That little dangly thing all the way at the back of your mouth is called a uvula. In Latin, uva means grape, so uvula is something like “little grape.”
I’m going to have to search my Facebook now to find exactly what my daughter said, but one time she called it her vulva hahaha! It was after watching Monster House - the house was living and had a uvula.
But, you also made me look up “guttural” because I took a linguistics class back in undergrad and remembered something about it, but couldn’t remember exactly. The uvular r in German is guttural, but probably not the uvular r in Spanish. The definition is “a consonant articulated in the back of the mouth or throat” - but, it’s like a harsh sound if I’m remembering correctly. I loved learning about linguistics.
Neat. I read that the R in Spanish is technically less of a uvular R and more of what's called an alveolar trill (like the word "perro", EG), but I'm only just learning about this stuff. It really helps with pronunciation.
Also: the vulva/uvula idea immediately crossed my mind. I almost included it!
Yes! I had taken language classes in Jr High and High School (Spanish, French, German, and Russian), but the linguistics class in college really explained and gave me a different understanding of pronunciation.
Kristin, we are peas in a pod. I've done some pretty deep dives into linguistics over the years, and I really enjoy audiobooks on this subject, especially anything by John McWhorter. I love linguistic drift and putting those puzzle pieces together, and I think about PIE and other language families all the time.
I took French for 2 years in middle school, and then for another year in high school. I've perhaps retained un peu, but not much more.. however, now that I've done Duolingo Latin each day for like a year (very little time, maybe 5-10 mins each day), I can solve all Romance language puzzles much more easily now.
If I see a character in an animated cartoon open their mouth wide enough to see within it, usually if they throw the head up in frustration, I think of that as a "uvula shot".
Uvula is one of my favorite words to use when playing Scrabble! Grateful that you (and other commenters) explained the difference in "Rolling R's" as this issue came up when my son was attending University. He had taken 2yrs of French in high school and was still required to take another 2 yrs of a language so he chose Spanish, the teacher was from South America (which apparently has differences from other Spanish?!) and she gave him a horrible time about his "R's" and really put a damper on his Univ experience.
Yes! The overwhelming majority of Spanish speakers are living in central and South America, so they've sort of gotten into the cultural/influence driver's seat over the last few decades, especially as international TV has become accessible virtually everywhere. There's definitely a regional difference that even I can hear (in fairness, my family includes many Bolivianos, so I have had a lot of practice listening, even if I don't yet speak the language beyond un poco.
If you want to see a crazy difference in language, though, blow your mind by listening to a side by side comparison of Brazilian Portuguese, which I learned to speak very crudely - just um poco, really, with its European counterpart. This tripped me out the first time I heard it!
"And, there’s one more thing that I want to talk about today: puking."
There it is! I wondered when you'd move on from poop to other bodily functions. You didn't disappoint!
I have visited a Roman vomitorium. I know what's up. Er, quid novi.
I’m going to have to search my Facebook now to find exactly what my daughter said, but one time she called it her vulva hahaha! It was after watching Monster House - the house was living and had a uvula.
But, you also made me look up “guttural” because I took a linguistics class back in undergrad and remembered something about it, but couldn’t remember exactly. The uvular r in German is guttural, but probably not the uvular r in Spanish. The definition is “a consonant articulated in the back of the mouth or throat” - but, it’s like a harsh sound if I’m remembering correctly. I loved learning about linguistics.
Neat. I read that the R in Spanish is technically less of a uvular R and more of what's called an alveolar trill (like the word "perro", EG), but I'm only just learning about this stuff. It really helps with pronunciation.
Also: the vulva/uvula idea immediately crossed my mind. I almost included it!
Yes! I had taken language classes in Jr High and High School (Spanish, French, German, and Russian), but the linguistics class in college really explained and gave me a different understanding of pronunciation.
Kristin, we are peas in a pod. I've done some pretty deep dives into linguistics over the years, and I really enjoy audiobooks on this subject, especially anything by John McWhorter. I love linguistic drift and putting those puzzle pieces together, and I think about PIE and other language families all the time.
I took French for 2 years in middle school, and then for another year in high school. I've perhaps retained un peu, but not much more.. however, now that I've done Duolingo Latin each day for like a year (very little time, maybe 5-10 mins each day), I can solve all Romance language puzzles much more easily now.
I'm jelly about the Russian!
Russian was pretty great! One of my favorite classes! I pretty much only retained a few key phrases from each language.
I’m going to have to check out John McWhorter!
I love it. Let me know if you are swept away by others in the field, too.
If I see a character in an animated cartoon open their mouth wide enough to see within it, usually if they throw the head up in frustration, I think of that as a "uvula shot".
Uvula is one of my favorite words to use when playing Scrabble! Grateful that you (and other commenters) explained the difference in "Rolling R's" as this issue came up when my son was attending University. He had taken 2yrs of French in high school and was still required to take another 2 yrs of a language so he chose Spanish, the teacher was from South America (which apparently has differences from other Spanish?!) and she gave him a horrible time about his "R's" and really put a damper on his Univ experience.
Yes! The overwhelming majority of Spanish speakers are living in central and South America, so they've sort of gotten into the cultural/influence driver's seat over the last few decades, especially as international TV has become accessible virtually everywhere. There's definitely a regional difference that even I can hear (in fairness, my family includes many Bolivianos, so I have had a lot of practice listening, even if I don't yet speak the language beyond un poco.
If you want to see a crazy difference in language, though, blow your mind by listening to a side by side comparison of Brazilian Portuguese, which I learned to speak very crudely - just um poco, really, with its European counterpart. This tripped me out the first time I heard it!