美式慣用語(2): bone up on sth. (American Idioms (2): bone up on sth.)

美式慣用語(2): bone up on sth.
American Idioms (2): bone up on sth.

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免責聲明：本站所提供之音檔，除非另外註明出處，係皆由站長錄製而成，然站長既非英語母語人士、亦非英語教師，故此處之音檔僅供學習參考之用。

Disclaimer:  The audio files provided on this site were made of and by me unless otherwise indicated. Nevertheless, I am neither a native speaker nor a teacher of English. The sound samples are meant for reference only.

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bone up on sth.

中文：臨時抱佛腳；重新複習
English: study sth. hard, usually in preparation for a test; brush up on sth.

[例句] (Example)
Why not just bone up on the French or Russian I’d already studied years ago? (Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert)
[翻譯]
為什麼不乾脆複習一下我幾年前就學的法語或俄語就好了？（《享受吧！一個人的旅行》，伊莉莎白．吉兒伯特著）

[說明]
這個慣用語的來源主要有兩種說法，但至今都尚未被證實。第一種是說因為古代用獸骨（bone）來磨亮（polish）皮革，因此便將bone當動詞使用，以「bone up on某件事物」表示精進（polish）對該事物的認識。第二種說法是認為與維多利亞時代的一位名叫Henry George Bohn的書商有關係，由於他製作了大量的教學用書，因此後人便取他的姓Bohn的諧音bone，以「bone up on某件事物」來表示認真念書。

[Explanation]
"There are two chief theories as to the origin of this phrase. One is that it derives from the practise of using bones to polish leather. So, to 'bone up' on a subject was to polish or refine one's knowledge. The second theory relates to the Victorian bookseller Henry George Bohn (1796-1884). He produced a large catalogue of books, including many study texts.” (The Phrase Finder)

[網路例句] (Examples from the web)

• I have to bone up on the state driving laws because I have to take my driving test tomorrow. (The Free Dictionary)
• David Cameron vows to bone up on his history after Letterman show gaffe. (Sep 27, 2012, Guardian by Nicholas Watt)

[翻譯]

• 我得複習一下州立交通法規才行，因為我明天就要去考筆試了。
• (英國首相)大衛卡麥隆在《萊特曼秀》上出糗後誓言重讀歷史。

[參考工具](References)

• The Free Dictionary
• The Phrase Finder
• McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs

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噶瑪蘭語書寫系統簡介 (Introduction to the Writing System of the Kavalan Language)

噶瑪蘭語書寫系統簡介
Introduction to the Writing System of the Kavalan Language

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噶瑪蘭語總共有21個字母，其中4個為母音字母，17個為子音字母。字母及其發音分別如下：

There are 21 letters in Kavalan, 4 of which are vowels while the remaining 17 are consonants. The letters and their corresponding pronunciations in International Phonetic Alphabet are as follows:

[母音] (Vowels)

噶瑪蘭語字母 (Kavalan  letters)	國際音標 (International Phonetic Alphabet)
a	/a/
i	/i/
u	/u/
e	/ə/

[子音] (Consonants)

噶瑪蘭語字母 (Kavalan  letters)	國際音標 (International Phonetic Alphabet)
b	/β/
d	/ɮ/
h	/h/
k	/k˭/
l	/ɾ/
m	/m/
n	/n/
ng	/ŋ/
p	/p˭/
q	/q˭/
R	/ʁ/
s	/s/
t	/t˭/
w	/w/
y	/j/
z	/z/
’	/ʔ/

[附註]

• R是唯一必須大寫的字母，其發音與法語的r相同（例如：rester 「停留」）。由於噶瑪蘭語字母並沒有使用到小寫的r，本可只用r而不用R。然而，多數噶瑪蘭族人都會說阿美語，而阿美語裡使用小寫r表示顫音/r/，或許是為了要使噶瑪蘭人不致混亂，故特別使用大寫R來加以區別。
• 最容易混淆的兩個音是d所代表的舌尖有聲邊擦音與l所代表的舌尖閃音。前者如同蒙古語долоо「七」當中的л，而後者如同美式英語latter當中的tt。
• 噶瑪蘭語是少數區分長子音與短子音的台灣南島語。例如，sani「水獺」與sanni「癢」，以及sukaw「糟糕」與sukkaw「非常糟糕」。

[Notes]

• "R" is the only letter that always has to be capitalized. The sound it stands for is very close to the French “r” as in rester ‘to stay’. Since the lower case “r” is not used in the Kavalan alphabet, it could have been used to serve the function of the capital “R”. However, most Kavalan people also speak the Amis language, where the lower case “r” is used to stand for the trill /r/. So, probably in order not to confuse Kavalan people, the capital “R” is stipulated to represent /ʁ/ and the lower case “r” is reserved for the trill.
• The most confusing sound pair is probably the voiced alveolar lateral fricative represented by “d” and the alveolar flap represented by “l”. The former sound is close to the Mongolian л as in долоо ‘seven’ while the latter is very similar to the sound for “tt” in “latter” as it is pronounced in American English.
• Kavalan is one of the few Formosan languages that phonemically distinguish short consonants from long ones. Compare, for instance, sani ‘otter’ with sanni ‘itchy’ and sukaw ‘bad’ with sukkaw ‘very bad’.   

參考資料：
民國94年由行政院原住民委員會公告之《原住民族語言書寫系統》

李壬癸，2006，噶瑪蘭語的幾個音韻議題，發表於第16屆東南亞語言學學會之年度研討會。2006年9月20-21日於印尼雅加達阿瑪加雅大學。

References: Writing Systems of the Indigenous Peoples announced by Council of Indigenous Peoples, Executive Yuan in 2005

Li,Paul Jen-kuei. 2006. Some Problems in the Kavalan Phonology. Presented at the 16th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, 20-21 September, 2006 Atma Jaya University, Jakarta, Indonesia

一起來聽聽看噶瑪蘭語的美妙聲音吧！
(Let's get the feel of how Kavalan sounds!)

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台灣閩南語聲調(3): 升降調 (Tones in Taiwanese Southern Min (3): contour tones)

台灣閩南語基本聲調
Basic Tones in Taiwanese Southern Min

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免責聲明：本站所提供之音檔，除非另外註明出處，係皆由站長參照音韻規律錄製而成，然站長既非嚴格定義下的母語人士、亦非台灣閩南語教師，故此處之音檔僅供學習參考之用。

Disclaimer:  The audio files provided on this site were made of and by me unless otherwise indicated. Nevertheless, I am not a native speaker of Taiwanese Southern Min in the strictest sense, nor am I a teacher of the language. The sound samples are meant for reference only.

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[概論]
台灣閩南語總共有八個常用的基本聲調類型，但若只考慮音調的高低起伏，則可以簡化歸結為五個聲調，包含三個平調、一個升調以及一個降調。換言之，只要能區辨三種平調，聲調問題也就能迎刃而解了。

[Intro]

In Taiwanese Southern Min, which is mutually intelligible to Amoy/Xiamenese (also known as Hokkien in South East Asia), there are eight commonly used basic tonal types. However, if we take only pitch level and transition into consideration, the number can be reduced to five, including three level tones, one rising tone, and one falling tone. So, once you've got the level tones covered, you’re already good to go with the remaining tones. (Well, sorta.)

[持平調]

持平調可以分為長平調與短平調。長平調分為低、中、高三個，分別可對應到Do, Re, Mi三個音高，用數字標記則為11, 22, 33。同樣地，短平調也分為低、中、高三個，分別可對應到Do, Re, Mi三個音高，用數字標記則為10, 20, 30。舉例而言，長低平調的11表示兩拍Do，而短低平調的10表示一拍Do和一拍休止符。由於短平調只出現在以/p/, /t/, /k/或喉塞音結尾的音節當中，而長平調只出現在其他的音節型態，兩者不致混淆，因此可化約為低、中、高持平調，並分別簡記為1, 2, 3。

[Level tones]
Level tones can be either long or short. There are three long level tones, low, mid, and high, which respectively correspond to Do, Re, and Mi note in pitch, and which are numerically notated as 11, 22, and 33 in that order. Likewise, there are also three short level tones, low, mid, and high, which respectively correspond to Do, Re, and Mi note in pitch, and which are numerically notated as 10, 20, and 30 in that order. For instance, the 11 notation for the long low level tone indicates two beats of the Do note while the 10 notation for the short one means one beat of the Do note and one beat of pause. Since short level tones only occur in syllables that end with /p/, /t/, /k/, or the glottal stop whereas long ones only occur elsewhere, no confusion between the two types would arise. So, we can simply talk about low, mid, and high level tones and notate them as 1, 2, and 3 respectively without bothering to make the long/short distinction. 

[升降調] 

好在台灣閩南語都各只有一個升調和降調，只要音高有上升或下降，即使沒有發出正確的音高，也不致有太大的問題。升調起於Do止於Re，可用數字標記為12。降調起於Mi止於Do，可用數字標記為31。

[Contour tones]
Luckily, there is only one rising tone and one falling tone. So, as long as you are raising or lowering your pitch, you won’t be outrageously misunderstood even if you are not reaching the target pitch height. The rising tone starts with the Do note and rises to the Re note, so it can be numerically notated as 12. The falling tone starts with the Mi note and falls all the way down to the Do note, so it can be numerically notated as 31.



[附註]
此處以台灣南部腔為描述對象，各地的實際發音可能因方言差異而有所不同。

[Note]
The description here is only applicable to the southern dialect. The actual pronunciation may vary from one place to another due to dialectal difference.


參考資料：

• 台灣閩南語羅馬字拼音方案及其發音學習網

Reference:

• Tutorial on Romanization and pronunciation of Taiwanese Southern Min (The website is in Mandarin)

URL: http://www.ntcu.edu.tw/tailo/default.htm

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