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Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2018 September 30

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September 30

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ǃ͡kxʼ

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Is there an audio of this sound? མཀུཏ (talk) 01:15, 30 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

We don't have audio for that complex consonant specifically, but we do have audio for the first part (Tenuis alveolar click, the "!" click) and a separate audio for the rest of it (kxʼ). Maybe hearing it in two parts would be helpful. —Stephen (talk) 11:25, 30 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Nautical terms

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Why do nautical terms have many silent letters?? Georgia guy (talk) 19:35, 30 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

If you mean bosun < boatswain and fo'c'sle < forecastle, presumably because of a tendency of sailors to orally abbreviate... AnonMoos (talk) 20:12, 30 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I'd go all out for fo'c's'le myself. HenryFlower 20:53, 30 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Seafaring folks'll agree. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots23:29, 30 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]