Language desk
< November 8	<< Oct \| November \| Dec >>	November 10 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

November 9

African Death Chants

I once heard that the saddest music was a colletion of African Death chants. I have been unable to find any information about this in my many searches on wikipedia, and the rest of the interent. Do you know of a recording that exists somewhere? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jessleighj (talk • contribs) 04:04, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I am not aware of this but there is the 'Hungarian Suicide Song' and the myth that surrounds it. Lanfear's Bane | t 16:29, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Death chants, unsurprisingly, are found in many cultures, and it might be more profitable to search for them in a general sense, leaving out the African connection initially. It would be difficult to ascertain which of them are the saddest, and one wonders whether any critical apparatus exists for this purpose. An example of a death chant (Southeast Asian) represented in written literature occurs in Maria Dermoût (Spel van tifa-gongs, I do not know of a translation), but anthropological writings must have many more instances. Bessel Dekker 11:55, 10 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Japanese game name translation

I'm trying to get an understandable translation of the title of a Kunio-kun game: ダウンタウンスペシャル♥くにおくんの時代劇だよ全員集合！ (the romanisation given here on Wikipedia is Downtown Special: Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki da yo Zen'in Shū;gō!, albeit without the heart). As far as I can see the heart is indeed part of the name as it's always used when the title is written out, even on the Game Boy Advance re-release.

I'm not too concerned about whether the translation sounds like a proper English title, I'm just trying to get a rough understanding of what the title is trying to convey (Google Translate's suggestion of "I ♥ DAUNTAUNSUPESHARU KUNI leave period drama set it all!" is rather lacking).

Anyway, thanks in advance to anyone who can help. :) Garrett^Talk 10:21, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

We actually have the article for 時代劇: Jidaigeki. 全員集合 means "all assembled". So you get it: it is a historical drama which stars all of the characters in the series. Cheers.--K.C. Tang 12:28, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It's something like this. Come on everybody! (Zen'in Shū gō!) Let's play Jidaigeki/Samurai (Jidaigeki da yo). Oda Mari (talk) 14:34, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I translate it as "Downtown Special ♥ Kunio's (or Kunio Kun's) Historical Drama! All Together Now!" The use of 'kun' following the name varies. A lot of Anime fans leave it in, even though it should technically be left out. It's a matter of common practice. Steewi 04:54, 10 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, those are all very helpful responses! The title also somewhat helps explain how Kunio ends up in a Feudal Japan setting. Thanks again to all of you. :) Garrett^Talk 23:50, 11 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The heart is punctuation which separates the main title (Downtown Special) from the subtitle. As for why a heart, well, I assume it's to be silly. It's like the iconic image of the tough biker guy with the I ♥ MOM tattoo. -- BenRG 00:51, 12 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ah that makes sense, and being silly certainly fits in with the mood of the game (it even features a literal fart attack, complete with the expected sound effect). Thanks for clarifying that. :) Garrett^Talk 01:27, 12 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The heart means nothing. Think it as an ornamental punctuation mark. Oda Mari (talk) 15:33, 13 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

what is the meaning of the the following sentence

the french:

trop fort cette pub! Waterfish2007 11:41, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"So cool this ad!"?--K.C. Tang 12:04, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

KC is reading pub as short for publicité, which fits since it's feminine (cette). Has French adopted the English word pub[lic house]? —Tamfang 02:22, 10 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, and it's masculine. So it can't a public house. Cheers.--K.C. Tang 11:56, 10 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

As I suspected! —Tamfang 05:07, 11 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

According to Google Translate...This pub too loud! --Onorem♠Dil 12:06, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you very much.Waterfish2007 12:43, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Context would help immensely on these. "Fort" can mean strength of any kind, so loudness, coolness, etc. I'm not down with French slang, so I don't think I could be much help, but again, context is critical. SamuelRiv 23:41, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If pub(licité) is feminine, shouldn't it be "trop forte, cette pub!"? —An gr 12:56, 10 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sure, but missing an e seems a more likely typo than having an extra -tte...--K.C. Tang 13:21, 10 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

respondeo dicendum

What does it mean as it is used by Thomas Aquinas in the beginning of an answer. Omidinist 12:57, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This might help - "Quaestio: (Scholastic) A subdivision or chapter of some treatise. Later, the special form, imitating or actually reproducing a discussion, to which a thesis is proposed, then the arguments against it are listed, next the objections or argumenta contra are exposed, and the question is solved in the so-called corpus articuli, usually introduced by the standing phrase respondeo dicendum, finally the objections against the thesis and the response or solution are taken up one by one and answered. This is the quaestio disputata. The quaestio quodlibetalis stems from disputations in which all kind of problems were brought up and the leader had to arrange them somehow and to answer all of them. -- R.A." DuncanHill 13:13, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It can mean variously 'this is my response' 'this is my considered response' or 'I respond that' (although my latin is shaky, so if it's wrong someone will jump in soon). 86.21.74.40 13:21, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Both answers are helpful. Thank you. Omidinist 15:03, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like an accusative gerund, so more literally, perhaps: I reply by saying: Septentrionalis PMAnderson 02:22, 13 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It's an object clause with the verb esse left out. Dicendum est means "it has to be said", "it should be said", "one has to say". Contra A, respondeo dicendum (esse) quod B. "Against position A I respond that one must say that B." Iblardi (talk) 18:11, 26 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

American "r" sound

I want to get a thorough information about the American "r" sound and how to make it in different position in words. I shall be very grateful for any help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.135.12.125 (talk) 17:30, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There is no "American" r sound. Different dialects of American English pronounce it differently. Corvus cornix 17:59, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Take a look at General American, what some call "American Broadcast English". It doesn't go into great detail about "r", but it's a start. --Milkbreath 18:13, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I personally find "l" a lot more interesting, but let's look at standard white American pronunciations of "r". First, when the "r" is rhoticized, that is, pronounced in a way other than being a vowel, it usually takes one of three forms: alveolar approximant (pronounced where you pronounce "t" and "s"), retroflex approximant (similar but with the tongue folded back), and alveolar flap (similar to a very fast pull of the tongue where you would pronounce a "d"). Each of these has variants for individual speakers and dialects, which may vary from rounding to slight frictionalizing, and I won't detail these here (post on my talk page if you want more info). Then there is the phonosyntax of "r": in Standard American English, we rhoticize in a tense tongue position at the beginning or stressed syllable of words and in a lax (similar to the "uh" sound, but with some "r" color) position at the end of words or at unstressed syllables. Some dialects (Boston, New York, Southern) will drop the rhoticity in unstressed syllables, i.e. making "water" sound like "wah-tuh". These dialects may reintroduce rhoticity (I'm not sure, but British Standard does this) if the word with an "r" at the end is followed by a word that begins with a vowel, so "water art" becomes "wah-tuh-r-aht". There are some important phonological consequences of dialects with these variations, that I can get into more in private on my talk page. Finally, please excuse me if you know IPA, as I didn't typeset here for clarity. SamuelRiv 21:51, 9 November 2007 (UTC) Addendum: also note that the alveolar flap occurs to replace a "t" or "d" sound when some non-Southern dialects pronounce "better", "puddle", etc. Some people may refer to this as rhoticity also, but I wouldn't. SamuelRiv 23:43, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]