Quickie

We're all in end-of-term mode, so there mightn't be much of a post this week. We offer the following random stuff.

Jon was thinking about language tonight, and more specifically about letters. Anyone ever notice that every letter of the Roman alphabet generally approximates the physiology of its speech sound?

Consider A: capped, with a horizontal cross-beam. Now pronounce the medial "a" as in "sack": the sound is concentrated on the roof of the mouth, the lips are vaguely triangular, and the tongue crosses horizontally.

Consider B: the lips work together to produce this sound, both at the full, and pushing out together.

Consider C: (as in "c-at") see your mouth x-ray wise and sidelong, and what do you get?

Consider D: the tip of the tongue, slightly recessed, rounds out toward the opening of the lips.

Consider E: mouth is C-shaped, but wider and flatter at the back and throat, and the tongue sticks out and medially.

Consider F: top lip out, teeth slightly forward, bottom lip curled in and chin flattened.

Consider G: C-shaped mouth, but the tongue pushes flat and the sound reaches back into the throat.

Consider H: from the front.

Consider I: well, don't consider I. Well, maybe from the front, including the uvula.

Consider J: the jaw moves out, down, and back in and up.

Consider K: and then get over it.

Consider L: the tongue comes up and flat against the roof of the mouth, but the throat itself remains open vertically.

Consider M: take B and turn it 90 degrees to the left.

Consider N: make the sound from scratch: tongue-tip comes up, presses the roof, then drops away.

Consider O: well, duh.

Consider P: the lips are curled flat, and then blow out in a single breath as the jaw drops.

Q is a later invention, so fuggedaboudit.

And so on. I'm just sayin'.



Here are some pictures (not of our mouths in action).

Have seen one of these on campus everyday for the last few: biiiig flying beetles.


Also saw a deck of Uno cards scattered all over campus as well: nice shot I should have gotten of one lying in the red desert sand. But I'm not supposed to operate my camera on campus, which brings us to the next shot.

Wendy came with me this last week to see some of my students performing their year-end project for a colleague's theatrical production class. They did the highly orientalist "Ali Bab and the 40 Thieves" in the motif of toy theatre. Split the parts, which multiple actresses spoke simultaneously. Jim's really great with them: I discovered several of them actually do have voices!

Anyway, this is a shot looking back out across the courtyard (second floor) of the building I teach in:



Skating rink at our neighborhood mall from two floors up:



Bug on a step in our house: one of those beetles. Did I post this one already?



Jonah called this a "cloud stack." His phrase. It's stuck.



ec, go easy: I only ever have my iPhone on me these days: we haven't trotted out the real camera in aeons, but we promise we'll take it and the digital video to Rome. So no photo-criticism. You might scare off National Geographic.

Laters.