The Grammar of Politics Thread
Well I had to Google "phonology", but having seen the definition, I'd guess "shrewd".
ETA: would probably have made the same guess without looking it up given the phono- prefix, but I wanted to confirm it didn't mean something really specific that was not possible to infer from its construction.
Shrewd only has four separate sounds though, there are many single syllable words with that many.
Just off the top of my head, "crisp" has five.
I guess I still need a definition.
Hmm. Would have to find the right consonant combos. Is it distinct sounds? For example is "sts" 2 sounds or 3?
Hmm. Would have to find the right consonant combos. Is it distinct sounds? For example is "sts" 2 sounds or 3?
I assume that would be three, but we still need a definition from Luckbox.
If it's 2 then "sprints" becomes a 6.
Hmm. Would have to find the right consonant combos. Is it distinct sounds? For example is "sts" 2 sounds or 3?
[sprɪnʦ] is super close and it could definitely be transcribed like I did there with the ts as one phoneme [t͡s]-- this is called an affricate, where you have a stop consonant and a fricative produced at the same time.
However-- [t͡s] is not a phoneme in English. It exists in Italian, Greek I think, German. English has [t͡ʃ] and [d͡ʒ] like in "cheese" and "just" but the question wasn't for the most phonetically complex one syllable word it was for the most phonologically complex one, and phonologically /t/ and /s/ are definitely represented in the mind as two separate sounds even if they come out as one there-- so "sprints" should count.
There is one other word (that I know of) that has the structure CCCVCCC that I had in mind though that you guys haven't gotten yet.
So you don't have anything longer than CCCVCCC? I thought of a few more of those before I went to sleep. Now trying to remember them.
"Strengths" is one of them. Could be what you were thinking of, as it looks even more complicated than it is. But "ng" and "th" are really just one sound each.
"Scripts" and "scrimps" are others.
So you don't have anything longer than CCCVCCC? I thought of a few more of those before I went to sleep. Now trying to remember them.
"Strengths" is one of them. Could be what you were thinking of, as it looks even more complicated than it is. But "ng" and "th" are really just one sound each.
"Scripts" and "scrimps" are others.
Strength was what I was looking for and I didn't consider making it a plural noun----but I don't think the "ng" is a single phoneme there like it is in a word like "tangy"-- there is a 'release' with the g when the tongue moves from your velum to between your teeth-- you could pronounce it without the release but no one does.
In "scripts", the t there is just silent. "Scrimps" works though.
OK, here's mine. Obviously without Googling - longest English word without repeated letters.
Hint: think of what the ending could be.
OK, here's mine. Obviously without Googling - longest English word without repeated letters.
Hint: think of what the ending could be.
Damn. I feel like this is a bit of trivia that I've heard before but unlike the number of bones in the human body it isn't one that's stuck.
Damn. I feel like this is a bit of trivia that I've heard before but unlike the number of bones in the human body it isn't one that's stuck.
I didn't get this one when I heard it about 25 years ago, but I feel I should get half points because I was looking at the right ending. Probably from playing scrabble at a high-ish amateur level.
I'll tell you now that it is longer than 10 letters.
Yeah, eliding over the t completely sounds like some backwoods thing.
