linguosaurus
@linguosaurus.bsky.social
Thoughts on language.
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n+3: Found more details!
Only vowels that can occur in open syllables (ie without codas) and voiceless consonants following these vowels can be lengthened. For me these vowels are [i, ɑ, ʉ].
keeper [ˈkʰipʰːɹ̩]
copper [ˈkʰɑpʰːɹ̩]
cooper [ˈkʰʉpʰːɹ̩]
mover [ˈmʉːvɹ̩]
but
kipper [ˈkʰɪpʰɹ̩]
cushion [ˈkʰʊʃn̩]
Only vowels that can occur in open syllables (ie without codas) and voiceless consonants following these vowels can be lengthened. For me these vowels are [i, ɑ, ʉ].
keeper [ˈkʰipʰːɹ̩]
copper [ˈkʰɑpʰːɹ̩]
cooper [ˈkʰʉpʰːɹ̩]
mover [ˈmʉːvɹ̩]
but
kipper [ˈkʰɪpʰɹ̩]
cushion [ˈkʰʊʃn̩]
July 16, 2025 at 9:59 PM
n+3: Found more details!
Only vowels that can occur in open syllables (ie without codas) and voiceless consonants following these vowels can be lengthened. For me these vowels are [i, ɑ, ʉ].
keeper [ˈkʰipʰːɹ̩]
copper [ˈkʰɑpʰːɹ̩]
cooper [ˈkʰʉpʰːɹ̩]
mover [ˈmʉːvɹ̩]
but
kipper [ˈkʰɪpʰɹ̩]
cushion [ˈkʰʊʃn̩]
Only vowels that can occur in open syllables (ie without codas) and voiceless consonants following these vowels can be lengthened. For me these vowels are [i, ɑ, ʉ].
keeper [ˈkʰipʰːɹ̩]
copper [ˈkʰɑpʰːɹ̩]
cooper [ˈkʰʉpʰːɹ̩]
mover [ˈmʉːvɹ̩]
but
kipper [ˈkʰɪpʰɹ̩]
cushion [ˈkʰʊʃn̩]
n+2: The longer vowel preceding voiced codas in stressed syllables is also the reason for Canadian Raising:
knife [ˈnʌɪf]
knives [ˈnaɪvz]
(Length of [f] is neutralized if not followed by anything.)
Instead of a longer vowel, the diphthong in “knives” gets a longer vowel transition than in “knife.”
knife [ˈnʌɪf]
knives [ˈnaɪvz]
(Length of [f] is neutralized if not followed by anything.)
Instead of a longer vowel, the diphthong in “knives” gets a longer vowel transition than in “knife.”
July 16, 2025 at 9:17 PM
n+2: The longer vowel preceding voiced codas in stressed syllables is also the reason for Canadian Raising:
knife [ˈnʌɪf]
knives [ˈnaɪvz]
(Length of [f] is neutralized if not followed by anything.)
Instead of a longer vowel, the diphthong in “knives” gets a longer vowel transition than in “knife.”
knife [ˈnʌɪf]
knives [ˈnaɪvz]
(Length of [f] is neutralized if not followed by anything.)
Instead of a longer vowel, the diphthong in “knives” gets a longer vowel transition than in “knife.”
n+1: I missed a few details:
Only *voiceless* codas in *stressed* syllables get lengthened. In stressed syllables with voiced codas, it’s the vowel that gets lengthened, just like in stressed open syllables:
leafing [ˈlifːɪŋ]
leaving [ˈliːvɪŋ]
Only *voiceless* codas in *stressed* syllables get lengthened. In stressed syllables with voiced codas, it’s the vowel that gets lengthened, just like in stressed open syllables:
leafing [ˈlifːɪŋ]
leaving [ˈliːvɪŋ]
July 16, 2025 at 9:05 PM
n+1: I missed a few details:
Only *voiceless* codas in *stressed* syllables get lengthened. In stressed syllables with voiced codas, it’s the vowel that gets lengthened, just like in stressed open syllables:
leafing [ˈlifːɪŋ]
leaving [ˈliːvɪŋ]
Only *voiceless* codas in *stressed* syllables get lengthened. In stressed syllables with voiced codas, it’s the vowel that gets lengthened, just like in stressed open syllables:
leafing [ˈlifːɪŋ]
leaving [ˈliːvɪŋ]
Length distinctions no longer play a phonemic role in North American English (at least as far as I know), meaning they’re no longer used to differentiate words. But they still occur in predictable, non-phonemic ways, like to help mark stress, or to differentiate syllabic codas from onsets.
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July 16, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Length distinctions no longer play a phonemic role in North American English (at least as far as I know), meaning they’re no longer used to differentiate words. But they still occur in predictable, non-phonemic ways, like to help mark stress, or to differentiate syllabic codas from onsets.
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Meanwhile, codas (consonants at the ends of syllables) like the [pʰː] in “weep-ing” and the [kʰː] in “weak-ling” are lengthened, compared to when they serve as onsets (consonants at the beginnings of syllables) like the [pʰ] in “ping” and the [kʰ] in “cling.”
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July 16, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Meanwhile, codas (consonants at the ends of syllables) like the [pʰː] in “weep-ing” and the [kʰː] in “weak-ling” are lengthened, compared to when they serve as onsets (consonants at the beginnings of syllables) like the [pʰ] in “ping” and the [kʰ] in “cling.”
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Vowels in closed syllables (eg “weep,” “weak”) are short, while vowels in stressed open syllables (eg “*we*”) are long.
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July 16, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Vowels in closed syllables (eg “weep,” “weak”) are short, while vowels in stressed open syllables (eg “*we*”) are long.
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Another example:
weakling
[ˈwikʰːlɪŋ]
We cling.
[wi ˈkʰlɪŋ]
*We* cling.
[ˈwiː kʰlɪŋ]
2/
weakling
[ˈwikʰːlɪŋ]
We cling.
[wi ˈkʰlɪŋ]
*We* cling.
[ˈwiː kʰlɪŋ]
2/
July 16, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Another example:
weakling
[ˈwikʰːlɪŋ]
We cling.
[wi ˈkʰlɪŋ]
*We* cling.
[ˈwiː kʰlɪŋ]
2/
weakling
[ˈwikʰːlɪŋ]
We cling.
[wi ˈkʰlɪŋ]
*We* cling.
[ˈwiː kʰlɪŋ]
2/
Try looking at the complexity of a language you know. Does it seem high in information density compared to other languages? What grammatical strategies does it use? How does it exaggerate signal differences?
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July 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Try looking at the complexity of a language you know. Does it seem high in information density compared to other languages? What grammatical strategies does it use? How does it exaggerate signal differences?
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Signal differentiation also happens frequently in syntax. For example, in the phrase “these days,” “these” does not need to be pluralized when “days” already is; “this days” would be enough to convey the meaning. Pluralizing “this” exaggerates the effect of the plural in “days.”
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July 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Signal differentiation also happens frequently in syntax. For example, in the phrase “these days,” “these” does not need to be pluralized when “days” already is; “this days” would be enough to convey the meaning. Pluralizing “this” exaggerates the effect of the plural in “days.”
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For example, the plural -s is
[z] after vowels and non-sibilant voiced consonants (eg “spas,” “dogs”),
[s] after non-sibilant voiceless consonants (eg “cats”), and
[əz] after sibilants (eg “beaches”).
Mapping more forms to the same meaning is signal differentiation and adds complexity.
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[z] after vowels and non-sibilant voiced consonants (eg “spas,” “dogs”),
[s] after non-sibilant voiceless consonants (eg “cats”), and
[əz] after sibilants (eg “beaches”).
Mapping more forms to the same meaning is signal differentiation and adds complexity.
17/
July 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
For example, the plural -s is
[z] after vowels and non-sibilant voiced consonants (eg “spas,” “dogs”),
[s] after non-sibilant voiceless consonants (eg “cats”), and
[əz] after sibilants (eg “beaches”).
Mapping more forms to the same meaning is signal differentiation and adds complexity.
17/
[z] after vowels and non-sibilant voiced consonants (eg “spas,” “dogs”),
[s] after non-sibilant voiceless consonants (eg “cats”), and
[əz] after sibilants (eg “beaches”).
Mapping more forms to the same meaning is signal differentiation and adds complexity.
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Finally, languages can also vary in complexity by doing different amounts of what I call “signal differentiation,” the addition of redundancies to exaggerate the difference between two forms to make them easier for listeners to distinguish, even if the speech signal is degraded.
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July 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Finally, languages can also vary in complexity by doing different amounts of what I call “signal differentiation,” the addition of redundancies to exaggerate the difference between two forms to make them easier for listeners to distinguish, even if the speech signal is degraded.
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The -s in “apples,” for example, indicates that the noun refers to more than one apple. Auxiliary-subject inversion in yes-no questions (eg “do you paint?”) is also a grammatical strategy, even though it doesn’t use sounds.
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July 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
The -s in “apples,” for example, indicates that the noun refers to more than one apple. Auxiliary-subject inversion in yes-no questions (eg “do you paint?”) is also a grammatical strategy, even though it doesn’t use sounds.
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Here I’m using “grammatical vocabulary” loosely to refer to all strategies that provide extra information about a message’s content to helps listeners understand messages.
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July 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Here I’m using “grammatical vocabulary” loosely to refer to all strategies that provide extra information about a message’s content to helps listeners understand messages.
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It’s more meaningful to compare the size of the grammatical vocabulary, which tends to be much more stable, and which can vary quite a lot in size between languages.
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July 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
It’s more meaningful to compare the size of the grammatical vocabulary, which tends to be much more stable, and which can vary quite a lot in size between languages.
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In practice, since languages coin new words pretty frequently, comparing languages by the size of their entire vocabulary doesn’t tell us much.
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July 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
In practice, since languages coin new words pretty frequently, comparing languages by the size of their entire vocabulary doesn’t tell us much.
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This efficiency, however, comes at the cost of more time and effort spent learning a larger vocabulary.
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July 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
This efficiency, however, comes at the cost of more time and effort spent learning a larger vocabulary.
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Another way languages can vary in complexity is by vocabulary size. A language’s vocabulary functions like a cache for longer sequences. Having a larger cache makes speaking and listening easier, since more sequences are already prefabricated.
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July 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Another way languages can vary in complexity is by vocabulary size. A language’s vocabulary functions like a cache for longer sequences. Having a larger cache makes speaking and listening easier, since more sequences are already prefabricated.
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Languages with higher information densities are on average spoken more slowly than those with lower information densities.
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July 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Languages with higher information densities are on average spoken more slowly than those with lower information densities.
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An interesting study from 2019 found, however, that despite differences between languages in information density, speakers tend to deliver information at roughly the same rate, at an average of 39.15 bits per second.
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www.science.org/content/arti...
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www.science.org/content/arti...
Human speech may have a universal transmission rate: 39 bits per second
No matter how quickly you speak, you still share the same amount of information
www.science.org
July 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
An interesting study from 2019 found, however, that despite differences between languages in information density, speakers tend to deliver information at roughly the same rate, at an average of 39.15 bits per second.
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www.science.org/content/arti...
8/
www.science.org/content/arti...
Languages with more sounds and/or more flexible phonotactics have higher information density.
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July 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Languages with more sounds and/or more flexible phonotactics have higher information density.
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Sounds in some languages have relatively low information density, because there are relatively few of them, and they are more restricted in their orderings or “phonotactics” (eg no consecutive consonants, no word-final consonants).
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July 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Sounds in some languages have relatively low information density, because there are relatively few of them, and they are more restricted in their orderings or “phonotactics” (eg no consecutive consonants, no word-final consonants).
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The lower your score, the higher the uncertainty or information entropy of each sound (or “segment”) in the language, and the higher its phonological complexity and information density.
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July 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
The lower your score, the higher the uncertainty or information entropy of each sound (or “segment”) in the language, and the higher its phonological complexity and information density.
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Suppose I read you a passage, stop at some random point (could be in the middle of a word), then ask you to guess what the next sound is (could be any consonant or vowel). Then repeat. How often would you get it right?
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July 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Suppose I read you a passage, stop at some random point (could be in the middle of a word), then ask you to guess what the next sound is (could be any consonant or vowel). Then repeat. How often would you get it right?
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Information density mostly reflects phonological complexity, and is actually measurable with a concept known as information entropy, a measure of uncertainty.
Let’s look at it through a thought experiment.
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Let’s look at it through a thought experiment.
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July 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Information density mostly reflects phonological complexity, and is actually measurable with a concept known as information entropy, a measure of uncertainty.
Let’s look at it through a thought experiment.
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Let’s look at it through a thought experiment.
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