Author Archives: Elizabeth Pyatt

Overly Detailed Facts about the Welsh Word for corgi

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As a reader of this blog, you need to know that 1) I wrote a dissertation on Celtic mutations and 2) I own a Welsh corgi (see below). His name is Owain Glyndwr Alan Jackson Cooperlee Corgi McCay Pyatt (or Glyndwr for short). Over the years, I have become aware of the meaning of the word corgi and some related words that linguists, Indo-Europeanists, Celticists and corgïsts may appreciate. The rest of you may want to move on.

extremely fluffy corgi with paws pushed out

Corgi is a Compound

Most corgi owners are aware that corgi is from Welsh and literally means ‘dwarf dog’ (cor ‘dwarf’ + ci ‘dog’), a reference to the short legs. In fact corgis literally have dwarfism in their legs which is why you have to be careful how much they bound about, especially as they get older.

You may have noticed that although corgis are a type of ci ‘dog’, they are not a *corci. The ci ‘dog’ element undergoes the Welsh soft mutation changing c /k/ to g /g/. How Welsh!

Corgis have an /n/-Stem plural option

The most common plural of corgi is corgwn /korgun/ which basically incorporates the plural cŵn /ku:n/ ‘dogs’ (note that Welsh w is always the vowel /u/ when not with another vowel). The plural shows that the Welsh dog word is actually related to Latin canis, French chien and even English hound. The root also appears in part of the name for yoga downward dog which is a svanasana (śvan- + asana, lit. a ‘dog asana’). What about the Celtic language Old Irish? The word for dog in Old Irish is cú, but in other case forms it is con-, a common name element in Irish.

But…Welsh plurals are not always regular. The singular corgi can also be plural corgïaid, at least according to the Geriadur Prifysgol Cymru. Because you can’t pin a corgi down.

Don’t Forget the Ladies

Female corgis have their own Welsh words too. The word for a female dog (or “bitch”) in Welsh is gast, and sure enough you can own a corgast or a coriast. Or if you object to the term “bitch”, you can have a corgïes /korgiɛs/ where -es is a generic feminine ending. By the way, this ending makes me an Americanes “American woman”.

“Corgine”

I have determined that corgine should be used to indicate the high state of being a corgi. Not that being an ordinary canine is a bad thing, but not all English speakers understand the specialness of being a dog. We should not forget that legends tells us that corgis were ridden by fairies but given to humans in gratitude to a human who fixed a carriage (and other dog breeds have similar origins I assume).

In any case, the adjectival form of corgi is corgïaidd /korgiajð/ (not to be confused with the alternate plural corgïaid /korgiajd/. The dd is “soft th” or /ð/ in Welsh.

Other Little Things

The prefix cor can be found in other Welsh words notable corgoed ‘dwarf tree’ and coriarll ‘viscount’ or literally ‘little earl’. The Welsh are very productive and clever compoundists.

One Could Use Singular They, You Know

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A question that I am sometimes asked as a linguist is why English can’t adopt a gender neutral pronoun alongside he, she and it. The irony is that English actually already has two options available, but they are rarely mentioned as being acceptable alternatives.

Singular Impersonal They

Any linguist worth their while will tell you that colloquial English widely uses singular impersonal they as common substitute for an unspecified person of any gender. This version of they shows singular agreement as can be seen in the examples below.

  • “A football player with a head injury must be cleared by a doctor before they can return to the game.”
  • “A person who doesn’t watch the news has only themself to blame if they are caught in the rain without an umbrella.”
  • “A person can’t help their birth” (Vanity Fair, William Thackery, 1848)
  • “There’s not a man I meet but doth salute me As if I were their well-acquainted friend” (Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, Act IV, 1594)

The examples, which include Thackery and Shakespeare, show that this construction has been in the language for many centuries, yet few advocate its use in Modern English.

Impersonal One

Another classic impersonal pronoun is one as in “One must be careful to watch the news on a regular basis.” (Thanks Linguistics Girl for this Reminder). And yet one rarely sees this pronoun mentioned.

I believe there are some reasons why these pronouns are often forgotten, but I will address that more next week.

Habitual “Be” in W. PA

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Last Friday on the local news there was a story about a meth lab in Clearfield, PA in Western PA between State College and Pittsburgh. Although I don’t remember the details, I do remember one of the neighbors describing one of the people involved saying phrases like “He be setting out when I be coming and going from work” (-0:38).

This struck me because the woman was using an AAVE habitual be form, yet she was white. Her sister mentioned that they were from Pittsburgh, so I wondered if she was exposed to the form there. Other than the habitual be usage though, there was no other AAVE features I could detect. Still this does show that linguistic features are not necessarily “Black” (AAVE) or “White” (not-AVVE). When thinking about working class forms, I am seeing crossover between communities.

Hawkeye Pierce Requests “An Harmonica”

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This long explanation is going to lead to a funny M*A*S*H TV moment, but first a word about indefinite article allomoprhy.

Indefinite Article Allomorphy

A tried and true U.S. English rule I follow is that the indefinite article a become an when the next word starts with a phonological vowel (regardless of spelling). See examples below (please pardon the slightly awkward Spanish examples below).

  • an hour /ən aw.ər/
  • an hombre /ən ombre/
  • an H /ən etʃ/ (U.S.)
  • a university /ə yunɨvərsɪti/
  • a ouija board /ə widʒi bɔrd/

The examples above show that you get an before silent “h” because the word is phonologically vowel-initial. You also get an before words that are spelled with an initial vowel, but really begin with /w,y/ or some other consonant. This indicates to me that this version of the rule is very conditioned by phonology.

Indefinite Article and /h/

I was also taught and do generally follow the generalization that indefinite articles preceding words beginning with /h/ surface as a.

  • a hormone /ə hɔrmon/
  • a hat /ə hæt/
  • a jalapeño /ə hæləpenjo/
  • a hibachi /ə hɨbatʃi/

But then there are words like historic where the an historic occasion has been considered acceptable. This has never sounded great to me, but the explanation I got in LING 100 was that /h/ words with stress somewhere besides the initial syllable may be preceded by an.

Modern Day Rise of “an h-“

However in listening to the news and media, I have noticed an increase in phrases like an historic occasion and in other words, particularly Greco-Latin words beginning with “h” such as hysterical, hormonal, horrific and hilarious. In fact a Google search reveals people asking questions about which form to use before these words.

There is some confusion out there. Note that there is potential confusion in Britain as well if a dialect is dropping initial /h/.

Interestingly, most sources agree that it’s an hibachi even though the stress is not on the first syllable. This may be a sign that the “an + h” rule may apply to Greco-Roman words.

There is an interesting exception to a hibachi in the headline “How to cook with an hibachi”)). Later the article notes “You can cook almost all the foods you cook on a regular barbecue on a hibachi.” This sounds like free variation (consistent with another forum poster claiming he or she couldn’t always choose) or that the writer REALLY says a hibachi but is trying to conform to the an historic rule in the headline.

Where does M*A*S*H come in?

What inspired this post was a M*A*S*H rerun where Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda speaking NYC flavored standard English) is on the phone pretending to be Boston Brahmin Charles Winchester III (played by David Ogden Stiers who does affect an uppercrust FDR like accent).

Hawkeye is trying to obtain a harmonica on the black market for a local child, but as Charles he demands an harmonica. It does appear that there was a familiarity with this rule, but that the writers associated it with “snooty” aristocrats. But that was in the early 80s.

The irony here is that since Hawkeye is supposed to be born and bred Maine, his accent could be just as New Englandy as Charles Winchester. This geographic fact was sadly was never played up in M*A*S*H.

Postscript (Aug 7): Doris Kearns Goodwin

On a PBS show (JFK & LBJ: A Time for Greatness) about how President Johnson was able to get the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin made reference to it being an historic occasion, but it seemed like she was actually dropping the /h/ of historic (i.e. /əŋ ɪstɔrɨk/ or an ‘istoric). If that is this case, this would be the start of some sort of morpho-syntactic alternation where some /h/’s are dropped after the indefinite article. Very interesting.

Prince Charles Shakes Gerry Adams Hand in County Sligo

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The BBC had a fairly amazing story of Prince Charles visiting the place where the IRA killed Lord Mountbatten, but also meeting with Gerry Adams of the Sinn Féin. I think a lot of people thought this could never happen.

Back in the 80s-90s the Troubles were still very much active and something a person studying a Celtic language paid attention too. In many ways the issues surrounding Ulster were very difficult and bitters. One the one hand there the Catholic Irish were angry because their country was invaded in the past, but on the other hand, the Protests were now in the majority and did not want to become “Irish” like the Republic of Ireland.

Violence made it all uglier. Many of the legitimate grievances of the Catholics fell on deaf ears as the IRA set off bombs or assassinated people. It wasn’t until I saw In the Name of the Father (with Daniel Day Lewis) that I understood how the British could badly misprosecute suspected IRA members. But see also Cal which shows how seductive, but damaging the IRA could be.

Eventually a cease fire as declared, but I wondered how long it could last geven the mistrust on both sides over many decades. But it has lasted, and this semester when I mentioned Northern Ireland to my students, I got a lot of blanks stares from my students (oy!). There is not harmony by any means, but Adams has made the Sinn Féin (the IRA’s party) a legitimate political force and the British have been more encouraging of Irish language use in Northern Ireland (although some Protestants associate it with IRA unfortunately).

Still it’s nice to see that people can choose to at least tolerate each other if it will stop violence. I think people are also recognizing that Northern Ireland/Ulster has a unique culture which blends both Irish and UK culture. I really hope to visit some day.

Video of the Week: Singaporean “White” Boy

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This Singaporean show interviews 16-year Tyler who has lived 9 years in Singapore, 2 years in China and 5 years in the U.S. Not surprisingly he has mastered both Mandarin and the local Singlish English based creole. The hosts Shan and Rozz challenges Tyler to a show off which he easily masters.

Interestingly, while Shan and Rozz tend to speak English closer to an UK RP standard accent, Tyler’s English is closer to U.S. English, but it looks like it’s not necessarily his default code.

Linguists will point out that there are really no physiological constraints on learning any language – it’s all about exposure to a language at the right time. But, there aren’t too many non-Asians that fluent in Chinese so it’s fun to watch. Especially as he describes overhearing Mandarin gossip about him…which the other Mandarin speakers don’t realize he can understand. Ooops.

Video of the Week: Irish Carlsberg Ad

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If you liked One Semester of Spanish Love Song, you’ll enjoy the Carlsberg Irish ad.

The Carlsberg Irish ad stars three Irish lads attempting to get a beer somewhere outside Ireland. As payment, the barkeep demands they “do something Irish”, preferably “singing or dancing”. Instead they choose to recite a “poem in Irish”, which turns out to be random phrases they vaguely remember from their years of mandatory Irish language education. At last, they have found a use for all of those phrases….

Why Linguists Should Worry About Book Prices and Digital Access

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An issue that may seem to be a bit esoteric is the pricing of linguistics books on Amazon, but I do think it has a negative impact in efforts to disseminate information among ourselves and to the community. As most linguists know, most new hardback books are usually over $100 to purchase, but even paperbacks can be expensive. Even paperbacks range from the relatively cheap $30 to over $50.

In my experience, the general public is interested in certain linguistic topics such as the history of English (or other heritage languages). They may also be interested in certain policy issues such as education and language. If possible, it would be helpful for people to get reliable information at a reasonable price. Unfortunately, really good linguistics books at a reasonable price are very scarce.

Indo-European Books

One topic that the general public is fascinated with in Indo-European, but it’s also an issue that leads to lots of problematic theories and political debates. The Nazi “Aryan race” is the worst case scenario of tying a linguistic theory to racism. Pointing people to a good Indo-european handbook might help people understand the methodologies more and put the information. These exist, but are usually over $40.

Right now the The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World by J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams is selling for just under $60. The Cambridge University Press’ textbook Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics) by James Clackson is about $45. Another textbook from Blackwell,
Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction by Benjamin Fortson is about $60. The cheapest respectable book is the American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European roots (under $17) and a few books that focus more on archaeology than language.

Or you could spend $4.99 (free on Kindle) and get Indo-European Origins by William Davey. Reviews are mixed, but I would be concerned with this review that noted that “Googling for an author’s name did not provide any insight at all in regards with his background, so I’m still in some doubt” (I also could not find much on Google). Nevertheless, other people seem to like it, but is it as well researched as other books? Another reviewer feels dubious. But right now, it’s the top link in Amazon. Hmmm.

Lack of Basic References

In a similar vein, as an instructor, I would like my students to read informed sources about different languages or language families, but helping them find basic information is more frustrating than it needs to be in the digital age. A lot the handbooks I would recommend range between $60 to over $300, and most are print only.

Obviously, no undergraduate would make this investment, and it’s steep even for a graduate student or faculty member. Traditionally students could go to the library for these resources (and I do remind my students to step inside the library), but not all the books may even be in the library. Or they may be on permanent loan to an instructor or desperate graduate student.

At the moment, the quickest source for linguistic facts is Wikipedia, and I’ve been known to look things up myself. Hopefully, some of the editors have been able to fund purchasing of the quality resources I’ve mentioned…but you never know.

How Pricing Affects Awareness

The general assumption of academic publishing is that linguistics books are meant for either libraries or other linguists who will agree to pay an increased price that reflects a buying pool. But now that new digital options have emerged, it is time to rethink how information is distributed and take advantage of cheaper models of distribution. The Rutgers Optimality Archive (ROA) allows researchers to both access and contribute information for free. The Atlas of North American English by William Labov can be licensed by libraries in a digital format any registered user can download. Mouton also provides some information at http://www.atlas.mouton-content.com/.

Libraries are starting to realize these resources are necessary, but we need to find ways to encourage other publishers to make their handbooks more readily available in a digital format. I would also like more of an iTunes model where individual chapters could be purchased as needed.

Our Tax Dollars at Work?

As other organizations such as the Association of Research Libraries have pointed out, many American academic projects are at least partially funded by U.S. government agencies. Therefore, our tax dollars are actually paying for results which should be available to the public. This is similar to the idea that content produced by the federal government is public domain. As many instructors will tell you, it is not as if they expect to live off of royalties from their books based on the limitations of distribution.

It is important to remember that publishers do need to be compensated, but the beauty of the iTunes model is that it provides access to more publishers than traditional music media distribution. It also allows customers more choice in what to buy the chance to preview what they buy. I have become a much more educated music listener thanks to iTunes. It would be great if a similar model could allow people to become more educated citizens.

What is Language Diversity?

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Today I saw another article from a biologist throwing their hat into the linguistics ring. In this case it was geneticist Sarah Tishkoff who implies in the Christian Science Monitor that because humans in Africa are more genetically diverse, the languages must be too.

Tishkoff argues that “There’s just been a lot of time for cultural diversity, linguistic diversity, genetic diversity to accumulate in Africa.” At first glance this would make sense, but the reality has been that languages can easily spread independently of the gene pool. For instance, most people of African descent in the U.S. actually speak a Germanic language (i.e. English). In all of the Americas, most people of African descent speak a European language (English, Spanish, Portuguese or French or a creole based on one of these languages).

So…I will say that I (and probably linguist Salikoko Mufwene who is quoted in the article) would dispute Tioshkoff’s premise. In fact, the Christian Science Monitor mentions that the trick is “how you define diversity.”

Greenberg Index

One measure is the “Greenberg Index” which measures how the probability that any two speakers will “have a different mother tongue.” In Papua New Guinea, the number is 99% and Cameroon, the number is 97%. These are impressive figures, but they don’t measure how distinct the languages are.

In this scenario speaking Italian vs. Spanish (relatively closely related) is given the same weight as speaking Spanish vs. Basque (completely unrelated). Italy, France and Spain are European countries with more linguistic diversity than we may initially realize, but the majority languages in question are descended from Latin. This happened because most of Western Europe was within the Roman Empire, but this means that almost all pre-Roman languages in the Western Empire have been lost. The pre-Roman languages that have survived in Western Europe have been Basque and some Celtic languages. Germanic and Finnic also survived this era.

As it turns out most languages in Cameroon are all in just two language families – Niger Congo and Afro-Asiatic. So, although there are lot of languages, they are generally related. In fact, the vast majority of the Afro-Asiatic languages in Cameroon are Chadic > Biu-Mandara languages, which is a very specific group. I am by no means an Chadic expert, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them are as close as Spanish and Italian. Similarly, the Niger-Congo languages of Cameroon are generally in the Atlantic branch and many (169) are in the Bantoid branch. Again these languages may be close.

Language Relatedness

If we are going to truly compare linguistic diversity to genetic diversity, then we DO need to factor in how many language families are being used in a specific area. Language family represents a “line of evolution” for a proto language. The more language families in an area, the more proto languages are represented. In that respect, Africa is not especially diverse in comparison to some areas such as the Americas. If language spread were tied exclusively with genetics, then we would expect Africa to have the largest number of language families, but that is not what happens.

One interesting comparison is counting isolates (languages with no known relatives). These represent proto-languages that is not currently widespread. According to Lyle Campbell (University of Hawaii), there are about 10 isolates in Africa (vs. one in Europe), but 20 in North America, six in Mexico and 55 in South America. That’s a lot of leftover languages in the Americas. Similarly, an overview of indigenous Mexican languages shows they can be grouped into seven families (vs. seven in Cameroon). The issue is that most indigenous languages in Mexico may have smaller populations than Cameroon for political reasons.

The irony here is that the Americas are more diverse in terms of language families than Africa even though it was settled much later (and as expected has less genetic diversity than Africa). Whatever the explanation, we need to be very careful how we model the spread and evolution of language vs genetics.

Can Canadian Chipewian Speakers Use /ʔ/ ?

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The Canadian CBC has an interesting story of a Canadian mother of Chipewian heritage not being able to use a glottal stop character ʔ in her daughter’s name.

Rather than double posting, I thought I would point you to my Unicode blog post.

Postscript: March 27

On a recent realia hunt for Canadian bilingual signs, I found this sign in British Columbia warning visitors about the local snake danger. The top part of the sign reads ḱəḱaʔlistax x̌əx̌uləxʷ. Apparently there is some support for not only “ʔ”, but also “ə”, superscript “ʷ” and a multitude of diacritics. Impressive. Photographer Heather Joan notes that the top language is the Salish language Nsyilxcen.

realia – images, video or objects that show authentic language use.