Sort of! It's more like the study of language, and how people think of grammar, and how words are built, and how sounds and created, and how language affects the brain, and all sort of bizarrely specific stuff like that.
DO NOT WORRY, I don't really expect many people to know. I was just curious as to how many people did! And I study a few languages anyway, so that's probably confusing, too.
My dad's a linguist! (He's just started his PhD, he's going off to do field work later this year.) I... did a year of it and then got scared off by the horror of phonetics. XD;;
That's awesome! What sort of field work is your dad going to be doing?
Heh, phonetics have until recently been the bane of my existence, I didn't understand them at all and was totally sure I was going to fail the next test. But now I've started to get it, so I am feeling SLIGHTLY MORE HOPEFUL.
Yeah, I kinda figured you'd know what it meant! ONE CAN HOPE. Though now that I think about it, I think you're my only friend that I actually talk to about it. Not counting my LJ, but that is more like ... talking to a void.
They don't start with the same sound! Thy starts with ð, which uses your vocal chords, and thigh starts with θ, which does not! If you try to whisper both words, they'll sound exactly the same, because you don't use your vocal chords when you do that. TRY IT.
You're still hearing a difference? You're probably listening it wrong, then. Or not really wrong, but when you whisper a few English sounds and words are actually indistinguishable, but that doesn't cause communication problems because your brain sorts things out by what it expects to hear. So you hear differences between words when there actually aren't any because you know they're not the same word.
OR, there's additional pronunciation differences I don't know about, or you pronounce the words differently than I do due to regional differences, or THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS TO CONSIDER I don't even know.
Edit: Actually, I think everything I just said was wrong and one of them is pronounced with a falling tone and the other one isn't. THIS IS BEGINNING TO IRRITATE ME.
There is no "I think it's the study of the structure of language, and how different languages differ and relate within those structures" option! This poll is biased, sir!
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2009-03-20 05:54 am (UTC)DO NOT WORRY, I don't really expect many people to know. I was just curious as to how many people did! And I study a few languages anyway, so that's probably confusing, too.
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Date: 2009-03-20 06:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-20 05:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-20 05:56 am (UTC)Heh, phonetics have until recently been the bane of my existence, I didn't understand them at all and was totally sure I was going to fail the next test. But now I've started to get it, so I am feeling SLIGHTLY MORE HOPEFUL.
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Date: 2009-03-20 06:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-20 06:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-20 07:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-20 07:37 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2009-03-20 07:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-20 07:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-20 07:53 am (UTC)Holy shit, how DO you tell them apart?
I CAN DO IT BUT I CAN'T TELL HOW. THIS IS INSANE.
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Date: 2009-03-20 07:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-20 01:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-20 06:24 pm (UTC)OR, there's additional pronunciation differences I don't know about, or you pronounce the words differently than I do due to regional differences, or THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS TO CONSIDER I don't even know.
Edit: Actually, I think everything I just said was wrong and one of them is pronounced with a falling tone and the other one isn't. THIS IS BEGINNING TO IRRITATE ME.
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Date: 2009-03-20 06:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-20 10:32 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2009-03-20 06:37 pm (UTC)