ranging from the upper teeth to the hard palate.
Today’s Spanish has only two or three of those:
/s/ in ‘sapo’ (equivalent to the English /s/ in
‘smug’), /tʃ/ in ‘chico’ /tʃiko/ (similar to English
/tʃ/ in ‘chap’), and sometimes /θ/ as in ‘cero’
/θero/ (like the first sound in ‘through’). There
were seven in the Middle Ages. What happened?
1500s did. One of those seven is actually a
product of earlier developments, and was not
affected by the changes we’re looking at now: it’s
/tʃ/, so let me conveniently forget about it and
treat you to a table of the rest of the sibilants
that Mediaeval Spanish had to offer³:
/ts/ wri�en as /s/ wri�en as /ʃ/ wri�en as ‘x’
‘ç, c’ ‘ss’ Voiceless pre-
Voiceless dental Voiceless palatal frica�ve
affricate alveolar frica�ve
/dz/ wri�en as /z/ wri�en ‘-s-’ /ʒ/ wri�en as ‘j,
‘z’ Voiced alveolar g’
Voiced dental frica�ve Voiced pre-
affricate palatal frica�ve
If you have any practical knowledge of Spanish,
you might notice that the letters ‘c’ and ‘z’ are
often pronounced in exactly the same way. Plus,
you never see that double ‘ss’ at all, it’s always
‘s’, and always standing for a voiceless sound. If
you’re a bit more advanced, you’ll know that
there are still words in Spanish that use ‘x’ for a
sound that would normally be represented by
‘g’ or ‘j’, the best example of this being
‘México’ pronounced /’mexico/4. Standard
spelling calls for ‘Mégico’, but it is what it is, a
remnant of how the language used to be.
Anyway, if we take this observation a step
further, we can see that it’s the spellings of the
voiced sounds collapsing together with those of
the voiceless sounds. And that’s one of the
things that happened: the voiced merged into
the voiceless, /s/ and /z/ became /s/, /ʃ/ and /ʒ/
became /ʃ/. Because this change came from the
north of Spain, some scholars attribute it to the
influence of Basque, because that language has
no voiced sibilants either.
However, before this entire devoicing circus
happened, the Affricate Brothers, /ts/ and /dz/,
had a disappearing act of their own. In which
they disappeared. Leaving no trace but two
dental fricatives, voiceless /s̪/ and voiced /z̪/: it is
thought to have happened because affricates
took a lot of energy to pronounce, and so they
gradually ‘weakened’ to the more economical
fricatives. But think what you want; I know the
Affricate Brothers did it for the art!
Whatever the case, by the beginning of 1600s,
this is what Spanish sibilants looked like:
April 2019, Issue #11
/s̪/ wri�en as ‘ç, /s/ wri�en as
c, z’ ‘ss, -s-’
/ʃ/ wri�en as ‘x,
j, g’
Voiceless dental Voiceless Voiceless pre-
frica�ve alveolar frica�ve palatal frica�ve
You don’t have to be an eagle-eyed police
detective to spot the problem: there were many
letters that represented the same sounds at that
point, didn’t this result in a horror of
homophones? Sure it did: osso (‘bear’) and oso
(‘I dare’) were pronounced the same now, and
so did coxo (‘limping’) and cojo (‘I take’). These
words became homophones and homographs in
Modern Spanish, with oso and cojo.
Bad enough? If it is, tough, because the most
egregious bit is coming. All of the remaining
sibilants were quite similar both acoustically,
and in their articulation. See for yourself:
they’re all voiceless and fricatives now, and the
active articulatory organ is still the same: the tip
(or the blade) of the tongue. The only difference
is where it lands: at the back of the upper teeth
or right behind them (dental), on the rough area
behind the upper teeth (alveolar), or somewhere
right behind that rough area (pre-palatal). It’s
literally millimetres that separate them, and if
you’re talking too fast, or are intoxicated (with
all the phonetic change, no doubt), or if you’re
not very articulate in general, your tongue will
slip and result in tragic accidental two- and
three-way homonyms. Have a look, all of the
Spanish words in the table sounded similar at
that point.
21 / Èr shí yī / ⼆⼗⼀
Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers April 2019, Issue #11

Mediaeval Spanish English
(all nouns)
caça /katsa/ -> /kas̪a/ hunt
casa /kaza/ -> /kasa/ house
caxa /kaʃa/ box
A possible solution to this is making these
sounds more different, and that’s a change that
started in the north of Spain practically as soon
as all the affricates and voiced sibilants were
lost, spread around much of the country
throughout the 1600s, resulting in sounds that
are part of standard pronunciation in the
Spanish of Spain. What they did was take the
dental /s̪/ and shift it forward, away from the
alveolar /s/, and as far as they could short of
sticking their tongues out, getting the voiceless
interdental fricative /θ/. Then, it was /ʃ/’s turn
to do the same thing, except in the opposite
direction: it was now articulated with the back
of the tongue, deep in the mouth cavity, with the
voiceless velar fricative /x/. Now all three were
wonderfully wide apart, both in how they were
pronounced and in how they
sounded.
Mediaeval Spanish Modern Spanish
Let’s set the stage first by noting that the south Mediaeval Spanish Modern Spanish Modern Spanish (south of Spain
of Spain was linguistically quite different from and Latin America)
the north. Because the south was where the caça /katsa/ -> /kas̪a/ caza /kaθa/ caza /kas̪a/
Reconquista ended, these areas experienced
more influence of Arabic, and more widespread casa /kaza/ -> /kasa/ casa /kasa/ casa /kas̪a/
use of Mozarabic, a set of Romance dialects
spoken in the areas of the Iberian Peninsula caxa /kaʃa/ caja /kaxa/ caja /kaha/
controlled by Muslims. Distinct from Mediaeval
Spanish, they became a substrate for it, as
Castile expanded southwards. While this approach produced many homophones, it was the accent of the Spanish south that spread into
the Americas, becoming the way most Spanish-speaking people speak. So, having started with Middle
This meant that the south had a slightly Age fricatives and affricates nobody even uses any more in the language, we have essentially traced the
different story when it came to sibilant changes, history of one of the most prominent dialectal features of Spanish: seseo, i.e. saying /s̪/ where speakers
with a few important differences from the from much of Spain and, traditionally, Madrid would say /θ/. For a language, 300–400 years isn’t much,
north, even though the initial set of sibilants and we’re still hearing the echoes of the great phonetic changes that took place during the Spanish
was probably the same. First, while the loss of Golden Age.
/ts/ and /dz/ affricates did occur, the devoicing
of the voiced sibilants was a much later event
than in the north. Second, instead of diverging
into more distinct sounds, /s̪/ and /s/ converged,
resulting in /s̪/ (there were still voiced sibilants
present, so /z̪/ and /z/ turned into just /z̪/). Some
scholars believe, actually, that due to the
influence of the local Arabic, there were no
alveolar /s/ or /z/ to begin with, and their dental
counterparts had always been there (/ts/ and
/dz/ turned into dental fricatives, exactly like up
north).

caça /katsa/ -> /kas̪a/ caza /kaθa/
casa /kaza/ -> /kasa/ casa /kasa/
caxa /kaʃa/ caja /kaxa/
So the story of a Spanish king lisping and
single-handedly causing phonetic change is all
rubbish. The whole job was done by the average
Joe (or rather José) doing the sensible thing.
But wait, there’s more to the story than we
might have thought! What about the Spanish-
speaking Americas, what about the south of
Spain, or the Canary Islands? They sure as
heck don’t have /θ/ in their speech, and most
are doing fine without /x/, too!
Third, at some point after the devoicing and
loss of affricates, /s̪/ and /ʃ/ were the only
sibilants in use in this region, and while,
acoustically, they are reasonably different, /ʃ/
experienced a shift towards the back of the
mouth; interestingly, it was more extreme than
in the language of the north of the country, and
the resulting sound was the voiceless glottal
fricative /h/, articulated far deeper than /x/, at
the vocal cords. This is probably due to the fact
that /h/, initially present in Mediaeval Spanish,
persisted for much longer in the south (up to
modern times, in some areas), so the shifting /ʃ/
merged into it, because the historical /h/ was
still in use, and was a familiar sound. In the
end, only /s̪/ and /h/ were left of the rich sibilant
beginnings:
____________________
2 A frica�ve is a consonant sound, in which the organs of speech (lips, teeth, tongue, hard palate etc.) create a constric�on in
the airflow without obstruc�ons, resul�ng in a hissing noise (check the first sound of words like ‘see’, ‘far’, ‘shoe’, ‘zoom’, ‘there’). An
affricate is a sound, in which the organs of speech do create an obstruc�on at first, i.e. the air can’t go through, and then release it
rela�vely slowly, to produce some hissing noise like that of a frica�ve (look for the ‘ch’ sound in words like ‘chin’ or ‘chuckle’, if it
sounds something like ‘t-sh’ to your ear, you’ve got the idea).
3 Note that there are varia�ons to this terminology, and I provide the terms that I typically use and that my sources use.
‘Dental’ is o�en referred to as ‘Den�-alveolar’ (the place of ar�cula�on is the back of the upper teeth and the area immediately
behind them), ‘Pre-palatal’ is effec�vely the same as ‘Post-alveolar’ (the place of ar�cula�on is immediately behind the alveolar
ridge, the rough area behind your upper teeth), ‘Interdental’ sounds are o�en called ‘Dental’ (the place of ar�cula�on is between
the teeth, but close to or touching the upper teeth). Plus, for ‘Alveolar’ sounds, the place of ar�cula�on is the alveolar ridge.
4 /x/ is the voiceless velar frica�ve, whereby the back of the tongue comes close to the so� palate at the back of the mouth
(the tongue posi�on is similar to that of ‘oo’ in ‘shoo’).

⼆⼗⼆ / Èr shí èr / 22 23 / Èr shí sān / ⼆⼗三

Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers April 2019, Issue #11

Italian dialects, dialects of Italy

Before star�ng, a clear dis�nc�on has to

be made: there are Italian dialects and
there are dialects of Italy. What’s the
difference? Italian dialects are dialects
derived from the Italian language, while,
as we’ve seen in the first part, the dialects
we’re dealing with exist beside Italian,
hence the defini�on “of Italy”. Italian
dialects do exist: they are the most spread
form of informal, dialectal
communica�on, and they stem from the
intermixing of Italian with the various
dialects. They are much more similar to
the standard Italian language, and thus
much more intelligible to other Italian
speakers, but they retain regional accents,
some forms of sentence building and

Languages
idioma�c expressions. However, the
opposite phenomenon has happened as
well.

of Italy:
In �me, Italian has absorbed many words
and expressions from regional dialects.
An example would be the word Amarcord,
meaning “Nostalgia, remembering the
past”, which derives from the expression
A m’arcord (I remember) from the dialect
A Journey Through the Idioms of the of Romagna. This word became popular in
uneducated, way of speaking. (From
Wikimedia Commons)
Northern Italy
The northern part of Italy, which today is
formally acknowledged as encompassing

Italian Peninsula – Part 2

standard Italian because it was the �tle of
the award-winning film “Amarcord” by
Federico Fellini. A very recent neologism
that has been welcomed with scep�cism
By Simone Villano is the transi�ve form of movement verbs,
in expressions like Scendi la spazzatura
(Bring the trash down [i.e. from the first
floor to the ground floor, where the trash
can is]) or Esci il cane (Let the dog out),
In the last issue, we discussed the historical reasons behind the linguis�c which are somewhat common in the
south of Italy. The verbs scendere (to go
variety in Italy and how these dialects of La�n evolved separately and down) and uscire (to go out) are only
independently, eventually becoming self-standing languages. But in this intransi�ve in standard Italian, but the
Accademia della Crusca, the Italian
instance, we will be going through the actual dialects of the peninsula, and we associa�on of linguists and philologists,
will see how they can be categorized, how much they differ from each other has recognized their use in the transi�ve
forms, although they are s�ll considered
and in what they are similar. sign of an informal, some�mes even
the regions of Valle d’Aosta, Piemonte,
Lombardia, Veneto, Tren�no-Alto Adige,
Friuli Venezia Giulia and Emilia-Romagna,
is in the linguis�c centre of an area called
Leni�on Area, that is, an area affected by
the phenomenon of leni�on. This is what
linguists call when a hard consonant
becomes a so� one, in our case the
voiceless La�n intervocalic consonants
P/T/C are replaced by their voiced
counterparts B/D/G. This happens in the
western regions of Liguria, Piemonte,
Lombardia and Emilia (Valle d’Aosta is kind
of its own case, with its Franco Provençal
dialect), which make up the Gallo-
Romance linguis�c region, so called due
to the common background and
characteris�cs they share with France,

二十四 / Èr shí sì / 24 25 / Èr shí wǔ / 二十五

Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
Spain and Portugal, while other languages
such as Tuscan, Vene�an and Romanian
are not affected by this change.
Furthermore, there’s also the passage
from the La�n /u/ to the sound /y/, as
shown in the previous ar�cle. Finally,
there’s the old /kt/ sound that has
become /jt/ or /č/. On the other hand, the
eastern area is more conserva�ve, but less
uniform, since we have the dialects of
Veneto, but also Friulan, Ladin and South-
Tirolese. The la�n /kt/ here is replaced by
/�/, like in the rest of Italy, and this gives
the opportunity to explain a major trait of
the dialect of Veneto, which is the
elimina�on of double consonants: lacte >
la�e > late (milk), noctem > no�e > note
(night) and so on. Naturally, in the areas
that border both regions, there has been
an intermix of these phenomena, like in
the Lombard province of Brescia.
Tuscany
Being one of the most unique and well-
documented dialects of Italy, Tuscan
makes its own case as a dialect. One of its
most notable characteris�cs is the
“phonosyntac�c consonantal gemina�on”
which, in simple terms, is when a
consonant is doubled when placed a�er a
vocal in a new word. For example, the
expression “a te” (to you) is pronounced
as “a�é”, and this phenomenon is shared
by the almost en�rety of the dialects of
central and southern Italy.
However, the most famous trait of the
Tuscan dialects is the so called “Gorgia”,
that is the passage from voiceless
occlusives /P, T, K/ between vocals to
voiceless frica�ves /ɸ, θ, χ/ (or
some�mes /pʰ, tʰ, kʰ/), which is unique to
this area and whose origin is s�ll debated.
Some have linked this to an Etruscan
substratum, others say that it is a more
recent phenomenon, being that there are
no a�ested sources before the 16th
二十六 / Èr shí liù / 26
century. Furthermore, the Corsican
dialects, which share many similari�es
with Tuscan ones, miss this one trait. This
phone�c quirk is well known by all
Italians, and they can instantly spot a
Tuscan by this simple phone�c trait.
As a side note, the AIS (Linguis�c and
Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and southern
Switzerland) contains the “Sheep map”⁵,
that is, a map dividing Italy according to
how the word “Pecora” (sheep) is spelled
(source at the end of the ar�cle). In the
north it’s Pegura/Peura, in Tuscany it’s
Pehora and in the other regions it’s Pecora
(which is the actual word in standard
Italian). Although it might seem like a joke
at first glance, this map actually explains
very well some linguis�cs mechanisms of
Italy, like the behaviour of occlusive /k/
between vocals in this case. The AIS is a
great resource for anyone who wants to
improve their knowledge on the subject
of dialects of Italy, thanks to the huge
amount of linguis�cal maps (over a
thousand), so reading this Atlas is
suggested.
Central and southern Italy
It is slightly more difficult to trace
delimita�on lines in this area, but it can
be said that there are 3 major dialectal
regions: the Central region, the current
regions of Lazio, Umbria and Marche, the
Southern region, in Abruzzo, Campania,
Molise, Basilicata and half of Calabria and
Puglia, and lastly the so called Extreme
area, that encompasses the southern
most parts of Calabria and Puglia, and the
island of Sicily.
Central dialects tend to be slightly more
similar to standard Italian because of a
stronger connec�on, both geographical
and linguis�c, to Tuscany. Nevertheless,
some interes�ng traits can be found, like
the retaining of the old La�n dis�nc�on
between -O- and -U-, like in the words
octo and acetum, eight and vinegar, which
became o�o and aceto in Italian, but in
some dialects of the central regions they
stayed o�o and acitu. In the dialect of
Rome, there’s a case of stronger similarity
with La�n, because the “correct” way of
speaking, less influenced by the old pre-
La�n substra�, was found solely in Rome.
Thus, there are cases like the La�n
habemus (We have) that has just slightly
changed into the Roman avémo.
Southern dialects share many specific
traits with each other, which makes them
difficult to tell apart from each other if the
listener is not experienced with some of
them. The first thing that can be no�ced is
the fall of the vocal at the end of almost
every word, replaced by a schwa sound
/ə/: �emp instead of tempo (�me), camb
instead of campo (field), mar instead of
mare (sea) and so on. There are many
examples of consonants or groups of
consonants changing in a somewhat
uniform manner, like /b/ to /v/ (Italian
bocca, Neapolitan vocca, which means
mouth), /pj/ to /kj/ (Italian più, Apulian
chiù, meaning more or plus), /nd/ to /nn/
and many others. Finally, these dialects
tend to retain the neutral form from La�n
in words like canis (dog) or melis (honey)
through the ar�cle “o”, in words like “o
cane” or “o mmele”. The most famous of
these dialects is the Lingua Napoletana,
the Neapolitan Language, which has been
used for many works of theatre, literature,
music and comedy, and many Italians can
recognize it, even if they might not be
able to understand it.
Finally, the southern-most dialects of Italy
show a common vocal system called the
“Sicilian vowel system”, in which there is
a reduc�on, compared to most of the
other dialects of the peninsula, of the
number of vowels used. Therefore, most
of the �mes the old La�n vowels /ī/, /i/
and /e/ all become an /i/ sound, and the
April 2019, Issue #11
same happens with /ō/, /o/ and /u/,
which are replaced by the one sound /u/.
This leads to typical Sicilian and Calabrian
construc�ons like pilu instead of pelo
(hair), nivi instead of neve (snow),
professuri instead of professore
(professor). Lastly, the most notable trait
shared by the speakers of these dialects is
the realiza�on of dental consonants and
the sound /ll/ as retroflex, which can be
shown in the Italian word bella (beau�ful
in the feminine form), that in Sicilian is
pronounced more like bedda. Sicilian is
also the accent used by the actors in many
Hollywood produc�ons concerning Italo-
American mafia, like The Godfather.
Those of you who are more versed in
linguis�cs will have no�ced that a rather
important dialect hasn’t been discussed
yet, that is Sardinian. The reason is that
Sardinian is a very complex and archaic
dialect and, together with Ladin, does not
fit in the tradi�onal concept of “dialects”
that are being discussed in this instance.
Instead, they will be used as an
introduc�on to the current state of
dialects and languages in Italy, so don’t
miss the next issue of Silly Linguis�cs!
____________________
5 h�p://www3.pd.istc.cnr.it/navigais-web/
27 / Èr shí qī / 二十七
Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers April 2019, Issue #11

Modern Hebrew
Morphology, Part 2
by Gil Cohen
Welcome back to Modern Hebrew Morphology! This �me we’ll talk about passive voice buildings and
the reflexive building. If you haven’t read part 1⁶, I’d advise you to, because I am going to use concepts
I’ve already explained there.
Disclaimer:
In part 1, I’ve explained that Hebrew doesn’t have a gender-neutral form for verbs (or for anything, actually), and in this
part I will only give examples for verbs in their masculine forms because using the feminine form would entail
morphological differences which would only complicate things at this stage.

Without further ado, let’s start with the passive voice buildings!
The first passive building is nifʕal – the pa�ern is “ni_ _a_”: This building is the corresponding passive building to the
paʕal building. What do I mean by corresponding building? It means that if take the same root and cast it into both
buildings, we’ll (usually) get an ac�ve meaning of an ac�on and the exact passive meaning of it. For example, let’s take
the root l.k.kh (seman�c meaning of “taking”), and cast it into both buildings. We’ll get lakakh (paʕal) and nilkakh
(nifʕal). The former means “he took” and the la�er means “he was taken”.

A funny anecdote regarding this building pair, is the root p.g.sh (seman�c meaning of “mee�ng”): if we cast it into
paʕal, we’ll get pagash, and if we cast it into nifʕal, we’ll get nifgash. You would expect the former to be “he met
(someone)” and the la�er to be “he was met (by someone)”. Yes, what does “he was met by someone” mean? Sounds
weird, doesn’t it? Well, that’s not what this pair mean! pagash means “he met someone, uninten�onally” (like when
you see someone you know on the street, without agreeing to meet them beforehand), and nifgash means “he met

二十八 / Èr shí bā / 28
Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
with someone, inten�onally”, as in they set a �me to meet beforehand. I find it really funny!
The next building is puʕal – the pa�ern is “_u_a_”: This building is the corresponding passive
building to the piʕel building. For example, let’s take the root s.kh.k (seman�c meaning of
“playing” or “game”) and cast it into both buildings. We’ll get sikhek (piʕel) and sukhak (puʕal).
The former means “he played (a game)” and the la�er means “a game was played (by
someone)”, as in “a game was played between team A and team B”.
The last passive building in Hebrew is hufʕal – the pa�ern is “hu_ _a_”: This building is the
corresponding passive building to the hifʕil building. For example, let’s take the root p.s.k
(seman�c meaning of “stopping”) and cast it into both buildings. We’ll get hifsik (hifʕil) and
hufsak (hufʕal). The former means “he stopped”, in both “he stopped in his tracks” and “he
stopped the game”, and the la�er means “he was stopped”.
Hebrew doesn’t really like passive construc�ons, and while the passive voice is used, it is not
used that o�en, especially compared to English and Persian, which use the passive voice quite
o�en. Although, I would say nifʕal is used more o�en than the others.
Instead of the using a passive construc�on, we usually use the 3rd person plural ac�ve form,
without adding the pronoun, which we do under regular circumstances (this form is an
impersonal form), and it works in all 3 pairs of buldings we’ve seen so far:
1. paʕal vs. nifʕal: Let’s take the root g.n.v (seman�c meaning of “stealing” or “sneaking”).
The 3rd person singular passive form would be nignav and the 3rd person plural ac�ve form
would be ganvu. I would probably say “ganvu my watch” instead of “my watch nignav” (In
English, that would be “my watch was stolen”), although nignav is common enough, in
correspondence to what I wrote about nifʕal earlier.
2. piʕel vs. puʕal: Let’s take the root s.p.r (This root actually has 3 different seman�c
meanings: “coun�ng”, “story” and “telling”, and “haircut”!). The 3rd person singular passive
form would be supar and the 3rd person plural ac�ve form would be sipru. One of the ways of
saying “I was told that…” in Hebrew, would be “sipru li that…”, while “supar li that…” is highly
uncommon (li basically means “to me” – this verb takes an indirect object in Hebrew, while in
English, it takes a direct object).
3. hifʕil vs. hufʕal: Let’s return to the p.s.k root from earlier. The 3rd person singular passive
form would be hufsak, as we have seen earlier, and the 3rd person plural ac�ve form would be
hifsiku. In this case, if I wanted to say that “the game was stopped because of the rain”, I would
say “hifsiku the game” instead of “the game hufsak”.
Finally, we get to the last building in Hebrew, the so-called “reflexive” building, hitpaʕel – the
pa�ern is “hit_a_e_”: I say that this building is the so-called “reflexive” building, because in
some cases, roots cast into it give us a meaning that is not reflexive at all!
Let’s start with an example of an actual reflexive meaning, with the r.kh.ts root (seman�c
meaning of “washing”). If we cast it into the building, we’ll get hitrakhets, which means “he
took a shower”. Yep, this one is definitely reflexive, because the actor (the “doer” of the
ac�on) is also the pa�ent (the “receiver” of the ac�on). Just like you can say in English “she
三十 / Sān shí / 30 Photo on previous spread by
Brooke Lark on Unsplash
April 2019, Issue #11
washed herself”, using the reflexive pronoun.
Now, let’s see a few examples of roots that don’t convey a reflexive meaning:
k.t.v: Remember this root from the last issue (seman�c meaning of “wri�ng”)? Well, if we
cast it into the building, we’ll get hitkatev, which means “he corresponded (with someone)”. It
could refer to an actual correspondence via le�ers, but we also use it when we refer to
cha�ng with someone on any kind of digital pla�orm, like Facebook and WhatsApp.
Therefore, this root actually has a reciprocal meaning, and not a reflexive one.
l.k.kh: I used this root in regard to the nifʕal building, but in this case, it has another meaning,
which at first glance seems galaxies away, but a�er some thinking, it does make sense. Earlier,
we saw that the seman�c meaning of this root is “taking”. If we case it into the building, we’ll
get hitlake’ah⁷. This word means “caught fire”, which is not reflexive at all! It’s not used very
o�en, but it s�ll shows the different meanings of this building. Like I said at first, “catching
fire” seems like it’s not related to “taking”, but when I thought about it again it did make
sense: when something “catches fire”, it “takes” it.
s.p.r: As I alluded earlier, this root can also refer to “haircut”. If we cast this root into the
building, we’ll get histaper⁸, which means “he got a hair cut”. Once again, not a reflexive
meaning!
The last root I am going to write about this �me is p.t.r. This root has a seman�c meaning of
“ge�ng rid of something”, and if we cast it into this building, we’ll get hitpater, which means
“he quit (his job)”.
Try to imagine a situa�on in which you work at some company, and they really really want you
to quit, but they can’t fire you for some reason, so they make your life there a living hell, un�l
you quit. In other words, they make you quit your job. In English, that verb would be “making
someone quit their job”, but in Hebrew, we have a word that corresponds to it, and that word
is hitputar! It’s part hitpaʕel and part puʕal, and it actually takes the basic meaning of hitpater,
and adds a passive layer, which conveys the fact that the employee did not want to leave their
workplace!
The same cool phenomenon has occurred with the root n.d.v, which has a seman�c meaning
of “giving” or “volunteering”. If we cast it into the building, we get hitnadev, which means “he
volunteered (to do something)”. Let’s say your boss want someone to do something, and they
ask for a volunteer, but nobody wants to do it, so they choose someone randomly to volunteer
(or not randomly, if they don’t like that person). In Hebrew we would say hitnudav, which
means “he was volunteered (implicitly, against his will)”!
This ar�cle and the previous one are a very basic overview of the Hebrew Verbal system. We
have different classes of roots, and some of them act very irregularly in certain situa�ons. If
this might be of interest to you, tell us, and I would be glad to elaborate on the subject!
That’s it for this ar�cle! Next �me, we’ll explore other very cool and interes�ng areas of
Hebrew Morphology!
____________________
6 This can be read in issue 10.
7 The ’ means that “e” and “a” are not part of the same vowel, but are actually part of two different syllables; Why have I added the
“a”? This is a remnant from Biblical Hebrew, and it refers to dorsal and laryngeal consonants. If this process interests you, tell us, and
we can write more about this in the future!
8 Have you no�ced that the “t” and the “s” have switched places? This process is called “metathesis”, and is actually quite common in
this building. If this process interests you, tell us, and we can write more about this in the future!
 about a

a
guy who
takes a
Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers April 2019, Issue #11
scientific

S
S is for...
and not a
completely
appren�ceships. But I've had loads of jobs: barman, waiter, sports coach, administrator,

b
random,
classical recep�onist, cleaner, kitchen porter, chef de par�e, retail assistant. There's more but I'm
or already bored of thinking about it. Either way, language has helped me go from one job to
sentimenta another. I've had loads of interviews and completed loads of job applica�ons.
l approach

Scientifica Study to As well as that I studied Film Studies/Media and Cultural Studies, and have been wri�ng since I

By Christopher Davy c studying

languages
, yet can
make an
article that
was a kid; poems, songs, scripts. I wouldn't say I'm au fait when it comes to language. But I
have had a fair amount of prac�se.

As for the science of language, well that's where things can get really trippy. Because 'science'
as a topic tends to be based on fact. Not that linguis�cs isn't based on fact. It's just that in

d
Linguis�cs IS the scien�fic study of... language. is
passionate linguis�cs...
and
To many of us, 'scien�fic' sounds like it could possibly be really complicated, and is going to interesting. ...the facts change. Fact.
require a lot of knowledge...and experiments. Experimen

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ts Are way That makes it pre�y tricky to study; when the parts are moving. For want of a be�er and more
'Study', sounds like it could be really boring, and is going to require lots of effort....and cool, you scholarly word...evolving.
thought. go
Christophe But that's one of the cool things about linguis�cs, it is a science...but it's not like the sciences
Well, I'm not up for that. 'That' being scien�fic study. Ok, that's a slight lie, I'm up for that, but r! No, you that we typically think of; physics, biology and chemistry. Those sciences are pre�y much set
keep it up

i
I'm not up for it being complicated, boring, and requiring lots of effort. I am however, up for it in stone. Gravity we know works like this. The speed of light is this. The elements are this.
developing my knowledge through experiments. That I am well up for. I like the thought of man i’ll be Those things aren't reeeeeally going to change. We might end up labelling them differently,
that. watching but their scien�fic proper�es will fundamentally remain the same. There are constants in your
for future typical sciences.
articles.T
Knowledge is cool. his is a

k pretty That however, is the power of language, and linguis�cs; it will change. You know it does. I
Experiments are way cool. interesting mean we have staple words, and types of words that remain the same. But words expand on
article their defini�ons, and 'slang' always plays a part in how we communicate. That will definitely
You will no�ce over �me that all of my ar�cles are based around a theme, 'S is for...'. There's a about a be an 'S' for another day; slang. It's a funny one to say too - sssssssssssss-LANG! You really
reason for this. It is a method I came up with that helps me remain focused and get things guy who want to put a lot of effort and emphasis on the lang. Aaaaanyway. Essen�ally language

l
done. Not only that, I've used it to help me with any coaching I've done, and general problem takes a changes. It changes in lots of ways.
solving. Over�me, I'll explain how I use it and how it works. The method is cemented in scientific
language. Oh yeah, and it stops things being boring and complicated. Sweet. and not a But yeah, you change the label, you change the percep�on. You change the percep�on, you
completely change the experience. You change the experience...well, where do we go from there?
Moving on... random,

m
classical Language has been evolving for years and it will con�nue to do so. So my advise is get used to
or
There may be some of you out there reading this thinking, “Ah man I wish I wrote more.” sentimenta it. Get used to change.
l approach
Well... to So, how can we learn and improve our knowledge of linguis�cs and language through
studying experiments? Well, you are in the middle of doing it in one way. Reading. I'm going to argue
S is for... Stop wishing

and

S is for... Start doing

u languages
, yet can
make an
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is
that's an experiment.

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g
passionate So let's say, as a general rule, the more you do. The more you'll learn.
That's ul�mately where my interests lie; how we can use language to get stuff done, and and
interesting.
inspire others to do the same. Currently I work in a college and my role is focused on Experimen Keep it up.
ts Are way

h
cool, you
三十二 / Sān shí èr / 32 go
Christophe 33 / Sān shí sān / 三十三
r! No, you
keep it up
Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
Anti-languages
By Elena Sheard
According to the linguist who coined the term, Michael Halliday,
'an�-languages' are languages that are used within 'an�-socie�es'.
Before we unpack an�-languages any further, we must therefore
address what an an�-society is. An an�-society is "a society that is set
up within another society as a conscious alterna�ve to it." In simpler
terms, it is a group of people who form their own community and
ac�vely posi�on themselves in opposi�on to broader society. An�-
socie�es can range from criminal groups, to incarcerated prisoners,
to marginalised minority communi�es. An an�-language is the
language variety generated and used by such an�-socie�es.
There are several well-known examples of an�-languages. Vagabond
groups in Elizabethan England used pel�ng speech (also known as
Thieves' cant). The criminal an�-society of Kolkata has its own
underworld language, while grypserka is used by members of the
subculture of Polish prisons and reform schools. However, an�-
languages are not just used by prisoners and vagabonds; one of the
most famous examples of an an�-language is polari, a mix of criminal
cant, Italian and the Romani language, among other sources, spoken
in Britain predominantly in the first two thirds of the 20th century by
gay men.
These an�-languages tend to share similar features (an�-language
analysis tends to be based primarily on word lists so the data cannot
be regarded as defini�ve). One feature is a process called
'relexifica�on'. This is when words in the standard language of the
society are given new, and different, meanings. These words are then
三十四 / Sān shí sì / 34
used with their new meanings in the an�-language.
For example, in pel�ng speech the terms li�, marker and santer
relate to the act of stealing packages, and respec�vely refer to the
person who steals the package, the person to whom the package is
handed, and the person who waits outside to carry it off. Familiar
words, but with unfamiliar meanings to the ordinary Elizabethan (and
even less familiar to us in the 21st century). This process will normally
be par�al rather than total, in that the an�-language will have
alterna�ve meanings for some but not all words that exist in the
standard language.
In addi�on, these an�-languages are not just relexified, they are also
'overlexicalised'. This means that there is an abundance of (new)
words for similar concepts – more than there might be in the
standard language. For example, the Kolkata underground language
has 41 documented words for police. This also reflects the vitality of
these languages and their poten�al as a tool for demonstra�ng
linguis�c dexterity; new terms come into existence because speakers
keep coining them. These new terms can come about through
metaphor (e.g. 'bawdy basket' to refer to other thieves), or they can
be formed from pre-exis�ng words that have had their original form
modified (e.g. “face” might become “ecaf”).
What are these languages used for? According to the users
themselves, an�-languages are frequently cited as being used for
secrecy and security; if you are a criminal or criminalised group it
April 2019, Issue #11
helps if you have a means of communica�on that the authori�es
cannot understand. However, Halliday argues that the actual
mo�va�on for the crea�ng such languages is not simply greater ease
of communica�on; these languages are a means of crea�ng and
maintaining these an�-socie�es, and the social hierarchies that exist
within them. For example, if you were a Polish prisoner who refused to
use the an�-language, your place in the hierarchy would inevitably be
lower than those who didn't. Or, if you were a gay man trying to
surrep�tously iden�fy other gay men, those who knew Polari would
probably have more success than those who didn't.
Like standard languages, an�-languages aren't sta�c and can undergo
change, enter the mainstream, and they can also go into decline. For
example, features of a variety of Bahasa spoken in Indonesia by gay
men (known as 'Gay Bahasa) have been adopted into mainstream
culture despite general knowledge of the existence of gay men, let
alone gay culture, being very limited. The use of Polari as a fully-
fledged code has also declined as the gay community has become less
marginalised from mainstream standard society, and the need for a
totally secret language has decreased. Words from Polari nonetheless
survive, having since been adopted (or appropriated) into mainstream
speech; in fact, Polari is considered to be where the term 'camp'
originated from.
Sources:
h�p://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160211-the-secret-an�-
languages-youre-not-supposed-to-know?ocid=tvl.syn.atl.we.0.partn
h�ps://daily.jstor.org/unspeakable-linguis�cs-camp/
h�ps://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1525/aa.19
76.78.3.02a00050
h�ps://www.theguardian.com/commen�sfree/2010/may/24/polari-
language-origins
h�ps://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1525/jlin.20
04.14.2.248
35 / Sān shí wǔ / 三十五
Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers April 2019, Issue #11

There exist many roads that might lead someone to this point: Perhaps they're a
Brazilian Spiritualist who's discovered this language because it's a popular method to
communicate with spirits.Perhaps they're a Brit who's realized that the "fake"
language spoken on Red Dwarf does exist and takes classes to show how die-hard a fan
he is of the show. Perhaps they're an American who's watching a children's program
who's encountered a werewolf speaking the language and who also discovered the
language does exist.

Nowadays, everybody's learning through Duolingo, most likely confused learners of

"real" languages thinking "what's this?," and clicked on it. Many of them have felt the
draw as they resist but later surrender. We can safely assume they're also steeped in
meme culture.

If you've reached the point that you'd read an ar�cle about Esperanto memes and
think you'd take interest, then I congratulate you as we four-twenty-noscope our way
to bea�ng a dead meme with a s�ck as we chicken-slap new pathways to dankness.

Meme groups and pages are in beginner to hardcore order:

Evildea - h�ps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmkhn3JfgRGeLfRMVa9yUvQ

Esperanto's answer to PewDiePie. He mainly travel vlogs, but he's done a few videos
about Esperanto conven�ons, culture, issues, etc and some gaming vids as well. Many
of his more popular videos are sub�tled into English for those who couldn't help but
"krokodili," that is, speaking to another Esperanto-speaker in a language besides
Esperanto.

A couple of cringeworthy pet-peeves irk me though. One is that he always opens a

video with "Saluton al ĉiuj! Jen Evildea, Via Dio." (Hello everyone! I'm Evildea, your
god!") I assume with con�nual watching, the phrase reverberates within the mind, and
the viewer might take it true, but I'm stretching.

Moreover, he once proposed that if his channel reached one million subscribers, he
would make and publish a sex tape with another popular Esperanto YouTuber and a
"Volapuk speaker." As much as I hope he's joking, the cringiness of the idea muddles
everything else.
However, he's also indispensible to the Esperanto community as the creator of the
popular app Amikumu which links nearby Esperanto speakers to each other and has
already expanded to over 120 countries and 500 languages.

Needless to say, he represents the Esperanto community well and it cannot do without
him.
Pornhub could though.

Ŝercoj - h�ps://www.facebook.com/groups/shercoj

The main joke group. This was created for humor in various formats such as comics,
photos, screenshots, text etc. The humor isn't specified and anyone could take the hot
mic.

三十六 / Sān shí liù / 36 37 / Sān shí qī / 三十七

 !
Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers April 2019, Issue #11

Learn Useless Esperanto-n - h�ps://www.facebook.com/LearnUselessEsperanto/

a n i a n
A popular Esperanto meme page. It started out with phrases which, while not prac�cally

Ro m w !
usable in real life, does help with vocabulary and syntax.

i t n o
Tr y
Esperantaj Memeoj - h�ps://www.facebook.com/groups/esperantajmemeoj/
sa�sfac�on when you are able to iden�fy a
While the Ŝercoj group accepts all forms of humor, Esperantaj Memeoj was created word or two when you hear something in that
specifically for memes. Its style is more akin to what one would find on 4chan and Reddit. language and you think: good job me, I deserve
a pat on the back and honestly speaking you
Speaking of that. do. But how about the rest of us?
Learning any new language is…hard. I think
Bonaj Memeoj - h�ps://www.reddit.com/r/BonajMemeoj/ there must be some specific outside condi�ons The -I’m forced to learn this new language
in order to facilitate the learning process (think because it’s one of my school’s mandatory
The main subreddit. The memes are at an intermediate level of dankness. If you're using old of it like growing a plant, you need sunshine, subjects- people. Or the -I enrolled to a faculty
Reddit on a PC, it's annoying to click on each link to look at each individual meme, but with water, good soil). What are these factors you where the language taught there is really hard
new Reddit and on mobile, the images are right there and it should be no problem. may wonder? Well, they are different for to learn but I have to because I did this to
everybody. myself and it’s too late to change that now-
Esperantoball - h�ps://www.facebook.com/Esperantujoball/ people (okay maybe the last one is just me).
h�ps://www.reddit.com/r/esperantoball/ I’m here to talk about the first scenario.
In the best case scenario, you like
Think of me as the really annoying salesman
While the Facebook page hasn't posted in months and the subreddit started three days to languages, you are passionate about learning from those exaggerated TV commercials –you
�me of wri�ng, they're s�ll worth checking out. Esperantoball runs off of the famous a new language, you have enough �me to know the ones I’m talking about the overly
Polandball series of memes. The subreddit was only created because Esperantoball could not prac�ce it and it offers you some kind of
be posted in the Polandball subreddit.

Herr Schwarz - h�ps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnTMxMPPsV-u3WsiX50XIWA/

Herr Schwarz is a dank, dank, dank YouTuber. He dubbed the famous ASDFmovie videos into
Esperanto without any loss of humor. His own content also contributes a decent amount of
memeage onto Esperanto YouTube.

Esperanta fekafiŝado - h�ps://www.facebook.com/Esperantafekafisxado/

While it does not have as many likes as the previous meme pages, the quality of the memes is
Reddit level. If any one of these memes ever appears on r/memeeconomy, I would definitely
invest in them.

Verda Chan - h�ps://8ch.net/esperanto/index.html

Esperanto 4chan. That's all.

I hope this serves as a compass to navigate, appreciate, and perhaps contribute to the world
of Esperanto memes. If you're convinced that you're interested, I hope to see you in some of
these groups.

Bonvenon, samideano.

三十八 / Sān shí bā / 38 39 / Sān shí jiǔ / 三十九

Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers April 2019, Issue #11

exaggerated “Don’t you hate it when this happens to you? Well, you don’t have to endure that
anymore with our overpriced mediocre product! “. I am that person but I’m not trying to sell
you a product but maybe an idea. So here it goes:
Are you �red of only knowing one language that is really simple (because it’s your na�ve
language so you sorta, kinda have to speak it) while all your snobby bilingual friends speak
two languages?
• Romanian is a mainly phone�c language (yay) so it is easier to pronounce almost any new
word if you know the alphabet. For example “ghicitoare” which you say it like
“ghicitoare”-So simple!
• Romanian is the only European language in which you can form a whole sentence using
only vowels: “Oaia aia e a ei, eu o iau” (it translates to “That sheep is hers, I am
taking it”).

Are you annoyed when your friends complain about how hard it was to learn a new
language (because some�mes is literal hell and you feel like you’ll never be able to speak it
properly or sound nearly as good as a na�ve speaker and the learning process is draining you
of all the mo�va�on and hopefulness you previously had) and how rewarding it is in the end
(some�mes) but you can never relate to that?
Learn Romanian now so when your friends ask you what you’ve been up to you can finally
say “I am learning a new language, yes it is really hard and yes I should’ve chosen an easier
one”. Try Romanian now! It will only cost you your �me and sanity and if you call this number
*insert phone number here* now you’ll get *5 wacky Romanian phrases translated word for
word just for fun. *based upon availability

Well, you don’t have to feel this way anymore! Try learning Romanian! CALL NOW!

• Romanian is one of the romance languages, sister with French, Italian, Spanish and Just kidding, here are the phrases:
Portuguese (yes, I’m sure, yes I double checked).
• Romanian grammar is so simple you’ll learn it in no �me. Let me give a li�le taste. Instead of saying “you’re stupid” you can say “you’re a Venice bush”( tufă de Veneţia).
Instead of “go away” you can say “go walk the bear” (plimbă ursul).
The verb “to be” is “a fi” and this is how you conjugate it: In Romanian you don’t go from bad to worse you ”search for the devil and you find his
Eu sunt ( I am) father” (a căuta pe dracul și a găsi pe tată-său).
Tu eș� (you are) When you want to say that a thing is really far away you can say they are “at the devil’s
El/ea este (he/she is) mother” (la mama dracului).
Noi suntem(we are)
Voi sunteţi (you are) And, finally: Romanians say “to grab your heart with your teeth” meaning to have the
Ei/ele sunt (they are) eeeeeasy, just like I said ;). courage to do something ( a-și lua inima în dinţi).

It actually is if we compare it to La�n and to the other romance languages: By Bianca Ifcu

To Be/ Latin Romanian French Italian Spanish Portuguese

English
I am Sum Eu sunt Je suis Io sono Yo soy Eu sou
You are Es Tu eș� Tu es Tu sei Tú eres Tu és
He/she is Est El/ea este Il/elle est Eglie/ella él/ella es Ele / Ela /
Você é
We are Sumus Noi suntem Nous Noi siamo Nosotros/as Nós somos
sommes somos
You are Estis Voi sunteţi Vous êtes Voi siete Vosotros/as Vos sois
sois
They are Sunt Ei/ele sunt Ils/elles Essi/esse Ellos/ellas Eles / Elas /
sont sono son Vocês são
• Romanian has five diacri�cs (they’re really simple).

Ă ă [ə] which is like the “a” in “about”

Ş ş [ʃ] as in “blush”
Ţ ţ [t͡s] as in “robots”
 â, Î î [ɨ]- these ones don’t even exist in English!

四十 / Sì shí / 40 41 / Sì shí yī / 四十一

Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
From friends that I see every day, to a tour
An guide in the Berber villages of Morocco, I’ve
Enthusiast’s met plenty of language learning enthusiasts.
It’s a challenge, a door to a whole new world,
Guide to some�mes a necessity, but will always take
some effort. What is very obvious to me is that
Language the process of learning a language is not the
same for everybody. The preferred ways and
Learning even the difficulty tend to vary a lot from
learner to learner.
By Foteini Athina Fairly recently, I’ve found myself surrounded by
Karantoni a group of people in my age, early twen�es,
and we got asked this ques�on during a
mentoring session: ‘Assume you need to learn
to speak a new language. What is your
preferred way of doing so?’ There was a
limited list of possible answers, but everyone
could say whatever they believed. To my
surprise, over 90% of the people in the group
immediately – with no second thought or even
spending a minute to think – replied that they
would want to move directly to a country
where the na�ve/most common language
spoken is the one they are trying to learn.
That’s diving deep! In fact too deep for me!
The problem I see in this scenario is that – let’s
say someone speaks English and French, like I
do – and they want to learn Spanish. So now
they have to go to Spain! Well, I’d be lucky
because the languages I already know are
going to be of a lot of help. Most important bit:
the alphabet is the same. I can at least try and
pronounce a word, or write something down in
a way that looks reasonable. But, let’s now say
I’m unlucky and I land in China, or Russia. Even
my knowledge of Greek – so another bunch of
weird symbols – wouldn’t help me there. How
long before I panic and give up? Because
moving to a new country isn’t like tourism, you
need to figure out all the important bits, like
your apartment, your job, your taxes, how the
country works. And that’s all in a language very
strange for you.
As I said in the very first place, everyone is very
different. What scares me would probably
Photo by Artem Bali from Pexels
mo�vate most of my fellow mentees that
day that were sure they wanted to start the
hard way. But this is definitely a valid way. If
you move to a country where the locals
speak a different language, all this exposure
will s�ll help. With one li�le caveat of
course: you need to want to learn. I do have
examples of people spending years in other
countries and not learning a word of the
local language, simply because they didn’t
want to. Well, they actually did learn a
couple of words, so exposure is never 0%
effec�ve, but s�ll – bless English and their
worldwide spreading.
Excep�ons aside though, there is that first
point, exposure. But does it have to be this
extreme? It has to happen eventually,
otherwise you’re not truly learning a
language, you’re more exploring in a
theore�cal level, like reading how to swim,
but not actually touching water.
As I men�oned before, I speak three
languages. Greek is my mother tongue. The
other two languages are English and French.
And if I’m being completely honest, since I
haven’t spoken French in over five years, I’m
en�rely sure I’ve forgo�en most of what I
know already. The basis is there though.
For all these languages I took lessons, both
in school and in various evening classes. And
it helped me a lot. Of course it wasn’t free
and it wasn’t easy, taking a lot of my �me.
I’ve passed exams for both, so my teachers
always had expecta�ons for the amount of
studying and prac�sing and I could never
really make excuses for skipping classes or
not submi�ng homework.
A�er growing up a bit, I grew to love
languages more and more every day. So I’ve
done what many probably regularly do, I’ve
tried to learn new languages, star�ng with
Chinese and Swedish, moving to German
and Spanish. And I’ve failed. All �mes.
Miserably. I probably didn’t learn a single
April 2019, Issue #11
word I didn’t already know a�er weeks or
months of ‘prac�ce’. And that’s what the
problem was, I wasn’t really prac�sing. For
me the structure and punctuality offered by
actually a�ending a language school seemed
irreplaceable.
Before diving deep and actually trying to use
the language in the real world – swim in the
sea. Using your phone for transla�ons like a
floa�ng board of course.
But if we are being realis�c here, paying or
having �me to spend to classes is not always
going to happen, because of reasons…
Because there is work and there is rent and
there are friends and going out. So I’ve
decided to try – yes, it was a new year’s
resolu�on - to try again. I never considered
myself very talented in learning languages.
And the main problem I’ve discovered is I
seem to not hear very well. Different
accents do not make a lot of difference for
me, which made me decide to start again
with Spanish. Many people get confused
when they hear me speaking Greek, thinking
it’s Spanish, and that was a start to make me
realise that the languages have some sounds
in common, so hey! A good start. I also
expect my English and French to come and
assist.
The most important part is that this �me I
tried a structured approach: I went online
and I found an e-course – for free, that I’ve
started and actually liked. I liked the
teachers, the subjects, the presenta�on, the
format and the fact that I don’t get to pay.
Sorry Duolingo, but this �me you will only
be assis�ng. Because, if we are being
honest, there is a need for an app like
Duolingo. There are others out there that
are good, too. Structure is good, discipline is
43 / Sì shí sān / 四十三
Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
good, but you need to keep in touch. And I
know for myself that I won’t be doing a new
part of the course every day. But I can
definitely play with the app on my phone for
5 minutes. And refresh some common
words and phrases, maybe improve my
wri�ng skills and up my confidence.
And this �me I’m seeing results! And I’m
actually travelling in Spain to test out my
skills. I assume I’ll be too shy to say much
but it’s a start. I’m going to proudly carry my
notes on the plane, thinking of all the
phrases and prac�sing, to go mute the
minute someone greets me, but that’s fine, I
need to start somewhere.
Saying that though, a couple of years back a
friend of mine was moving to Spain. She
asked me if I knew any resources to help her.
At that �me I had already discovered that
Spanish class, even though I hadn’t done
much about it. But I already knew I liked it
so I recommended that to her and she
already used Duolingo, so she was good to
go for a start. Or so I thought. Because she
hated that Spanish class and all classes to be
honest. She went ahead with Duolingo,
ditched the class completely and started
listening to songs and reading texts in
Spanish. Later on, maybe put a movie with
sub�tles for help. And she did move to
Spain. And she did face problems trying to
figure out her new lifestyle. But she made it.
At no point did she give up with Spanish and
in a few months’ �me she was able to
a�end mee�ngs in her job all in Spanish
without missing that much.
Our approach seem to be very different, but
we both had something in common: we
knew what helps us learn. We know what
we need to stay on track and improve skills.
For me it might be the structure and the
safety of having a teacher, and for her,
almost like the other mentees, it is facing
the language in real-life situa�ons. And I
think this is the most important part,
四十四 / Sì shí sì / 44
April 2019, Issue #11
Thanks for reading
understanding your strengths and
weaknesses when it comes to learning. And
keeping in mind that some things can’t be
skipped, like near every day prac�ce and
finally finding a way to actually using the
Issue #11
language.
Then it depends on the use anyone wants to
make of the language. The pressure of We hope you enjoyed it!
learning a new language for professional
reasons is very different to star�ng it as a
hobby.
Send any comments or questions you might
In any case, I believe that a structured
approach, at least when deciding how
have to magazine@sillylinguistics.com
someone is going to start, is necessary for
Check out Steve the vagabond on Facebook
results. Of course, at the end of the day
even managing to learn a single phrase in a
different language is fulfilling on its own, so
struggling for more is just building up the At facebook.com/stevethevagabond and also
fun.
check out Silly Linguistics online at
If there is a single important point that I
want to make here, is that learning a sillylinguistics.com
language apart from fun or necessary or
whatever, is a great way to discover a part of
history, a different way of speaking and
expressing yourself, it’s about learning about
Silly Linguistics Magazine was brought to you
other parts of the world, and that truly is
fulfilling and interes�ng – and to me
by Silly Linguistics Pty Ltd.
necessary.
Editor: Ed Bedford
Graphics Designer: Grace Cairns
Grace wants you to know that if you aren’t so
disgustedly amused and horrified at her homemade memes
on page36, she hasn’t done her job right
45 / Sì shí wǔ / 四十五