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Quiz #5 - Opposites Abstract
Today's quiz is brought to you by my colleague, Pericles. The quiz is based on the premise that, over time, sound changes always happen in languages, and a logical evolution of consonants can reasonably turn one word into any other word. As a sample, here is a progression which might morph "yes" into "no".-> yęs vowel becomes nasal ("ę" as in "pants")
-> yęns nasal vowel breeds a nasel consonant
-> yęnəs "ns" seperated by vowel ("ə" like second vowel in "Parliament" or "Funkadelic")
-> yęnus stress shifts to second syllable, schwa becomes full vowel ("u" as in "nookie")
-> y'nus first vowel lost ("y'n" as in "y'know what I like about pancakes?")
-> inus "y" loses consonantal character, u shifts back (now "u" as in "loose")
-> nus first vowel lost
-> nu "s" lost
-> no vowel shifts forward
That process, by the way, will take around 300 years naturally, or 30 hours with some pharmacolinguistic stimulus. Each sound change should be justifiable -- whether the justification is explicit or implicit should be left to the linguist puzzler's discretion. If you are proud of your clever solution, you may send it in and have it published here! Email your transitions to info@postcardlanguage.com .
1. yes -> no
2. pepsi -> coke
3. water -> wine
4. peecee -> mac
5. wrong -> right
And, for some extra fun, some fill-in-the-blanks!
6. _____ -> woman
7. man -> ______
8. _____ -> taco -> ______
Email your funny answers to info@postcardlanguage.com !
