Language desk
< July 14	<< Jun \| July \| Aug >>	July 16 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

July 15[edit]

Mathemiticians names in IPA[edit]

I've begun putting together a "Mathematician pronunciation guide" for myself at User:Foxjwill/Mathematician pronunciation guide, and because I'm interested in IPA, I thought it would be fun to try and put the pronunciation in IPA. But since I'm what would be called an "amateur," I'd really like it if someone (or -ones) could check the pronunciations for me, and explain why my mistakes were mistakes. Foxjwill 05:10, 15 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Are these supposed to be as the mathematician would have pronounced their own name, or as it's pronounced in English today? Tesseran 05:39, 15 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In the first case, what a challenge! I am not sure that Descartes would pronounce its name today in the same way as he used to do it in 1610: French pronounciation has evolved. --AldoSyrt 13:03, 15 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It would actually be very interesting to try for both! Foxjwill

For Mandelbrot and Peano (in current French and Italian pronunciations) see Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2007 April 12#Names. --Lambiam 14:20, 15 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think /nˈj/ in Agnesi should be /ˈɲɲ/. --Lambiam 14:30, 15 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Why /ˈɲɲ/ apposed to /ˈɲ/? Foxjwill 02:19, 16 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In d'Alembert /əm/ should be /ɑ̃/ (I think). Also note that French has no word stress, but only phrasal intonation. --Lambiam 14:45, 15 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

What do you mean by French not having word stress? Foxjwill 02:19, 16 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There's some information under Stress (linguistics)#Timing and placement and Prosody (linguistics). ---Sluzzelin talk 13:02, 16 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I do not feel confortable with IPA, thus FWIW (Today standard French from Île-de-France):

Alexis Claude Clairaut - /klɛʁo/

Jean le Rond d'Alembert - /dalɑ̃beʁ/

Gérard Desargues - /dezaʁg/? /dɛzaʁg/? /dəsaʁg/?

Pierre de Fermat - /fɛʁma/

Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier - /fuʁje/

Camille Jordan - /ʒɔʁdɑ̃/

AldoSyrt 19:49, 16 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Latina derriere[edit]

A girl who wants to be a ballet danser describes herself as having a "curvaceous Latina derriere". Am I right if it is a fat bottom? But why Latina?

She's referring to the popular stereotype of Hispanic women as gluteally gifted. Bhumiya (said/done) 10:04, 15 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

She is Latina, perhaps? — gogobera (talk) 04:33, 16 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

See also Vida Guerra. Ballet is (in)famous for imposing very strict, very lean body standards on its dancers. --TotoBaggins 17:22, 16 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

A useful word here is steatopygous Adambrowne666 21:03, 16 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed, stereotypes like steatopygia have captivated white male minds for a long time, see also Saartjie Baartman. ---Sluzzelin talk 22:43, 16 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]