Omniglot News (14/08/22)

Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot. This week there are new language pages about: * Ambel (galí Ambél), a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken on the island of Waigeo, which is part of the Raja Ampat Regency in West Papua Province in eastern Indonesia. * North Marquesan (Te èo ènana), an Eastern Polynesian language spoken in the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. * South Marquesan (Te èo ènata), an Eastern Polynesian language spoken in the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. There are new numbers pages in: * North Marquesan (Te èo ènana) * South Marquesan (Te èo ènata) * Shan (လိၵ်ႈတႆး), a Southwestern Tai language spoken in northern Myanmar, southern China and northern Thailand. * Tai Lue (ᦅᧄᦺᦑᦟᦹᧉ), a Southwestern Tai language spoken in China, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar. * Ahom (𑜒𑜑𑜪𑜨), a Tai-Kadai language formerly spoken in the Indian state of Assam, which is being revived. There’s an Omniglot blog post about the French word Essuie-tout (paper towel) and related things, and the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is: Here’s a clue: this language was once widely spoken across North Africa and the Middle East, but there are now only small numbers of speakers. The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Akawaio (Ka’pon), a Cariban language spoken in northern Brazil and eastern Venezuela. There’s a new Celtiadur post are about words for Sailing and related things in Celtic languages. There’s an episode of the Celtic Pathways podcast about words for Bards and Poets and related people. In the Adventure in Etymology we find out what links the word Sneeze with words like pneumatic, pneumonia and pneu (tire/tyre in French). I wrote a new song this week called That’s When We’ll Do That Thing. It’s based on idioms for things that are very unlikely to happen or will never happen, like pigs flying or hell freezing over. It sounds a bit like this: Simon Ager · That’s When We’ll Do That Thing I also made improvements to the Dehong Dai / Tai Le script page, Tai Nuea and Tai Lue language pages, and there are now recordings of all the