Language and dementia

By Simon

According to an article I came across today, people with good language skills early in life and develop dementia later in life are likely retain their memories better than those without such skills. They believe that testing the mental abilities of people in their early 20s can predict whether they will retain their mental abilities in their 70s and 80s.

It doesn’t say whether this involves language skills in one language or more than one, but other studies have found that being bilingual or multilingual can delay by several years the onset of Alzheimer’s and other conditions that tend to strike the elderly.

The article caught my eye because last night I sang with the Bangor Community Choir at Plas Maesincla, a care home for people with dementia in Caernarfon. Many of the residents perked up when we sang some well-known Welsh songs, such as Calon Lân and Sospan Fach, and quite a few joined in. So I think the songs might have triggered some happy memories.

Eisteddfod Llangollen

By Simon

Yr wythnos ddiwethaf es i i’r eisteddfod yn Llangollen dwy waith – Ddydd Mercher es i efo ffrindiau prifysgol, a Ddydd Gwener es i yn ôl ar fy mhen fy hunan. Roedd y ddwy ddydd yn wych, ac mi weles i gerddor, gantorion a dawnswyr talentog o bob cwr y byd.

Nos Sadwrn roedd parti wych ar ffarm un o aelodau y côr cymuned yn Nhregarth. Parti diwedd y tymor ydoedd. Roedd hi’n bwrw glaw trwm, ond mwynhaom yn dda.

Llangollen Eisteddfod

Last week I went to the Eisteddfod in Llangollen twice – on Wednesday with friends from the university, and on my own on Friday. Both days were great, and I saw loads of talented musicians, singers and dancers from all over the world.

On Saturday night there was an end of term party for the community choir on the farm of one of the members in Tregarth. It rained heavily, but we had a great time.

Russian transliteration

By Simon

Yesterday I came across a useful site that shows you how to transliterate Russian into various Latin transliteration systems, and into other alphabets such as Greek, Arabic, Thai and Georgian. The site also has an transliterator that transliterates Russian text into various transliteration systems; a transliterator that converts Chinese Pinyin texts into Cyrillic, and another that converts Japanese text in Hiragana or Katakana in Cyrillic.

Here are some example transliterations of the Russian version of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Original Russian text
Все люди рождаются свободными и равными в своем достоинстве и правах. Они наделены разумом и совестью и должны поступать в отношении друг друга в духе братства.

German transliteration
Wse ljudi roschdajutsja swobodnymi i rawnymi w swojem dostoinstwe i prawach. Oni nadeleny rasumom i sowest’ju i dolschny postupat’ w otnoschenii drug druga w duche bratstwa.

Greek transliteration
Βσγιε λγιουντι ροζνταγιουτσγια σβομποντνιμι ι ραβνιμι β σβογιεμ ντοστοινστβγιε ι πραβαχ. Ονι ναντγιελγιενι ραζουμομ ι σοβγιεστ’γιου ι ντολζνι ποστουπατ’ β οτνοσγιενι ντρουγκ ντρουγκα β ντουχγιε μπρατστβα.

Georgian transliteration
ვსე ლიუდი როჟდაიუტსია სვობოდნიმი ი რავნიმი ვ სვოემ დოსტოინსტვე ი პრავახ. ონი ნადელენი რაზუმომ ი სოვესტიუ ი დოლჟნი პოსტუპატ ვ ოტნოშენი დრუგ დრუგა ვ დუხე ბრატსტვა.

Another feature of the site is a dictionary of Russian slang, which is available in many language combinations.

eolotthowghrhoighuay and ghoti

By Simon

The word ‘eolotthowghrhoighuay’ was devised by Alexander Ellis in 1845 to demonstrate the eccentric nature of English spelling. It’s supposed to spell ‘orthography’, and uses the eo from George, the ol from Colonel, the tth from Matthew, the ow from knowledge, the gh from ghost, the rh from rheumatic, the oi from Beauvoir, the gh from laugh, and the uay from quay.

Ghoti is a better-known example which is apparently spells ‘fish’, with the gh from tough, the o from women and the ti from nation. According to Wikipedia, it first appeared in print in 1874 and is credited to Willian Ollier, who used it in a letter in 1855, though it’s usually attributed George Bernard Shaw. Ghoti is also the word for fish in Klingon.

The trouble with both these words is that the letters or combinations of letters are not pronounced in these particularly ways when you take them from their normal positions. gh, for example, rarely appears at the beginnings of words, except in words like ghost.

You could spell fish ‘phoche’ (photo women quiche), according to this site.

Hungarian runes

By Simon

Yesterday at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod I was quite surprised to see Hungarian Runes / Rovás (Székely Rovásírás) being used. They appear on the logo and publicity material of a Hungarian drumming group who perform Hungarian folk dances and songs that date back to the 11th century, a time when the Székler Magyars were writing with the rovás.

The group, called Feher Taltos Traditional Hungarian Drummers (Regélő Fehér Táltos), is very good, and well worth going to see.

Here are some examples:

Examples of Hungarian rovás

I think the bit of writing on the right, which comes from the group’s flyer, reads, “Regélő Fehér Táltos Hagyományőrző Egyesület Dobcsapata”, which I assume is the group’s name in Hungarian.

Eisteddfod Llangefni

By Simon

Neithiwr mi es i i Langefni efo Côr y Dysgwyr, ac mi gystadlon ni yn yr eisteddfod ‘na. Dim ond un côr arall yn roedd yn cystadlu – côr o Lanfairpwllgwyngyll – ac mi enillon ni! Mae’r un arweinydd efo’r dau chôr, ac yr un gyfeilydd, ferch yr arweinydd. Dyma’r tro cyntaf i mi mynd i eisteddfod ac roedd hi’n wych, ac roedd y pobl yna yn gyfeillgar iawn.

Yna ystod yr wythnos ‘ma, dw i wedi bod yn brysur efo trawsgrifiad y cyfweliadau dw i wedi recordio yn Ynys Manaw. Dw i wedi trawsgrifio tua dri awr o recordiadau yn barod – rhyw 26,000 o eiriau! – ac mae dau neu dri awr i wneud. Gobeithio bydda i’n gorffen yr wythnos nesaf, ac yna galla i parhau sgwennu fy nhraethawd hir.

Llangefni Eisteddfod

Last night I went the Llangefni with the Welsh Learners’ Choir, and we competed in the eisteddfod there. Only one other choir was competing – a choir from Llanfair PG – and we won! The two choirs have the same conductor, and the same accompanyist, the conductor’s daughter. This was the first time that I’ve been to an eisteddfod and it was good, and the people there were really friendly.

This week I’ve been mainly transcribing the interviews I recorded while in the Isle of Man. So far I’ve transcribed about three hours’ worth or recordings – some 26,000 words! – and there’s another two or three hours to do. I hoping I’ll finish this coming week, and then I can get on with writing the dissertation.