Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2010 May 2

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May 2

Telephone (song) video

In the video for Telephone (song), in the scene in the diner, Tyrese Gibson gets up and slaps a woman on the butt. Her reaction is presented in Japanese script subtitles. Can somebody tell me what the subtitle says? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.93.215.71 (talk) 03:39, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

It appears to be "One Piece! ( ワンピース! )" I don't know what it means in this context.--Cam (talk) 15:30, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

I can verify that's what it says, however as to what it's supposed to mean here, I have no idea. The word in Japanese can either mean 'dress' (garment) or it can be the title of a Japanese manga/anime. This is all I can think of off the top of my head. --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 23:44, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Difference between Classical Arabic and Egyptian Arabic

What is the difference between them and show me examples. Goat999 (talk) 12:15, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

The Egyptian Arabic article you linked to has a lot detail about that. What else would you like to know? Adam Bishop (talk) 12:26, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Junk food

Are Americans as conscious or as alert to the idea of phrase "junk food", and their unhealthyness, as much as people are in the UK for example? I have to admit that even in the UK, a lot of people scoff down junk food without any qualms. Thanks 89.242.97.110 (talk) 12:51, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

I think they are aware, it's just that some don't care, many of them similarly smoke despite knowing it's risks. Also, a lot of those who play the lottery seem to fall into the same group, who either don't believe in statistics or think that those probabilities don't apply to them. StuRat (talk) 12:59, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Then there's "stealth" junk food, which is disguised as something healthy, like granola bars with extreme amounts of sugar, and, my favorite scam, "vitamin water". StuRat (talk) 13:01, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

I'm not sure this is the right Reference Desk for this kind of question. Your question specifically asks about the "idea" of junk food rather than terminology. -- the Great Gavini 19:13, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

It is about how much the phrase "junk food" is used, and the meaning and affect it connotes, so I'd call it Language. 92.28.253.63 (talk) 10:50, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Yes, in America "junk food" is a commonly used and understood phrase. Rckrone (talk) 05:53, 5 May 2010 (UTC)

Minimum Sound Range for Human Language

Is there a minimum sound range for human language? By which I mean, certainly it's possible to construct a language without, say, using a "th" sound, or the vowel sound from "boot". But is there a point at which a language simply lacks enough phonemes to be intelligible? I can imagine a hypothetical language with just one sound that uses rhythm to communicate (like Morse Code) -- but would humans be able to use that as a replacement for daily language? I know this is kind of a weird question, but I'd appreciate any insights. 69.120.0.81 (talk) 16:59, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Bonus sub-question: Is there a human language that uses an especially small amount of phonemes? 69.120.0.81 (talk) 17:02, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Some notable examples of languages with small amounts of phonemes are Hawai'ian and Rotokas. Note, however, that there's quite a bit of allophony for these languages' phonemes. It may be the case that a language with less phonemes is possible but, by the accident of history, doesn't exist. There may be something standing in the way of a two-phoneme language developing naturally so the only way I can think of to test if it's usable is to develop it as an artificial language and then teach it to children in isolation to the exclusion of other languages. Good luck getting a grant for that! — Ƶ§œš¹ _{[aɪm ˈfɹ̠ˤʷɛ̃ɾ̃ˡi]} 17:25, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

This source says Rotokas is the language with the fewest phonemes, 11. However, the Rotokas language article says Pirahã has been claimed to have even fewer sounds. According to Pirahã language#Phonology, Pirahã can be understood to have as few as 10 phonemes, or as many as 13, depending on how one counts them. --Магьосник (talk) 20:24, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Solresol words are made up of only seven different syllables. In some sense, they (the syllables) might be considered to be phonemes.

In the usual sense, the phonemes are five consonant sounds and four vowel sounds. -- Wavelength (talk) 23:23, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

[I am inserting a parenthetical clarification. -- Wavelength (talk) 00:03, 3 May 2010 (UTC)]

The main disadvantage of a low number of phonemes will be that words and sentences must then be longer, to convey the same amount of info. I can picture that, during a war with a people who use a more advanced language, this inability to communicate quickly on the battlefield could lead to defeat, and thus the adaptation of the more sophisticated language of the conquerers. StuRat (talk) 14:50, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

You'd be surprised at how little you need language to organize groups of people for tasks. — Ƶ§œš¹ _{[aɪm ˈfɹ̠ˤʷɛ̃ɾ̃ˡi]} 21:30, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Bring the tanks over here. Yes, the ones with the postmodern daisies painted in an off-yellow. Bus stop (talk) 21:39, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

translation

en 1663, il épouse Thamar, sœur de Titia, autre fille de Constantin Ier de Moukhran, qu'il enlève à Léon III de Mingrélie (Lévant III Dadiani) et dont il doit divorcer en 1678, pour la rendre à son mari, dont : en 1679, il épouse à nouveau Thamar. Une fois veuve, Thamar se remarie dès 1683 avec Georges III Gouriéli, qui divorce de Daredjan, fille de Bagrat V. Thamar meurt en couche la même année. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Queen Elizabeth II's Little Spy (talk • contribs) 19:56, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Into English? If nobody more linguistically gifted does so in the next half hour, I'll do it with my school-girl French. 86.178.225.111 (talk) 20:04, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

You can always give it a start at URLs like babelfish.altavista.com or translate.google.com ... If that isn't good enough, we're happy to help further. :o) --Ibn Battuta (talk) 20:24, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

QEII's Little Spy, can you at least sign your questions, just as a basic courtesy? Anyway, it's "In 1663 he married Tamar, sister of Titia, another daughter of Constantine I of Mukhran, whom he took from Leo III of Mingrelia (Levant III Dadiani) and whom he had to divorce in 1678, in order to return her to her husband" (then it lists their children in the French article where this is from). Then, "in 1679, he married Tamar again. When she was widowed, Tamar remarried, after 1683, George III Gourieli, who had divorced Daredjan, daughter of Bagrat V. Tamar died giving birth the same year." Adam Bishop (talk) 23:51, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

APA Style

I'm looking for (if possible: sourced! thanks!!!) answers to any or all of the following questions:

1. In which order do you cite the following within the text, i.e. if they should all be in the same parentheses? Al-Masri, 2000; Al-Masri & Al-Masri (2000); Al-Masri et al. (2000); Al-Masri & Zinnowitz (2000) ... i.e. where does "et al." go alphabetically?

2. Usually, if you've already cited Al-Masri, Zinnowitz, & Johnson (2000a), the next time you'd cite them as "Al-Masri et al., 2000a" ... but what if now you need to cite both this article and Al-Masri, Zinnowitz, & Johnson (2000b)? "Al-Masri, Zinnowitz, & Johnson, 2000a, 2000b" - i.e. ignoring that you've already given the full citation of 2000a?

3. If you have already used Al-Masri, Goldstein, & Johnson (2000) in a) a footnote or b) an endnote... how do you cite him for the first time in the main text? As "Al-Masri et al., 2000" or writing all three names in full ("Al-Masri, Zinnowitz, & Johnson, 2000")?

4. Reference section: Which part of an online reference (i.e. a reference including a URL) needs to be incursive if the reference is not about a book?

5. Reference section: If you use an unpublished dissertation (i.e. you've read and cited from the full text), which has also been published in Dissertation Abstract International (DAI) - do you mention the DAI reference or not? If so, how?

6. Similarly to the above: How about newspaper articles (New York Times) which are also accessible online? Mention the online reference as if you had never used the original?

Thanks so much!! --Ibn Battuta (talk) 20:24, 2 May 2010 (UTC) [expanded by Ibn Battuta (talk) 23:50, 2 May 2010 (UTC)]

1. Frequently Asked Questions About APA Style: How do you cite two or more references within the same parentheses? says order the "et al" where the reference would fall alphabetically if written out in full.

6. Frequently Asked Questions About APA Style: How do you cite a newspaper article? implies that you should cite the version, archive or electronic, that you yourself used, but it doesn't say that outright so you might want to dig some more.

2.3.4.5. APA Style Help gives an email address to send questions you can't find in their tutorial, blog or FAQ. Best, WikiJedits (talk) 14:53, 3 May 2010 (UTC)