Lexigame Community
General Category => Words => Topic started by: Roddles on August 17, 2019, 12:54:31 PM
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"Vocalic' in yesterday's 7-by-many game was the least common 'common' word accepted (played by 27 out or 220 players). While I don't generally get too uptight about the vagaries of what is classed as 'common' in Chihuahua, I can generally find any unplayed 'common' word hidden away in some distant galaxy in my head. But this one beat me, and I'm wondering if it is mainly my science-based background that is the problem, or whether it was known by others of any background ilk. Presumably it will be known to at least 27 of you, but how many others found it less than common. Is there a quorum for suggesting a change in status?
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I’ve looked it up in several sources and I still can’t work out what it means. I am sure I had never heard it before. However, I will leave it to the acknowledged wordsmiths to take up the argument.
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If you have a sore throat and the doctor or nurse presses a spatula down on your tongue and invites you to say 'aaaahhhh', they are asking you to produce a vocalic sound.
The sound you produce is a 'pure' vowel and not consonantal. The speech organs -tongue, palate, lips etc - are not closed at any point.
Common or rare? I'd say it definitely belongs in the 'specialist technical jargon' section and is therefore probably not common - but it has been many years since I studied phonetics.
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Vocalic was made rare in November 2019.