Cartoon Theories of Linguistics Part 3—Morphological Typology—Phineas Q. Phlogiston, Ph.D. SpecGram Vol CLII, No 3 Contents

FonoNurikabe

   

Trey Jones
l’École de SpecGram, Tokyo

FonoNurikabe #1
The FonoNurikabe Puzzle

α = sibilants in “pathologicopsychological”
β = affricates in “cholecystojejunostomy”
γ = liquids in “laterals”
δ = nasals in “nonrepresentationalism”
ε = sibilants in “sibilant”
ζ = bilabials in “hyperleptoprosopic”
η = voiceless alveolar lateral fricatives
        in Welsh “Lloyd Llywelyn”
θ = voiceless dental fricatives in “thirteenth”
ι = diacritics in French “crème brûlée”
κ = alveolar trills in Spanish “ferrocarril”
λ = liquids in “liquids”
μ = voiceless stops in “tektite”
ν = palatal approximants in “yo-yo”
ξ = voiceless stops in “topknot”
ο = glottal stops in Hawai‘ian “hō‘a‘ā”
π = laterals in “liquids”
ρ = fricatives in “ghoti”

We’re at it again!


T with Upper-left Hook
SpecGram is pleased to continue our seemingly endless series of Linguistically-Themed Pseudo-Nihonese Puzzles. Now it is time for FonoNurikabe, a linguisticky variant of the en vogue Japanese logic puzzle Nurikabe.

FonoNurikabe is a simple extension of the traditional Nurikabe form. First, replace each Greek letter with the number indicated by the clue provided. (The reference pronunciation is Standard American English.) Then proceed with the standard Nurikabe rules to figure out for each cell of the grid whether it should be black or white. To wit:

    HitoriGuistiku Solution

Solution to the
HitoriGuistiku Puzzle
from last time.

Now, the solutionwell, a solution at the very leastto the HitoriGuistiku puzzle from last issue is at right. Four seemingly correct solutions for this puzzle were submitted, and from that group four winners have been selected to receive SpecGram magnets as prizes. Congratulations to our winners:

If you find yourself compelled to undertake FonoNurikabe, email your solution to SpecGram. At least one random winner chosen from among those who send in correctly completed puzzles by June 15th, 2007 will be awarded a SpecGram magnet.

A solution (possibly even the correct one) and the name of the prize winners (if any) will appear in the upcoming July issue.

Cartoon Theories of Linguistics Part 3—Morphological Typology—Phineas Q. Phlogiston, Ph.D.
SpecGram Vol CLII, No 3 Contents