Tongue-twister
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A tongue-twister is a phrase in any language that is designed to be difficult to articulate properly. Tongue-twisters rely on similar but distinct phonemes (e.g., s [link] and sh [link]).
- [Betty Botter] ([file info])
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- * Problems listening to the file? See [Media helpmedia help].
Many tongue-twisters use a combination of alliteration and rhyme. They have two or three sequences of sounds, then the same sequences of sounds with some sounds exchanged. For example, She sells sea shells on the sea shore. The shells that she sells are sea shells I'm sure. (or a variation: She sells sea shells on a sea shore, so the shells she sells are sure sea shore shells).
The hardest tongue-twister in the English language is supposedly The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick. An even longer version of this is The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick so six slick sheiks sold six sick sheep six silk sheets.
Some tongue-twisters are specifically designed to cause the inadvertent pronunciation of a swearword if the speaker stumbles verbally. An example in Polish is ząb, zupa zębowa, dąb, zupa dębowa (a tooth, tooth soup, an oak, oak soup). The word dąb forces an unsuspecting victim to further utter dupa dębowa (oak arse).
Two English examples of this sort:
One sock cutter he cuts socks,
two sock cutters they cut socks,
three sock cutters they cut socks,
they all cut socks together.
I'm not the pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant plucker's mate,
And I'm only plucking pheasants 'cause the pheasant plucker's late.
I'm not the pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant plucker's son,
And I'm only plucking pheasants till the pheasant pluckers come.
Another English tongue twister:
Betty Botter bought some butter, "But", she said "this butter's bitter, If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter! But a bit of better butter will make my batter better!". So she bought some better butter, better than the bitter butter, and she put it in her batter and her batter was not bitter! So 'twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter. .
Some foreign loanwords contain unfamiliar constructs, which are used in tongue-twisters. For example, Finnish strutsin perhe (the family of an ostrich) has the consonant cluster str, whereas consonant clusters do not occur in native Finnish words. Repeated, this might be pronounced as strutsin perse (ostrich's arse).
Something that might be regarded as a type of tongue-twister is a shibboleth, that is, a phrase in a language that is difficult for someone who is not a native speaker of that language to say. An example is Georgian baqaqi ts'khalshi qiqinebs (a frog croaks in the water), in which “q” is a sort of gulping sound.
There are as many tongue twisters as there are languages. One Japanese twister reads "Basu Gasu Bakuhatsu," meaning "Bus Gas Explosion."
The sign language equivalent of a tongue twister is called a finger fumbler. According to Susan Fischer [link], the phrase "Good blood, bad blood" is a tongue-twister in English as well as a finger-fumbler in ASL.''
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