Here’s a recording in a mystery language.
Do you know, or can you guess, the language?
Tag: omniglot
Omphaloskepsis
Do you engage in omphaloskepsis?
Omphaloskepsis [ˌɒmfələˈskɛpsɪs] is a very useful word that means the comtemplation of or meditation upon one’s navel, or in other words, navel-gazing. Another definition is ‘Ratiocination* to the point of self-absorption’. It comes from Ancient Greek ὀμφαλός (omphalós – navel) & σκέψις (sképsis – perception, reflection) [source].
*Ratiocination = Reasoning, conscious deliberate inference. Thought or reasoning that is exact, valid and rational. A proposition arrived at by such thought [source].
Related words include:
- omphaloskeptic = One who contemplates or meditates upon one’s navel; one who engages in omphaloscopy. Likely to, prone to, or engaged in contemplating or meditating upon one’s navel.
- omphalomancy = Divination by means of a child’s navel, to learn how many children the mother may have.
- omphalopsychic = Related to or characterised by navel-gazing (omphaloskepsis). Someone who engages in omphaloskepsis, a navel-gazer.
The Modern Greek word ομφαλοσκοπία (omfaloskopía – the action or effect of omphaloscopy. A method of divination involving the examination of the umbilical cord) is also related [source].
The Ancient Greek word ὀμφαλός (omphalós – navel, umbilical cord, anything navel-shaped, centre) comes from Proto-Indo-European *h₃m̥bʰ-l̥- (navel), from *h₃nebʰ- (hub, navel) [source].
Words from the same roots include umbilicus (navel, middle, centre), navel and nave in English, ombelico (navel, umbilicus) in Italian, nombril (navel, belly button, middle) in French, umbigo (navel) in Portuguese, buric (navel, belly button) in Romanian, naaf (hub, nave) in Dutch, Nabel (navel, belly button, centre, middle) in German, and imleacán (navel, belly button) in Irish [source].
By the way, I found the word omphaloskepsis while putting together a Celtiadur post about words for navel, centre and middle in Celtic languages. It appears in the definition of the Welsh word bogailsyllu [bɔɡai̯lˈsəɬɨ / boːɡai̯lˈsəɬi], which means to comtemplate one’s navel, or to engage in navel-gazing or omphaloskepsis [source]. If you are omphaloskeptic, then in Welsh you are bogailsyllol (given to navel-gazing) [source].
The bogail [ˈbɔɡai̯l / ˈboːɡai̯l] in bogailsyllu means navel, umbilicus, belly button or afterbirth, a boss on a shield, a knob a stud, a nave, the hub of a well, middle or centre [source]. It should not be confused with bogail, which means vowel.
Words that mean navel-gazing in other languages include: navlepilleri in Danish, navelstaren in Dutch, nombrillisme in French, Nabelschau in German, and navlebeskuer in Norwegian [source].
Language Quiz
Language Quiz
Ideophones
What does the word tututu make you think of?
It’s an ideophone from Bebe (Naami) a language spoken in parts of Cameroon, and to a speaker of Bebe, tututu suggests the sound of a grinding mill.
Other ideophones in Bebe include:
- kpaŋkpaŋkpaŋ = the sound of a bell
- gbaaaŋ = the sound of a door closed with force
- waaa = the sound of a running water
- ŋgɔɔɔŋ = the sound of a lion roaring
- ŋaaaŋ = the sound of a baby crying
Source: Naami Orthography Guide, by Grace Tabah and Mkounga Tala Blaise
You can find out more about Bebe on Omniglot – this is a new page I added today, and finding out about the ideophones in this language inspired me to write this post.
An ideophone is a member of the class of words that depict sensory imagery or sensations, evoking ideas of action, sound, movement, color, or shape. They are also known as mimetics or expressives. Unlike onomatopoeic words, which imitate sounds, ideophones can also indicate action, state, intensity, smell, colour or manner. They are common in such languages as Japanese, Korean, Tamil, Yoruba and Zulu.
Here are some examples:
- がぶがぶ (gabugabu) = gulping, guzzling, gulp gulp – Japanese
- きびきび (kibikibi) = briskly – Japanese
- しとしとと降る (shitoshito to furu) = to rain or snow quietly – Japanese
- 가물가물 (gamulgamul) = (light) fading away into the distance, moving away faintly, in a blurred manner – Korean
- 버글버글 (beogeulbeogeul) = boilingly while spreading in all directions; bubblingly while spreading in all directions – Korean
- 꽁냥꽁냥 (kkongnyangkkongnyang) = lovey-dovey – Korean
- படபட (paṭapaṭa) = fluttering – Tamil
- புசுபுசு (pucupucu) = soft and bushy, fluffy – Tamil
- விறுவிறு (viṟuviṟu) = energetically, lively, spicy – Tamil
- khazimula = shining brightly – Zulu
- qaqa = bursting – Zulu
- jabula = happily – Zulu
Does your language have ideophones, or anything similar? Do you have any interesting examples?
For more information about ideophones see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideophone
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Korean_ideophones
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Japanese_onomatopoeias
Language Quiz
Immersion
After 7 weeks in China, I’m now back in the UK. I arrived home on Monday afternoon, after a long journey via Zurich and Manchester.
Sok Kwu Wan, Lamma Island / 南丫島索罟灣
I spent 6 weeks staying with friends in Zhaoqing (肇庆) in Guangdong Province in the south of China, then spent a week in Hong Kong. I visited places I’d been to before in Hong Kong, and some ones that were new to me, and generally had a good time. Hong Kong felt very busy and crowded, after the relatively relaxed Zhaoqing. I was last there in 1998, and it has changed quite a bit. There seems to be a lot more of everything – people, traffic, buildings, roads, railways, etc, but I did find some things that were familiar, like the Star Ferries and the trams.
Beilingshan Forest Park, Zhaoqing / 肇庆北岭山森林公园
While in Zhaoqing, I explored the local area and saw some beautiful places, but didn’t visit any other parts of China.
Few of the local people in Zhaoqing speak English, so I had use Mandarin or Cantonese, and interpret for one of my friends, who doesn’t speak much Chinese at all. This helped me to improve both languages. However, most of my interactions with locals were short and about everyday topics, such as buying things, ordering food in restaurants, or asking directions. I did have longer conversations about various topics with some people.
Being immersed in a language, as I was, doesn’t necessarily mean that all aspects of your ability in that language will improve. You need to make an effort to speak to people about all sorts of things, to read the language as much as you can, to watch TV and films in the language, and to listen to radio, podcasts, audiobooks or other material. It also helps to make some local friends who you speak to regularly, and/or find a language exchange partner or tutor.
My Mandarin is maybe at an A2/B1 level, and my Cantonese is at an A1 level at the most. I can have long conversations about various things in Mandarin, and short ones about basic things in Cantonese. Generally, people understand me and some said that it was unusual to meet a Westerner who speaks Chinese well. When reading Chinese texts, there are always characters that I’ve forgotten or don’t know yet, but I can usually get a good idea of what the texts mean.
While I was in Hong Kong, I tried to speak Cantonese with people as much as possible, unless they preferred Mandarin or English. I was able to communicate at a basic level and understand at least some of what I heard.
Language Quiz
Outside Aliens
As a non-Chinese person in China, a word you’ll hear quite a bit is 外国人 (wàiguórén), which means foreigner, foreign national or alien. Some people like pointing out any foreigners they see, and they might say or shout 外国人 at them, assuming they won’t understand.
Me in front of the Old City Wall in Zhaoqing / 我在肇庆古城墙前
外国人 [外國人] (wàiguórén) could be translated literally as “outside country person” or “foreign nation person”. A slang version is 歪果仁 (wāiguǒrén) which literally means something like “slanted fruit benevolence” or “askew results humaneness” [source].
When Chinese people look at me and say 外国人, I might reply by saying I’m not a 外国人 but rather a 外星人 (wàixīngrén), which means space alien or extraterrestrial. This often gets a smile or laugh. Or I might point that to me they are the 外国人.
When I worked in Taiwan, I was officially an alien as I had an Alien Registration Card, which I found quite amusing.
外国人 is a formal and polite to refer to a non-Chinese national, and seems to be used particularly to refer to people who don’t look Chinese or Asian. Other ways to do so include:
- 老外 (lǎowài / lou5 ngoi6) – “old foreign” – this is an informal, slang term for foreigners, particularly foreigners of non-East Asian ethnicities, and is used throughout China in Mandarin and Cantonese. It is seen as offensive or rude by some [source]. It can also mean a layman or amateur, and in Cantonese it can refer to a father-in-law, specifically a wife’s father [source].
- 鬼佬 (gwai2 lou2) – “ghost man”, “devil person” – used in Cantonese and Eastern Min to refer to a foreigner, particularly a white Westerner. It is considered derogatory [source].
- 洋人 (yángrén) – “ocean / foreign person” – refers to a foreigner, especially a westerner or Caucasian. Used in some varieties of Mandarin, Gan, Hakka, Jin, Wu and Xiang [source]
- 外宾 [外賓] (wàibīn) – “foreign guest” [source].
- 国际友人 [國際友人] (guójì yǒurén) – “international friend”.
- 外国朋友 [外國朋友] (wàiguó péngyou) – “foreign friend”.
In China, people who were not born in the area they live are known as 外地人 (wàidìrén – stranger, outsider, non-local, out-of-towner) by local people. I met quite a few such people in Zhaoqing [source].
In the few days I’ve been in Hong Kong, I’ve seen more 外國人 than I did in 6 weeks in Zhaoqing. There, it’s rare to spot a 外国人 in the wild. Here, they’re more common. Today, for example, I heard 外國人 speaking English, French, German, Dutch, Russian and other languages I didn’t recognise. There were quite a few at Victoria Peak, which I visited today.
A view from Victoria Peak (太平山), Hong Kong
In Japanese, 外国人 (gaikokujin) is used to refer to a foreigner, an alien, a foreign national or a person who is not Japanese [source].
The informal version, 外人 (gaijin), is used specifically for foreigners of European ancestry, and used to mean any outsider, or an estranged or unfamiliar person. After Japan opened up to the outside world in the 1850s, 外人 started to be used to refer to foreigners, especially foreigners in Japan. It is considered negative and pejorative by some these days [source]. It can also refer to ethnically Japanese people who have grown up outside Japan and are not Japanese citizens [source].
