LINGUIST List 2.258

Thursday, 30 May 1991

Disc: Tongue Twisters

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. Dr M Sebba, Re: Czech and Zulu Tongue Twisters
2. ChangBong Lee, Re: Korean Tongue Twisters
3. Victor Raskin, Russian Tongue Twister
4. "ELISE EMERSON MORSE-GAGNE", long tongue twister

A version of a Czech tongue-twister which has already appeared on
the list (taught to me by a Czech; I don't know Czech myself, so
I have to guess where the diacritics are. The r's should all have
a wedge (hacek) on top. I may have misspelt some words.


Trista tri a' tridsat stribrnych krepelek
Preletelo pres trista tri a' tridsat stribrnych strech

(333 silver swallows flew over 333 silver roofs).

A Zulu tongue-twister: I don't know whether this is a folk one,
or was made up by linguists at the University of the Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg (it comes from a handout dated 1972):

Ingqeqebulane yaqaqela uqhoqhoqho, uqhoqhoqho waqaqela iqaqa,
iqaqa laqalaza.
(The expert talker loosened up for the trachea, the trachea loosened
up for the polecat, and the polecat looked around in amazement.)

Another:

Amaxoxo ayaxokozela exoxa ngoxamu exhibeni.

The frogs are talking loudly about the monitor lizard.

Q is a palatal click, x is a lateral click.

Here is one more interesting example in Korean.

 choki kirin kurim-i amkirin kurin kurimi-nya sutkirin kurin kurim-nya?

 there giraff picture-NOM female giraff drawing picture-QR male giraff
 drawing picture-QR

 "Is that giraff picture there a picture drawing a female giraff or 
 a male giraff?

 NOTE: NOM: nominative, QR: Question Particle

Also, fellow Korean linguists, don't you have some problems 
in pronouncing the following phrase?

 "Choongangchong cholchangsal"

 meaning "steel bar of the Central (govenment) building"

Is it time for a Russian one:

Shla Sasha po shosse i sosala sushku.
Walked Alexandra along highway and sucked dried bagel.
Alexandra was walking along the highway and sucking on a dried bagel.

Victor Raskin
raskinj.cc.purdue.edu

I'm no whiz in modern German dialects, so someone might want to fix this
one up after i've massacred it. And identify the dialect!
Heut' kommt der hans zu mir;
aber ob er ueber Ueber-Ammergau,
oder ob er unter Ueber-Ammergau,
oder ob er ueberhaupt nicht kommt,
ist nicht gewisst.

Today hans is coming to (see) me;
but if he over Over-Ammergau,
or if he under Over-Ammergau,
or if he absolutely not comes,
isn't known.

I think I left out a (not very tongue-twisty) line after the first one,
and I'm a little surprised at the way "kommt" in the 4th line of my version
seems to have to do duty for the previous two lines...anyone out there
know the real thing?
--Elise Morse-Gagne'

[End Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 258]