Dick Hudson Dulwich College November 2016 Q1 Are meanings relevant A puzzle Japanese hiragana phonetic script How does it work Check Wikipedia or work it out Q2 One character per lettersound ID: 548091
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Slide1
Linguistics for lively minds
Dick Hudson
Dulwich College
November 2016Slide2
Q1. Are meanings relevant?
A puzzle: Japanese ‘hiragana’ phonetic script
How does it work?
Check Wikipedia …
...or work it out!
Q2. One character per letter/sound?
Q4. Left-right or right-left?
Q3. One character per …?
Q5. Can we solve the puzzle now?Slide3
More data, and the puzzle deepens
Bad news! The two columns are ordered separately!
How can we know how they correspond?
Compare word-lengths!
Maths or language?
longest
longest
ka
tsu
do
n
If character = syllable, how can character = n?
How many syllables in
harden
? What’s the second vowel?
Is n special in other ways?Slide4
The challenge
Not in basic data
Not in basic data
How can we know what these characters are?
Work them out!Slide5
How does the system work?
voiceless
voicedSlide6
Welcome to l
inguistics!
Finding out how languages work
Look at the data!Looking for patterns and systemsNot just random factsGeneral categories applying to all languages
E.g. voicing (voiced/voiceless)But every language is organised differentlyE.g. UlwaSlide7
Ulwa
(Nicaragua)
UK Linguistics Olympiad
From English
Inclusive = including youSlide8
Zooming in on
Ulwa
-ni = "our (inc)"
-ma = "your (sing)"
-kana = "their"
-mana = "your (plur)"
'infix'
suffix
Suffix or infix?
Infix after an initial long syllable (CVV or CVC).
Otherwise suffix.Slide9
Languages organise the world
Grammar forces us to make decisions when talking.
Present or past? (forces/forced)
Singular or plural? (decision/decisions)Human or non-human? (who/what)
But grammar changesE.g. Modern English doesn’t make a distinction that Old English did make.Slide10
What have we lost since Old English?
10
Singular –
dual
– plural
But we still have duals …Slide11
Manam
Island, Papua New Guinea
The sentences below tell us where Onkau, Kulu, Mombwa, Tola, Sulung, Sala, Pita and Butokang live. Can you work out who lives where?
uklo.org
auta = North ilau = South
ata = West awa = East
5.
3.
4.
DEAD END!
THINK AGAIN!
Sala
Tola
1.
2.
SulungSlide12
What's up in Manam?Slide13
Where's North in Manam?
Is the sun always in the North?
Until recently, there were
no maps
no compasses
Where’s North in Dulwich?
EquatorSlide14
What are they like in Manam?
They're like us.
They enjoy a day at the seaside.
And they don't know where North is.Slide15
What's where in Manam Island?
The sentences below tell us where Onkau, Kulu, Mombwa, Tola, Sulung, Sala, Pita and Butokang live. Can you work out who lives where?
uklo.org
auta = up ilau = down
5.
3.
Sala
Tola
New idea: When relating two places, imagine standing between them facing uphill!
4.
6.
Sulung
Pita
8.
Butokang
7.
1.
ata = left awa = right
2.
Sulung
4.
Success!!Slide16
So what?
Languages are structured
Not just a random collection of bits.
Linguistics investigates this structureIt’s a science, with methods and theories.The structure is really interesting because
it varies enormously between languagesit can changeit’s very complexit affects how we view the world
it’s part of our minds.Slide17
Thank you.
This show is downloadable:
dickhudson.com/talks
For more information about UKLO (the Linguistics Olympiad):www.uklo.org