Re: Odd orthography

Terrence Donnelly wrote:

> I've been surfing some rap or hip-hop (I'm not "hep" to the "lingo"
> anymore!) Webpages and noticed an odd phenomenon, and I'm wondering
> if there is a name for this or anything similar in other languages.
>
> On most of these Websites, the plural "s" is consistently replaced
> with a "z" (eg. "Boyz").  It's not just an attempt to reproduce
> pronounciation, since they also do it when the sound is still "s"
> (eg. "Linkz").  They also do a lot of strange things with titles of
> songs, some of which almost read like a rebus, but I can't detect any
> consistent pattern.
I don't know if it has a name. I believe the intention is to show that they
are different, 'original' perhaps -- and this could make them get a bit
close to us conlangers, in a twisted sense. These people do not conform to
standards in language (written and spoken).

Anyway, they have to be understood, so they take advantage of the features
of written English, and also the underlying set of 'writing-to-speaking
translation' rules that every English-speaking person has. For example, you
know you _must_ pronounce /s/ after an unvoiced consonant, and /z/
otherwise. Then it's the same to use either 's' or 'z'. The official system
uses 's', so they use 'z'.

I've it happen in Spanish -- not to a great degree, and always in
commercial brands and that sort of context. In general, here in Argentina,
if someone wants to show a 'difference', they use rebus, or a shift like
'c' -> 'k' or 'i' -> 'y'. But there's also the extensive use of English
words -- or things that look like English. I personally think this is
silly, and it certainly produces horrible or ridiculous results sometimes
(for we who understand the English real meaning). Imagine you launch a new
soap to the market and you name it "Mr. Soap" -- this is what they do, but
the general consumer here speaks no English!

Another related thing is the use of the English possessive -'s. A stylist
(who probably calls himself 'coiffeur' or 'atelier') opens his new business
and names it "Ricardo's". But sometimes he will name it "Pelo's" ('hair's')
or "Estilo's" -- i. e. invent a name and append -'s to it to make it cool!

The examples of this use of English are countless -- a soap called 'Skip
Intelligent', diary products called 'Milkaut' or sliding plastic roofs
called 'Boxer'...


--Pablo Flores

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