General Update

EDIT: Updated clips for HURRY-FURRY Merger article!

I haven't done one of these subject-less update posts in a while and figured I may as well do one, so here we are!

I've been enjoying the more informal, quicker-to-produce posts like 'Stop in the name of affrication' and 'Dialect borrowing and confusion'. Being able to use YouTube clips makes it easier to put out these articles while still having readers know what I'm talking about.

I do usually add my own sound clips afterwards, since YouTube's copyright mechanisms make sharing content across borders unpredictable, but being able to have the initial 'YouTube only' version is great for getting thoughts out. Writing long articles with tons of research is enjoyable but tiring, and these mini-observational ones are a great middle ground.

In that vein, I've been thinking of doing a little series on some phonological changes that are happening in the English language. One of my 'gateway drugs', so to speak, into linguistics was the Wikipedia page on English sound changes. Unfortunately, those tend to not have any audio samples. They also don't really talk about when these sound changes occur. And if you're not already intensely interested in linguistics, the discussion on phonology may seem intimidating.

I've already started preparing some examples for some sound changes in English language history (HURRY-FURRY merger, COT-CAUGHT merger, PIN-PEN merger, MARY-MERRY-MARRY merger). They won't be meticulously researched, but they will have an abundance of examples. I think it'll be quite fun! And it could help future 'long posts' as well, because now when I talk about a certain merger, I can give the quick and dirty definition, but still link to the full version on the site.

Don't take this to mean that there won't be any more Dialect Dissections! I've just felt a bit burned out since there are at least 3 that I've been working on that are absolutely enormous in scope. Having these small pages is a way to keep adding interesting content that can help put the DiDis (as I abbreviate them mentally) in context.

New post very soon!

- Karen