Re: Related languages (Re: A China-Sumer connection)

From: Comm (no_at_spam.com)
Date: 03/30/05 

Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 00:50:34 GMT

"Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:4249CCE3.5AB5@worldnet.att.net...
> Comm wrote:
>>
>> "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
>> news:42495693.11F3@worldnet.att.net...
>> > Comm wrote:
>> >>
>> >> <phippsmartin@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> >> news:1111969728.210792.209440@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>> >> > Comm wrote:
>> >> >>Lee Sau Dan wrote:
>> >> >> > That means you're ignorant.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Ah, now ya did it. No, it proves you are ignorant
>> >> >
>> >> > Comm, I've read a lot of Mr. Lee's posts and this is the first time
>> >> > he
>> >> > stooped to insults. Perhaps he didn't realize you would take
>> >> > "ignorant" to mean "stupid". Perhaps he should have said
>> >> > "uninformed"
>> >> > or, better yet, "insufficiently familiar with the subject matter".
>> >> >
>> >> > Oh, and by the way, we do we tones in English. Right14? Right41!
>> >>
>> >> HAAAAAA - no that's not what I ever understood to be "a tonal
>> >> language."
>> >> I
>> >> mean, ma ma ma ma ma? NO matter what tone I put on it, it means
>> >> "mother."
>> >
>> > In English, it does. In Chinese it does not.
>>
>> I understand that. But in English, whether you apply tone, emphasis or
>> say
>> it completely flat like a robot in B movies, ma ma ma ma still means the
>> same thing in English. In Chinese it means different things 100%
>> DEPENDENT
>> on tone. English has no such thing. Some people do speak in flat
>> monotones
>
> I don't see why you keep harping on this. It's a fact; everyone knows
> it; and you claim you can't distinguish among the four words that have
> consonant /m/ and vowel /a/.

If a Chinese person speaks making a sentence from it, all tonal, sure I
hear the difference.
>
> And as a result, you say nasty things like "Chinese sounds like cats
> meowing and Vietnamese sounds worse." If you don't see that that's
> racist, you need to do some serious introspection.

That's not racist at all. It's purely subjective - as when everyone that
ever saw my ethnic group said we LOOK like cats - or wolves. Some people
look like birds. That's not racist at all. It's a purely subjective
impression. Stop being so god damned sensitive. It's sickening - it
stifles FREE SPEECH too. Yes, Chinese sounds like cats. English often
sounds like dogs barking, if they use a lot of monosyllabic words. SO?
Grow some skin, man. You personally insult the *** out of people on here,
calling me a *** and crack addict? That's LIBEL you damned moron. LIBEL.
And you are bitching about something as TAME as subjective opinions on how
languages sound?
>
>> (gah, I hate hearing it). Others do not. But "I object to that object
>
> You can find people who like unpitched speech?

Yeah, people who speak like that obviously like it. I've known a few.
>
>> being in the room. I do not feel I should be subject to queries
>> regarding
>> that subject" said in a 100% flat robot monotone - is 100% understandable
>> in
>> English. No tones, no emphasis required at all. "Do you object to that
>> object being in your room?" spoken with flat robot monotone, no raising
>> voice to show it's a question - is STILL understandable. The "Do you"
>> tells
>> us it's a question.
>
> Except that, in conversation, no one actually says "Do you"; that would
> be said in this pathological case in compensation for the inability to
> use the question-intonation that communicates the fact that it's a
> question.

Translation - it's pathological because it completely refutes what's being
said on here. The fact is, English can be 100% understood when spoken in
that way. Chinese MUST have tones. And considering Chinese is
monosyllabic, some words are literally like the person is singing the one
syllable word. As I said, like a meow. Take out the consonants then.
Record Chinese woman speaking and eliminate all consonants. Do same with
English. English sounds like dogs barking. Chinese sounds like meows.
> --
> Peter T. Daniels grammatim@att.net