Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2007 July 15

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July 15

Mathemiticians names in IPA

I've begun putting together a "Mathematician pronunciation guide" for myself at User:Foxjwill/Mathematician pronunciation guide, and because I'm interested in IPA, I thought it would be fun to try and put the pronunciation in IPA. But since I'm what would be called an "amateur," I'd really like it if someone (or -ones) could check the pronunciations for me, and explain why my mistakes were mistakes. Foxjwill 05:10, 15 July 2007 (UTC)

Are these supposed to be as the mathematician would have pronounced their own name, or as it's pronounced in English today? Tesseran 05:39, 15 July 2007 (UTC)

In the first case, what a challenge! I am not sure that Descartes would pronounce its name today in the same way as he used to do it in 1610: French pronounciation has evolved. --AldoSyrt 13:03, 15 July 2007 (UTC)

It would actually be very interesting to try for both! Foxjwill

For Mandelbrot and Peano (in current French and Italian pronunciations) see Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2007 April 12#Names.  --Lambiam 14:20, 15 July 2007 (UTC)

I think /nˈj/ in Agnesi should be /ˈɲɲ/.  --Lambiam 14:30, 15 July 2007 (UTC)

Why /ˈɲɲ/ apposed to /ˈɲ/? Foxjwill 02:19, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

In d'Alembert /əm/ should be /ɑ̃/ (I think). Also note that French has no word stress, but only phrasal intonation.  --Lambiam 14:45, 15 July 2007 (UTC)

What do you mean by French not having word stress? Foxjwill 02:19, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

There's some information under Stress (linguistics)#Timing and placement and Prosody (linguistics). ---Sluzzelin talk 13:02, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

I do not feel confortable with IPA, thus FWIW (Today standard French from Île-de-France):

Alexis Claude Clairaut - /klɛʁo/

Jean le Rond d'Alembert - /dalɑ̃beʁ/

Gérard Desargues - /dezaʁg/? /dɛzaʁg/? /dəsaʁg/?

Pierre de Fermat - /fɛʁma/

Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier - /fuʁje/

Camille Jordan - /ʒɔʁdɑ̃/

AldoSyrt 19:49, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Latina derriere

A girl who wants to be a ballet danser describes herself as having a "curvaceous Latina derriere". Am I right if it is a fat bottom? But why Latina?

She's referring to the popular stereotype of Hispanic women as gluteally gifted. Bhumiya (said/done) 10:04, 15 July 2007 (UTC)

She is Latina, perhaps? — gogobera (talk) 04:33, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

See also Vida Guerra. Ballet is (in)famous for imposing very strict, very lean body standards on its dancers. --TotoBaggins 17:22, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

A useful word here is steatopygous Adambrowne666 21:03, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Indeed, stereotypes like steatopygia have captivated white male minds for a long time, see also Saartjie Baartman. ---Sluzzelin talk 22:43, 16 July 2007 (UTC)