Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2007 September 12

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September 12

Middle Chinese

I've read that middle Chinese had initial compound clusters with an "r", like "tr," "dr"...what is the value of "r"? Is it a liquid, trill, retroflex....judging by the sound change, it should be evident, but I can't find a phonetic value. Can someone get me a phonetic value for the middle chinese "r"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.126.67.144 (talk) 01:31, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Suffice it to say that the presence of the liquid "-r-" or "-l-" (as a medial) in Old Chinese (not Middle Chinese) has been suggested to explain a number of puzzling phenomena in Chinese linguistics. Cheers.--K.C. Tang 01:55, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

There was a paper I read awhile back that argued they were in Middle Chinese, and compounds like /tr/ and /dr/ were responsible for the retroflex sounds in Mandarin. Do you think they were [r], [ʁ], or [ɹ]? Is there any other language which has had a sound change like this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.126.67.144 (talk) 03:08, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

The common (?!) agreement among the Chinese linguists is that the retroflexes in Mandarin partly come from those in Middle Chinese. The retroflexes in Middle Chinese are reconstructed to be ʈ, ʈʰ, ɖ, and ɳ, which may come from the consonant clusters tr/t^hr/dr/nr in Old Chinese. The "r" is supposed to be liquid, not flap or trill, if I'm not mistaken. Of course the term "Middle Chinese" is a bit vague. The sinologist Edwin George Pulleyblank actually divided it into "early Middle Chinese" and "late Middle Chinese". You may take a look at Jerry Norman's Chinese for a quick reference if you're interested in historical Chinese phonology.--K.C. Tang 04:24, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Tibetan spelling of "karma"

i'm looking for the spelling of karma in tiebetan.

thanks, —Preceding unsigned comment added by Juniorpeaches (talk • contribs) 06:17, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

You can go to Karma Kagyu. Make sure you have the Tibetan font, otherwise the letter-combination can't be shown appropriately. The first two "blocks" of letter is what you want. (One block is separated from another with a little dot, if you look carefully.)--K.C. Tang 07:44, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

english language

what are the importance of prepering lesson plan before intering the class —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.199.178.82 (talk) 18:25, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

In any formal teaching situation it is helpful to have an idea of what you are hoping that the students will learn. You generally have an overall aim for the course, and you plan to accomplish that aim by breaking it down into smaller objectives. Then you work out how you are going to achieve those objectives, and in what order the material has to be presented. That gives you an overall plan for the course. Now comes the business of preparing a lesson plan. What do you want the students to learn in that lesson? How will you go about helping them to learn it? What exercises will you give them to practice their skills on? Do they need to do some reading? What is a suitable piece to read at their level of understanding? It's a good idea to have thought about all these things before you enter the classroom! At least it gives the students the idea you know what you are doing. SaundersW 18:49, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

You can also pick up a suitable course book as a guideline. Such a book will already have its objectives and schedules for individual lessons. Many course books are accompanied by teacher's books that give further advice about the whole procedure. You only have to be able to choose the good course book and to be able to use it to the students' advantage. You should know what the students wish to learn (i.e., why they want to know the language) and you should also be aware of different course books on the market. As I said, the book should be a guideline; it shouldn't exclude additional learning materials and methods. —Daniel Šebesta {chat | contribs} 21:17, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

How to pronounce (for use in spoken wiki project) death cap mushroom article

Amanita phalloides

basidiomycete

α-amanitin SpeakThings:Mellerbeck 23:21, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I'll try my hand at IPA for these:

1. Amanita phalloides: "a-ma-NEE-ta fuh-LOY-deez" IPA: [æ mæ 'ni tə fə 'lɔi dɪz]
2. basidiomycete: I think it's "ba-SI-dee-o-MY-seet" IPA: [bæ 'sɪ di o 'maɪ sit] - but I'm not fully sure.
3. α-amanitin: "AL-fa a-ma-NEYE-tin" (alternately "a-ma-NEE-tin)" IPA: ['æl fəæ mæ 'naɪ tɪn] (æ mæ 'ni tɪn)

Hope that helps. -- Flyguy649 ^talk _contribs 02:34, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

• I'd say Fah-Loy-Deez for that first one. I don't see where an uh sound would come in. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:38, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

I meant the unstressed schwa sound as in "the", but the sounds are similar with my Canadian accent. -- Flyguy649 ^talk _contribs 13:52, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

For the first, I would say "a-mə-NYE-tə fa-loe-id-eez" DuncanHill 11:50, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

I'd go with Flyguy's first suggestions for #2 and #3, and with DuncanHill's version for #1. Wareh 13:15, 13 September 2007 (UTC)