South Pacific Institute of Communication and Languages

24/06/2023

Source: https://grapevine.is/news/2018/01/25/site-or-sneeze-map-of-hard-to-pronounce-icelandic-place-names-goes-viral/

29/05/2023

We need to let some geography enter our lives from time to time

29/05/2022

Igpay atinlay translator: https://lingojam.com/PigLatinTranslator

06/08/2021

"Tu Vuo' Fa' L'Americano.."

Can Italians understand spoken Latin? Let's see if the descendents of the Romans in the Eternal City are able to comprehend my spoken Latin! In this experime...

23/07/2021

"Ampersand wasn’t really just a letter, it’s a stylized version of the Latin “et” meaning “and”.

"Yogh — It's kind of 'gy' sound in Scots, with no real analogous sound in English. It was replaced by a z because that's the closest thing the printing presses had, so there are a lot of Z's in Scottish places and peoples' names that are still pronounced as if it were spelled with a yogh".

18/07/2021

As we conclude this year’s annual NAIDOC week celebrations we thought it would be a great time to learn the traditional place names given to Australia’s major cities by the traditional indigenous owners.

Warrang (Wuhr-ung) | Sydney - The Eora name for Sydney Cove, the place of first contact between the Eora and the European settlers.

Naarm (Nahh-m) | Melbourne - Naarm is the Woiworung name for Melbourne. Naarm was an important meeting place for the language groups of the Kulin nation.

Meanjin (Mee-an-jun) | Brisbane - Meanjin translates to ‘spike’ and was the name given to the Central Brisbane area by the Turrbal people.

Tarndanya (Tarn-dan-yuh) | Adelaide - the Kaurna peoples’ name for the Adelaide Plains was the Kaurna Tarntanya, literally meaning the red kangaroo place.

Boorloo (Boo-r-loo) | Perth - Boorloo is the name given to the area now known as Perth by the Noongar peoples.

Ngambri Ngunnawal (Nam-bree Noon-a-waal) | Canberra - Canberra is the name colonists gave the region based on the Traditonal owners, the Kamberra people. It is said to mean ‘meeting place’.

Nipaluna (Nip-uh-loo-nuh) | Hobart - Nipaluna is the name given to Hobart in the revived Tasmanian Aboriginal language Palawa Kani.

Garramilla (Guh-ruh-mil-lah) | Darwin

Gimuy (Gim-oii) | Cairns

Rubibi (Roo-bee-bee) | Broome

Mparntwe (Mm-bahn-doo-uh) | Alice Springs

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13/05/2021

Etymology in plain language

Learn about etymology, the study of word origins and derivations in historical linguistics, and the influence of a Proto-Indoeuropean (PIE) language in the f...

01/01/2021

There exists an amazing species of clam which features various script-like ornaments on its shell

Lioconcha hieroglyphica (Conrad, 1837),49.8mmUploaded by Muelly.Courtesy of the author Scott & Jeanette Johnson, Kwajalein Unterwater Image detail

31/12/2020

A new character is invented in Japan to describe social distancing and would literally mean ‘sitting apart’.

10/10/2020

The Korean Alphabet Day, known as Hangeul Day (한글날) in South Korea, and Chosŏn'gŭl Day in North Korea, is a national Korean commemorative day marking the invention and the proclamation of Hangul (한글; 조선글), the alphabet of the Korean language, by the 15th-century Korean monarch Sejong the Great. It is observed on October 9 in South Korea and on January 15 in North Korea.

The letters for the five basic consonants reflect the shape of the speech organs used to pronounce them, and they are systematically modified to indicate phonetic features; similarly, the vowel letters are systematically modified for related sounds, making Hangul a featural writing system.