Difference between revisions of "2657: Complex Vowels"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Jump to: navigation, search
(Explanation: Added chart)
(Transcript: made a transcript)
Line 22: Line 22:
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
 
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
 
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
 +
 +
The comic shows the creation of a cursed vowel by adding 1/2 i to the normal vowel a, thus creating a very odd looking symbol.
 +
 +
A linguist appears to be saying said cursed vowel, causing two people nearby to put their hands to their heads
  
 
==Comic Discussion==
 
==Comic Discussion==
 
Because vowelspace is often represented in books, on screens, etc., it '''is''' often represented as two-dimensional, but this is actually insufficient. Vowels can also be rounded (i.e. the lips are round to pronounce them), although in English and other languages, roundedness correlates mostly (but not fully) with backness. (This means the back vowels [u, o] are also the round ones, but [a], as in "Say 'ah'," is back but unrounded.) French and German, though, have front and back round vowels (as well as unrounded front ones) and languages like Turkish have the full paradigm: eight vowels—one for each combination of high/low, back/front, round/unrounded—that can easily be represented on the vertices of a cube. Some vowel harmony processes in Turkic languages even only operate along one dimension. Roundedness will thus spread from one vowel to another, so the existence of a front round high vowel will trigger the round version of another nearby vowel.
 
Because vowelspace is often represented in books, on screens, etc., it '''is''' often represented as two-dimensional, but this is actually insufficient. Vowels can also be rounded (i.e. the lips are round to pronounce them), although in English and other languages, roundedness correlates mostly (but not fully) with backness. (This means the back vowels [u, o] are also the round ones, but [a], as in "Say 'ah'," is back but unrounded.) French and German, though, have front and back round vowels (as well as unrounded front ones) and languages like Turkish have the full paradigm: eight vowels—one for each combination of high/low, back/front, round/unrounded—that can easily be represented on the vertices of a cube. Some vowel harmony processes in Turkic languages even only operate along one dimension. Roundedness will thus spread from one vowel to another, so the existence of a front round high vowel will trigger the round version of another nearby vowel.

Revision as of 22:16, 10 August 2022

Complex Vowels
Pronouncing [ṡṡċċḣḣẇẇȧȧ] is easy; you just say it like the 'x' in 'fire'.
Title text: Pronouncing [ṡṡċċḣḣẇẇȧȧ] is easy; you just say it like the 'x' in 'fire'.

Explanation

Ambox notice.png This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by a ṡṡċċḣḣẇẇȧȧ - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.
If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

In mathematics, complex numbers are numbers including both real numbers and imaginary numbers. A complex number can be expressed as "a + bi" where a is a real number and i, the imaginary part, is the square root of negative one. When expanding the one-dimensional number line with an imaginary axis, it becomes two-dimensional.

The IPA vowel chart

In phonetics, the vowelspace is represented as two-dimensional. This is non-abstract: the y axis represents vowel height (i.e. how close or far the tongue is from the top of the mouth) and the x axis represents frontness/backness (i.e. how close or far the tongue is from the teeth). In an analogy to the addition of a new dimension in mathematics, two-dimensional vowelspace becomes three-dimensional with a new axis.

In linguistics ə is the schwa symbol, the most common vowel sound in English polysyllabic words (the a in comma or the e in letter). The schwa symbol looks like a reversed e symbol (the base of natural logarithms).

This comic conflates complex numbers in mathematics with "complex vowels" in linguistics. This creates a series of sounds which cannot be properly processed by the human brain. This is similar to the cliche of "black speech" in Lovecraftian horror, a language created by alien beings with different vocal patterns than humans.

The linguist in the comic appears to be Gretchen McCulloch, as previously depicted in 2421: Tower of Babel and 2381: The True Name of the Bear.

Transcript

Ambox notice.png This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks.

The comic shows the creation of a cursed vowel by adding 1/2 i to the normal vowel a, thus creating a very odd looking symbol.

A linguist appears to be saying said cursed vowel, causing two people nearby to put their hands to their heads

Comic Discussion

Because vowelspace is often represented in books, on screens, etc., it is often represented as two-dimensional, but this is actually insufficient. Vowels can also be rounded (i.e. the lips are round to pronounce them), although in English and other languages, roundedness correlates mostly (but not fully) with backness. (This means the back vowels [u, o] are also the round ones, but [a], as in "Say 'ah'," is back but unrounded.) French and German, though, have front and back round vowels (as well as unrounded front ones) and languages like Turkish have the full paradigm: eight vowels—one for each combination of high/low, back/front, round/unrounded—that can easily be represented on the vertices of a cube. Some vowel harmony processes in Turkic languages even only operate along one dimension. Roundedness will thus spread from one vowel to another, so the existence of a front round high vowel will trigger the round version of another nearby vowel.