/r/linguisticshumor

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Linguistics Humor: a sub for humor relating to linguistics


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Welcome to /r/linguisticshumor! This is the home for jokes about linguistics, i.e., the study of human language.

Linguistics memes, funny textbook illustrations, crackpot theories, rude drawings made up of IPA symbols, and other linguological ludicrousness goes here. If you've got something that you'd like to share with the class that isn't scientifically rigorous enough for /r/linguistics, post it in this sub.

For more serious linguistics, check out /r/linguistics and /r/asklinguistics.

For humor and discussion about modern foreign languages, check out /r/languagelearning.

For examples of bad linguistics, check out /r/badlinguistics.

For linguistics shit-posting, check out /r/shittylinguistics.

For goofy linguistics thoughts, check out /r/showerlinguistics.

/r/linguisticshumor

116,033 Subscribers

159

The biggest semantic misunderstanding

5 Comments
2024/12/01
00:35 UTC

6

My super serious English Spelling Reform

This writes most distinctions made in different English dialects. It only takes into account the 24 standard lexical sets, but I've added suggested local spelling in parentheses. It uses no diacritics or new letters. It merges LOT/CLOTH and BATH/TRAP as they are usually (not always) predictable based on following consonants. If there are within-set contrasts I'm not aware of, please let me know.

I plan on calling Mrs Starmer, Trump, and Albanese tomorrow and getting this enforced by the New Year. I see no issues with my plan

Vowels: Short lax monophthongs: i KIT,

e DRESS,

a TRAP/BATH,

o LOT/CLOTH,

u FOOT,

q STRUT,

x COMMA,

(for bad-lad split, write bad <ah>, lad <a>)

Long Monophthongs:

aa - PALM

oo - THOUGHT

rr - NURSE

(for dialects without vein-vane merger, write /e:/ as <ee>)

(for dialects without toe-tow merger, write /o:/ as <ou>)

(for dialects with fir-fur-fern merger, write them as <iir, qrr, eer>

j and w-linking diphthongs:

iy - FLEECE

ey - FACE

ay - PRICE

oy - CHOICE

uw - GOOSE without /j/

yuw - GOOSE with /j/

(iw - GOOSE from EME /ɪw/)

ow - GOAT

aw - MOUTH

/Vr/ sequences before intervocalic /r/, write the vowel as usual. Use doubled <rr> for when one of the following precedes another vowel (so nirrxr for <nearer>, mirxr for <mirror>)

ir - NEAR

er - SQUARE

ar - START

or - NORTH (owr - FORCE)

ur - CURE without /j/

yur - CURE with /j/

xr - LETTER

Consonants: <b p m f v w> for /b p m f v w/,

<th dh> for /θ ð/,

<t d n s z l> for /t d n s z l/,

<sh zh c j r> for /ʃ ʒ tʃ dʒ r/,

<k g nh y h> for /k g ŋ j h/

Sample text:

Al hyuwmxn biyinhz ar born friy and iykwxl in dignitiy and raits. They ar endawd with riysxn and konshins and shud akt txwordz wqn qdhxr in x spirit qv brqdhxrhud

Awxr faadhxr hwuw art in hevin, blesid biy dhai neym. Dhai kinhdxm kqm. Dhai wil biy dqn on rrth as it iz in hevin. Giv qs dhis dey awxr deyliy bred, and frrgiv qs awxr trespasiz, as wiy frrgiv dhowz hwuw trespas xgenst qs, and liyd qs not intuw tempteyshxn, bqt delivxr qs frqm iyvil. For dhain iz dhx kinhdxm and thx pawxr, and the gloriy, frrevxr and evxr.

Biggest downside is that now in Scrabble, <X Q Z> go down from being worth 10 points to being worth 1 each

6 Comments
2024/11/30
23:22 UTC

4

Which one is kouka and which one is bibi

"Bouba" is the circular figure, "Kiki" is the pointy figure

View Poll

2 Comments
2024/11/30
22:44 UTC

157

KAUKA?

10 Comments
2024/11/30
22:30 UTC

163

The syntax bros

4 Comments
2024/11/30
22:18 UTC

8

LittleDhole's Egyptological pronunciation (a proposal)

As we know, the standard Egyptological pronunciation is rather arbitrary, treating the signs for the glottal stop and voiced pharyngeal fricative as /a/, and the signs for /j/ and /w/ as /i/ and /u/ respectively, with an /ɛ/ inserted between consonants pretty much whenever one feels like it. The choice of /ɛ/ was arbitrary.

I propose this alternative: alternate between the vowels /a/, /i/ and /u/ between all the signs, treating every sign as a consonant, until you reach the last consonant, and start over when you get to the next word in a compound word/phrase. (Pronounce the pharyngeal fricative as a glottal stop.)

(Of course, since Egyptian used and w as matres lectionis, this might lead to some absurdly long/silly-sounding pronunciations, but at least it's less silly than inserting /ɛ/ between every consonant.)

3 Comments
2024/11/30
22:00 UTC

4

Inspired by the recent meme about Arapaho

This one

Let's compile a list of spoken languages which lack phonemes/phonotactics found in their English names, in native vocabulary (or in "naturalised" loanwords).

I'll start: Vietnamese has no syllable-final /s/ or /z/, and no lexical stress.

EDIT: IDK why the text below the link got deleted when I first posted this.

5 Comments
2024/11/30
21:47 UTC

0

You wouldn’t understand though -I literally copied it all from three different books 🤫-

1 Comment
2024/11/30
18:26 UTC

60

Eskimo-Uralic my beloved

18 Comments
2024/11/30
18:04 UTC

143

For unto us a child is þorn

7 Comments
2024/11/30
17:26 UTC

471

How did Latin remain so complex for so long?

50 Comments
2024/11/30
17:10 UTC

33

I wanted to ask this in the r/linguistics subreddit, but I figured that it would break the rules.

What if humans, assuming that they still communicated with sound, had really no limit to the sounds they produce and their hearing?

Hear me out bro. I am a music theorist and this is very interesting to me.

What if humans were capable to produce singular and multiple sine waves with frequencies from 0 to infinity (negative infinity to infinity, depending on your definition of frequency), amplitudes from 0 to infinity, and were able to hear them all, and immediately recognize every single frequency and its amplitude within a fraction of a second, sort of like a super, SUPER perfect pitch?

What if humans were also able to control sound's location in space, and had MASTERED sound localisation?

Obviously, I'm not asking what would happen to the society, the environment or whatever. I'm asking only linguistically and musically.

What would happen to human language, if they could control the sound to its fullest potential and had no pre-existing ideas of a language? How would language evolve in this case?

16 Comments
2024/11/30
15:28 UTC

402

someone in my city really loves diacritics

48 Comments
2024/11/30
10:02 UTC

304

Thai language: Not your Asian languages™

54 Comments
2024/11/30
07:06 UTC

27

Yoo can anyone recognize the language in this vid? Made a bet with a friend 😎🙏

18 Comments
2024/11/30
06:50 UTC

104

When they tell you to learn French, but you're a chill guy so you learn maya

7 Comments
2024/11/29
22:36 UTC

790

Tragedeighs be like

53 Comments
2024/11/29
17:35 UTC

110

Guys, how do y'all pronounce this?

33 Comments
2024/11/29
16:48 UTC

84

Shoutout to the Yi Syllabary

20 Comments
2024/11/29
13:47 UTC

588

Swedish having the most useful words

43 Comments
2024/11/29
12:25 UTC

183

Very imilar graphs, but different sounds and meanings

85 Comments
2024/11/29
08:11 UTC

121

guttural R 'haters' be like (same goes for the fricative really)

21 Comments
2024/11/29
05:05 UTC

86

best cajun french word😂😂

forget the shirt, let’s take a moment to appreciate this classic cajun insult 😂😂

31 Comments
2024/11/29
03:44 UTC

218

Uh oh

35 Comments
2024/11/29
01:10 UTC

338

Gotta love the Dutch language 🇳🇱

In Dutch fork=vork, forklift=vorkheftruck, but the forks on a forklift are called lepels (spoons).

9 Comments
2024/11/28
23:42 UTC

72

Found this on Wolof cardinal numbers on Wikipedia:

12 Comments
2024/11/28
21:56 UTC

72

What the heck is a bilabial alveolar stop?

12 Comments
2024/11/28
21:48 UTC

136

is this proper IPA

29 Comments
2024/11/28
21:24 UTC

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