#language cases

[naychezza]

Language

Hello

I am of (stolen gen) Wiradjuri decent.

I feel that my people's culture, connection, and community has been ripped from my grasp before I even got to inherit it.

I want to learn the Wiradjuri language, help keep it alive but I need some help. Tips, advice, resource recommendations, ect for learning the language, especially one with as many cases as Wiradjuri.

I already know about Stan&Flo Grant's Wiradjuri Dictionary (based on Dr. Stan Grant and Dr. John Rudder's work)

I have mostly enjoyed learning languages on my own before, but have never had good results.

It also might be important to know that I am autistic

[littlemizzlinguistics]

Studying linguistics is actually so wonderful because when you explain youth slang to older professors, instead of complaining about how "your generation can't speak right/ you're butchering the language" they light up and go “really? That’s so wonderful! What an innovative construction! Isn't language wonderful?"

[orion-my-rion]

i cannot keep quiet about this anymore.

if you're seeing this, check the reblogs or my "languages" tag for an addition!!

if you're in the US or Canada and interested in learning a language using a free app please get a library card and download MANGO. it's very good and extremely free with a library card (there are many public libraries and universities using the service, so make an account and use the search feature here to find out if there's one near you).

mango currently has 72 available languages and dialects (that's right! different courses for french or canadian french! spanish or latam spanish!). it's set up basically like an audiobook with text. the idea is that the narrator explains the words while you read, and you repeat after them or say the translation out loud when prompted. there's a daily review where you go through flashcards. you can also use the flashcards at your leisure and create your own. at the end of each chapter there's a listening comprehension quiz and a reading comprehension quiz. i cannot emphasize how effective this all is. and it's free with a card.

if you're not in the US or Canada and/or looking for something more like duolingo (don't use duolingo btw tldr they fired translators and replaced them with "ai"), then try BUSUU! it only has 14 languages atm but the lessons are really descriptive and effective. it also has a feature where you can correct other people's open-ended speaking/typing exercises. you set your fluent languages, and exercises by people learning those languages will appear in your feed for you to correct. you can even add others as friends! and, much like duolingo, it has a streak and leaderboard system for you to strive for, minus the guilt-tripping owl.

busuu is free (you watch ads to unlock lessons and they're all skippable after like five seconds), although it also has paid premium/plus versions (i don't use the paid version—the language courses are available for free, and the ad system is Really unobtrusive).

so that's my wisdom for the day. mango and busuu. please check them out :)

[kensatou]

“if you could pick up another language, what would it be?”

“i’d go russian. i’d love to know what geno says or has said over the years… i’d love to know 🥰 i just want to know (giggles) 🥰”

[serpentface]

Comparing livestock color-words.

Both the Chenahyeigi and Wardi languages are derived from peoples who have been pastoralists for millennia, and both have an absolute ton of words for livestock coloration.

Both languages have had at least some mutual influence for about a thousand years (to varying extents by dialect, depending on geography/trade connection) so you'll see similar or identical words crop up here and there.

THE WORDS:

Hneya - [hne:ʝɑ] or [hne:jɑ] (whether the ʝ sound is retained in speech and to what extent varies by dialect)

Straightforwardly refers to bright reddish-orange color, but is mostly used for animals rather than other orangeish things. The word Was probably influenced by an older form of the Wardi 'reyla', and absorbed with the introduction of orange colored cattle. It may have been merged with the Chenahyeigi '(h)ne', which is the root of several red color-related terms.

Reyla - [rejlɑ]

This is a Wardi word for most reddish-orange hues in general. When applied to livestock, it refers to solid orange coats without spotting/masks/notable countershading.

Fels akhri - [fels] [ɑ:khɾi]

Translates readily as 'storm cloud' (the 'storm' here specifies thunderstorms). When applied to livestock, it describes fur that is rich dark blue-gray with white guard hairs.

Aganne - [ɑgɑ:ne]

This doesn't actually translate to 'night sea' in a straightforward manner, but as a color word it's poetically associated with dark seas, at night or in storms. When used for livestock, it describes this coloration exclusively.

Woud et lleng - [woʊd] [ɛt] [ɬeŋk]

Woud is the word for rich moist soil specifically, lleng refers to laterite and its association with iron deposits. This phrase is used to describe livestock with dark brown heads and and orange-brown bodies.

Tsipanibe - [t͡sipɑnibe]

This would be more literally translated as 'ochred'. Many Wardi words with the -ibe stem from verbs or nouns modified to indicate that the subject matter has 'received' an action or concept. (Examples of such words are long-established linguistically, you can't just add '-ibe' to any noun or verb). This one takes the root 'tsipan' (ochre) and applies it to the subject matter (cattle coloration).

Livestock with a dark brown or black head and orange-brown body are given this description, the idea being that their bodies look like they've been painted in ochre. This word is extremely rare outside of this context (you would usually just say the full 'ochre-painted' to convey this idea for other things)

Drengh yipeg - [dɾeŋg(h) yɪpɛ:g]

This is pretty straightforwardly 'little moon'. Yipeg comes from the same root as the Wardi 'hippe' for 'small', while drengh refers to the appearance of the moons in the sky (rather than the gods they embody). It's used to describe small round white blaze marks.

Ipalen hamita - [ipɑlɛn (h)ɑmitə]

Straightforwardly 'star marked', used for small round white blaze marks. Wardi actually does have a 'moon marked' (ipalen amit) to describe round white blazes that entirely cover the animal's forehead.

Brinyavir - [bɾi:nʝɑvir] (ʝ is retained for this word in most dialects)

This one is not directly translatable, 'celestial' or 'heavenly' just function closely enough. The word conceptually relates to stars but most specifically describes a layer of sky in which the afterlife rests (brinyavir is part of the phrase I translate as 'celestial fields'). The cattle there are said to have these markings. The stars in the night sky are sometimes playfully described as the spots of these cattle (though not literally, in Chenahyeigi cosmology stars are spirit-inhabited bonfires lit along pathways through the heavens).

As a color word for livestock, brinyavir refers to this rare (I Think nonexistent irl) white-spotted black coloration, due to both resembling the stars and the cattle that are moved among them.

Asi inwetadi - [ɑsi in:wetɑ:di]

This directly means 'like night sky', and is applied to this coat pattern with a similar underlying logic- it looks like a starry night sky. You will often see asi (like/akin to) retained in place or animal names like this, and it is sometimes part of names for people (the name Asinya is derived from a contracted 'like the sun').

Ogriye - Chenahyeigi: [oʊ:gɾije] Wardi: [oʊgɾi:je]

This word is (or was) a way to say 'gravel' or 'gravelly' in both Chenahyeigi and Wardi, and is pronounced very similarly in both (with the only significant difference being emphasis)

In Chenahyeigi it is a loanword from the Wardi language family, most likely received in the exchange of cattle of this coloration. It is retained in general speech as a word for gravel, more specifically the adjective 'gravelly'.

The word is mostly obsolete in contemporary Wardi, speakers do not know it used to mean 'gravel' (though it sounds close enough to assume a connection, the word is 'ogri') and exclusively use it to describe this livestock coloration (one of the more common among Wardi native cattle).

---

Also here's some cow lore.

There's some fairly tremendous diversity in Wardi cattle herds, given they have genetic influence from at least two separate aurochs domestication events (also distant and negligibly minor influence from one instance of bison domestication) and from multiple relatively isolated domestic cattle populations. Present day herds within Wardi provincial territory near-ubiquitously have at least some ancestry from the kulustaig and the Burri tepang cattle.

The ancestors of the Wardi native cow have been in the region for at Least 5,000 years. Burri cattle Possibly could have had tiny, isolated introductions between 2500-3000 years ago (this is extremely unlikely, but maize Was probably introduced by seafaring proto-Burri peoples at this time) or at more recent points since, and the tepang was certainly introduced during Imperial Burri occupation. High quality cattle are also occasionally received in diplomacy with the present-day Different Entity that is the Burri Republic. The kulustaig cattle arrived with proto-Finnic migrants starting 1500 years ago, and is the biggest external genetic influence on Wardi herds. Small populations of Yuroma native cattle arrived with migrants 540 years ago, though these have been wholly absorbed into Wardi herds, with their biggest trace being genes for naturally polled horns. Some Finn cattle were extracted in the recent two decades of Wardi occupation, though not enough to have a noteworthy genetic impact on any herds.

Most of the cattle in this post show predominantly Wardi native cattle + kulustaig ancestry (this takes place in the Ephenni riverlands, where the ancestry of herds tends to be around 2:1). The one with the blaze has a delicate sloping muzzle that suggests Burri tepang ancestry, and also likely has a wild aurochs grandparent (the white ring around the nose is a telltale sign, as it usually vanishes within a few generations of introgression).

Diversity in color and coat pattern is culturally favored for Wardi cattle herds, and selective breeding for aesthetics is usually limited to the purpose of preserving unique coats. The average herd tends to be very colorful, though the one shown here is a bit of an outlier, the universe having mysteriously put in place perfect conditions to compare the words for a variety of coat patterns.

[r-aindr0p]

Pomefiore vocabulary lesson All of these words are pronounced "coo" !

Bonus 2nd and 3rd French option because of course there's an option with a silent 'p' and one with a silent 't', of course !

[unlimited-nobu-works]

my group chats on private MMO servers

[a-compass-without-a-needle]

This is what happened after 3.1 isn't it?

[fluentisonus]

everybody's a theatre nerd on here until it's time to appreciate that comedy as a medium is just as rich & fascinating & culturally important as tragedy

[swiggity-swexual-i-am-asexual]

Danny Fenton, aka Phantom, has been given a new task!

In short, literally no one in the Ghost Zone/Infinite Realms wants their mostly peaceful afterlife to be rocked by a certain Gotham rogue named Joker. Which, when he dies, is almost sure to happen because of whatever the hell was in that vat he dropped in included ectoplasm. So, yay, he’s also a little ghostly too, meaning he *is* pretty hard to kill. Unfortunately, there’s also a certain vigilante that is quite keen to murder him in recent years.

So now Danny has to keep the mass murderer trauma clown alive for as long as he possibly can while attempting to keep the Joker from. Well. Being the Joker.

Oh, and naturally, Danny got this assignment AFTER Joker got out of Arkham. Again. And entirely blew up the asylum. Time to join the Goonion, he is NOT doing this without getting PAID, thank you.

[kyurochurro]

🧭 "see? i told you man, we're lost!"

[abstractfrog]

that doesn't sound right but i don't know enough about receiving valentines to dispute it

[why-the-heck-not]

reading these two side by side (the og one in finnish, the other translated to french) and it's a very space-demanding reading situation

[xpulchritudinousx]

something you'd never expect

Summary: You’re Bakugo’s wife and he’s finally introducing you to his friends… But things take a turn. Disclaimer: This might be a sensitive subject to some people, there’s nothing NFSW, but it briefly talks about fertility issues. If this triggers you at all, please don’t read, I don’t want anyone to be uncomfortable when reading my content.

The doorbell of your home rang, with Bakugo looking exhausted already at the idea of having to deal with his friends. Opening the door to see everyone. He was just about to tell them to come in when you shove your head over his shoulder to see them. “Are these guys your friends?” You ask him in English, looking them all over before shoving your hand up to take a sip out of your milkshake as you look at them all. Katsuki just sighs, giving you a forced glare, trying to get you to behave for once. “They’re not my… Forget it, just move so I can let them in.” His words rang half hearted, not really having the energy to do anything. Pausing when he sees you move and give him an apologetic look, his expression morphing to be fond as he pats your head before walking you over to the couches. Everyone looked shocked to see him actually let you eat somewhere other than the dining table. What happened to their high strung Bakugo that they know and love? “Katsuki, could you get me some fries?” “You just put them in the fridge?” “I know but I changed my mind and don’t wanna get up.” “...Fine.” That’s how he ended up getting up and going to reheat your leftovers while you sat with his friends. At times like this, they wished Mina had more free time for them, they still didn't know how to talk to girls, even at their grown age. “So how’d you meet Bakugo?” Sero asked you in English, trying not to be insensitive to the fact that you were clearly only communicating in it. “Oh he was in America when he was working on Izuku’s suit and-” Katsuki gives you a panicked look from the kitchen, looking over the counter as he waved his hand cut-throat style to tell you to stop talking about it. Not wanting the details of your unsteady citizenship in the country be discussed until his lawyers figured everything out. “We got along cuz we both like food and kinda fell in love I guess.” Katsuki’s expression fell to an unimpressed one hearing how much of the story you skipped over. He knew you were trying not to go into the details, but damn… He forgot how bad you were at reading social cues. “Of course that’s what it was.” Denki says, making everyone else just smile awkwardly. It was laughable how much of a softie their friend actually was, finally coming back after microwaving your fries and adding some more salt to it. Bringing you the little paper cup they were kept in and wiping some whipped cream you got on your cheek. His action had you beaming at him, moving to press a kiss to his as thanks, not noticing how red his ears turned at the action. He sighed a bit, fiddling with the little ring on your finger quietly, wait no correction that thing was huge, what the hell? Bakugo definitely wasn’t cheap, that much is becoming more and more apparent. The way you were dressed finally settled into their brains, pale colors and lace trimming. The group’s jaws just drop, not expecting his wife to genuinely be his polar opposite. Beaming widely, wearing pale white accents with your clothes looking more dressed up next to him wearing all black and dressed in track pants. What’s he doing with a princess? That’s when they saw you munch down on your fries with a blissful look on your face, reaching for the little bag of goldfish you had and some cheese sticks. You were eating a lot actually, they didn’t notice until now. Watching you finish up and start gulping down at that giant milkshake in a size they didn’t even know restaurants served.

They all pause, faces pulled into awkward little smiles or looks of complete shock. Of course he married someone who eats just as much as him. The sight of you happily sipping on your milkshake as you hug his side was an interesting one, with his face expressionless as he rubs his hand up and down on your shoulder. He was letting you be affectionate with him?! No, he was the one being affectionate… Did you have him for ransom or something? Actually, he looked pretty happy, or as happy as he could really show? 

Katsuki looks at you, expression held calm as he brings a hand to the top of your head, sighing a bit at how sweet you looked in the moment. As silent as he tried to keep it he was weak to you, so weak that he could barely hide it. “You said if I took you to get something unhealthy you’d only have a little bit of the food today, you finished the whole bag.” He chides as he gently runs his thumb over your cheek. Kirishima being ever the gentleman comes to your defense, furrowing his eyebrows in concern. “Hey man, let her eat what she wants.” The defense just left Katsuki slightly miffed, looking over to his friend tiredly. “It’s not like that, I just-” Katsuki pauses when he notices you going over to the kitchen, eyes shooting wide before turning on the couch and looking over it to you. “Hey! What did I say about snacks?” Your shoulders slump cartoonishly, looking at him with a frown.  “To eat fruit or to ask you to make me something…” Katsuki gives you a stern look, watching you stop yourself from opening the pantry where all your favorite snacks were. Sighing in disappointment with himself for even letting you convince him to buy all of that. “Right, and what are you doing right now?” Your expression looks more ashamed at his words, looking down as you kicked your foot to the tile of the floor a bit. “I’m not doing either of them.” With that you mope and walk back over to him, snuggling to his side quietly, leaving him to feel the tiniest twinge of guilt. Sighing as he pets your head with a look of concern, muttering into your hair as he brings you closer. “I’m sorry, you know I’m not trying to upset you. But you know what the doctor said, we’ve gotta eat healthy for everything to work…” 

The small intimate moment just had his friends sitting there nearly the color of ghosts, looking at him with their jaws nearly hitting the floor. Finally, one of them spoke up, the four of them doing their best to not go speechless every time they saw him interacting with you as if it was a crazy phenomenon.  “What exactly do you need to work?” Sero asked, giving Katsuki a slightly sceptical look, unsure how he was going to react to the question.

Everyone’s mouths went from wide open to snapped shut when Katsuki sighs, looking at you quietly before letting himself admit it. “We’ve been going to the doctor a lot lately… We’ve been trying for a baby and things have been… Hopeless.” He admits, bringing his hand down from your cheek to your shoulder, squeezing it in reassurance when he feels your mood shift.  Your eyes downcast as you lean into him, fighting the urge to bring your hand to your tummy. Fingers clutching into your skirt, words quiet as you speak in English; still struggling with Japanese even after the months went on, catching onto what he was telling his friends. “I’m the reason we can’t and I wanted it…” You whisper out, quickly being shushed by Katsuki, his hand running over your hair as he pressed a chaste kiss to your head.  “It doesn’t matter, we’re doing it no matter what.” He promised, sighing a bit when you nod but head off your room. His eyes glued to the floor, expression ridden in nothing but guilt, looking back over to his friends tiredly. “Not a word.” He threatened, getting up and following behind you.  The four just sat there, looking at one another with furrowed eyebrows, Kirishima, Sero and Kaminari speaking to each other about it. Concern written all over their expressions as they let their thoughts run wild. “Man, that’s tough. I never would’ve thought Bakugo would even want to be a dad, but this? This is just…”

“Depressing?” Kaminari fills in, looking less sad and more concerned. “I hate to say it, but maybe it’s a blessing in disguise. I mean he just bought a Porsche, that’s not exactly a baby safe car. Not to be the bearer of bad news, but Bakugo isn’t exactly the most nurturing guy around.”  Kirishima furrowed his eyebrows at Sero’s words, fidgeting a bit as he adjusted himself in his seat, sighing a bit as he conceded to it. “I mean yeah, he couldn’t have been with her for that long if we never knew about them, plus she can barely even get a sentence in Japanese out. But still… That’s gotta be rough.”

Izuku finally spoke up, having been quiet as he processed his thoughts with his eyes to the ground. “Kachan’s a lot more capable than you guys are giving him credit for. He never does anything without thinking. This makes sense though, he’s been a lot less angry and more just sad. We should be more supportive, he probably won’t say it, but he wants to know he has hope, especially when he has to be the one to give it to her right now.” Like usual whenever Izuku speaks up, everyone goes quiet for a minute, contemplating the way he sees things more clearly than them. Always analyzing the little details until they come together for him to fully understand the situation.

“I guess I never thought of it like that.” Kirishima admitted, with Kaminari chiming in to agree.  Katsuki finally came back without you after a bit, not saying a word with his eyes puffy and slightly reddened. Keeping his responses short and offering up some tea, not responding when Kaminari asks about where you went. Simply saying goodbye to everyone without you when they took the hint that now wasn’t a good time for him to have company.

Even with all of them walking out together in silence, Izuku hoped the next time they came by, things would be different… The next time they’d come over would be a couple months later when Katsuki called them over to help with some housing adjustments. You opened up the door for them with a wide smile and noticeable change in your figure. Walking in to see him working on building a pink playpen and watching you rush over to him to hug his side, the blond letting out a little huff as he brings his hand to your head, leaning it closer as he rested his own to it. The four of them watched for a second. Kirishima smiling, with Kaminari and Sero processing it for a second, looking halfway to tears, but Izuku was beaming. Looks like you guys are going to have a girl.

thank you for reading, kind words and comments r always welcome!

[kodasea]

6'3'' (and exhausted)

[serpentface]

Armored war utosai and driver in a parade ~300 years before present, during the late 2nd Imperial Burri period.

The use of armor for cavalry utosai occurred fairly late in their ultimately brief (on the scale of a couple centuries) stint as mounts. The animals had natural armoring in the form of thick osteoderm covered skin along their back and sides, which was difficult to inflict injuries upon and sufficed for a long time against foes unfamiliar with/terrified by these animals. The skin on their faces and neck, however, was extremely sensitive. If heavily targeted, the pain could drive the utosai into a panic and turn them into gigantic liabilities. The implementation of this neck/face lamellar countered this weakness and partly restored the utosai's image of near-invulnerability, but came at its own costs.

Even this partial armoring was ridiculously expensive (for mounts whose basic upkeep was already ridiculously expensive) and did little to counter growing fears that the shock and awe usage of utosai for heavy cavalry was more trouble than it was worth. Utosai had previously been driven by use of leg pressure and spurs on their sensitive neck, which was very efficient at commanding the animals while keeping the driver's hands free (often to perform archery). With the neck covered in armor, new driving methods had to be implemented. This was a trial and error process, with the use of reins seen here coming up as the most adequate substitute for leg commands (at the cost of the driver being able to go hands-free). It still was nowhere as intuitive to the animals, and no better solution was developed before the use of utosai cavalry died out due to being absurdly costly to maintain, taking a long time to breed and mature (and being heavily inbred and unhealthy due to their tiny founder population), and the discovery of surefire methods to panic them (setting mid-large animals on fire and driving them, screaming, in a utosai's general direction turned out to have a near 100% success rate). The utosai population itself died out in the aftermath, and they are now completely extinct.

Driving a utosai was considered a lowly position compared to fighting Atop a utosai (same went for chariot drivers) and was generally occupied by members of the sub-citizen caste that developed in the 2nd imperial period. Once utosai armor was implemented, drivers completely ceased to participate in fighting and their only additional function was reduced to bearing their unit's standards, though they were usually armored in actual combat and carried heavy daggers that could be driven through the utosai's spine in case of 'uh oh we're trampling our own troops' type emergencies (the neck armor put a wrinkle in this whole procedure too- there is an opening behind the back of the head but it wasn't easy to target in the heat of the moment).

The small population of Utosai brought to Imperial Bur roamed semi-freely and usually had to be recaptured as calves and hand reared before use. This was also the job of their drivers, who did the bulk of the taming, training, and maintenance for their mounts. Utosai were Fairly unaggressive for large non-domesticated herbivores and accommodated astonishingly well to handling and training, but this was still dangerous work that routinely claimed the lives of their caretakers.

---

The guy shown here is a feasible depiction of the historical poet Ünzhig ([ynʐig]) when he was in his early 30s. He had a very complicated life, starting out as a Hsem princeling taken to Titenegal as a war captive along with his mother when he was just a toddler. He wound up lacking use as a hostage but was spared, semi-adopted by a senior military officer who had grown attached to him, put to work as a stableboy but given the education of a nobleman, and eventually ended up as a full-fledged utosai trainer and driver. He was active during the fall of the eastern overseas half of the empire, though he himself never traveled across the sea and was mostly dispatched along the state's northwestern flank.

Ünzhig, having fallen out with his adoptive semi-father and growing fearful after nearly being killed in a (dangerously close to successful) peasant revolt, eventually deserted and fled to Hsemdan in hopes of reclaiming his birthright. He was immediately met with failure in this respect (few believed him and his blood father's line was no longer in power anyway), but found work as a scribe and eventually made a name for himself as a poet in the Hsem courts. On top of his formal work, he spent his twilight years extensively chronicling his life and the history he bore witness to. Most of his actual writings are lost three centuries later, but some transcriptions are still around and preserve detailed and accurate information on the now-extinct utosai. A great love for these animals is evident in this body of work, which provides a rare down-to-earth look at creatures that are otherwise mostly remembered as godlike and monstrous.

His most well known poem was written in old age, describing the memory of the utosai he trained and rode and her first and only calf (recounting her fierce defensiveness and gentle contact calls, and expressing melancholy at his own childlessness). It was a hit in the Hsemdan court and started being reproduced in song form by the time of his death. Transcriptions of the original poem are hard to find but many oral transmissions survive (though have been heavily changed by the passage of time) in the form of lullabies.

(Sketch layer of what's going on under the armor)