Search found 2998 matches
- 26 Apr 2024 23:54
- Forum: Conlangs
- Topic: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
- Replies: 1758
- Views: 366440
Re: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
A few questions about Measure Words: Can a language without measure words borrow a limited amount of MWs wholesale, instead of developing its own MWs from its own vocabulary? I don't see why that wouldn't be possible? lots of measure-y words in English are loanwords, from words for small quantities...
- 26 Apr 2024 17:35
- Forum: Conlangs
- Topic: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
- Replies: 1758
- Views: 366440
Re: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
Specifically, the way you can tell if something is only an allophone or actually a distinct phoneme is, usually, through a so-called "minimal pair" test. If your language contains two words with different meanings that are exactly the same in pronunciation EXCEPT that one has [ɣ] and one h...
- 26 Apr 2024 02:14
- Forum: Conlangs
- Topic: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
- Replies: 1758
- Views: 366440
Re: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
[ɣ] ─ or, as you're describing, possibly something like [ɣʲ] or [ɣ͡ʝ]? I'm not a phoneticist ─ is not a phoneme, but it is a phone that occurs, and an allophone of /xʼ/. So it depends whether you want to have a chart of your phonemes or of all of the phones that occur in the language. I'd recommend...
- 26 Apr 2024 01:19
- Forum: Linguistics & Natlangs
- Topic: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
- Replies: 892
- Views: 281038
Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
:lat: Latin NUNC "now" :esp: Spanish nunca "never" < NUMQUAM It's nunc or nunca ... Venī strictē mē tentum :wat: Google Translate suggests that this is Latvian? Goes to show how much it knows; I am sure it is Latin. Yet is this a pun of some sort that I am not getting? I have lo...
- 19 Apr 2024 14:00
- Forum: Conlangs
- Topic: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
- Replies: 1758
- Views: 366440
Re: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
ETAONRISHDLFCMUGYPWBVKJXQZ Traditionally, it's considered to be ETAOIN SHRDLU CMFWY PVBG KQJXZ (the letters of a linotype keyboard). Wikipedia also gives the orders (putting the trad version next to them for easier comparison): ETAOIN SHRDLU CMFWY PVBG KQJXZ (trad) ETAOIN SRHDLU CMFYW GPBV KXQJZ ET...
- 19 Apr 2024 13:09
- Forum: Conlangs
- Topic: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
- Replies: 1758
- Views: 366440
Re: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
Using a word gen, having troubles deciding what order of frequency my phonemes should be in. Learned that phoneme distributions tend to follow a Yule-Simon distribution pattern. So I have a bunch of questions whose answers i think will give me insight on what to do: 1) Would sonorants/resonants be ...
- 14 Apr 2024 21:41
- Forum: Language Learning & Non-English
- Topic: Latin questions (Lingua latina)
- Replies: 3
- Views: 228
Re: Latin questions (Lingua latina)
That's not a fallacy, though. That's all totally logical. It leaves one premise (the reason to not want something to happen in a certain place) unexpressed, but the argument itself is logical. Premise 1: some people don't like it when other people kiss in public [kind of implied by the very fact of ...
- 12 Apr 2024 20:44
- Forum: Everything Else
- Topic: The Sixth Conversation Thread
- Replies: 797
- Views: 200895
Re: The Sixth Conversation Thread
I tend to slightly overcook everything - due to a combination of laziness, poor timekeeping, and paranoia (it's better to slightly overcook and be disappointed than undercook and be vomiting!) - and unfortunately quinoa does not respond well to being overcooked. But properly-cooked quinoa bought fro...
- 10 Apr 2024 23:04
- Forum: Linguistics & Natlangs
- Topic: Whale Linguistics
- Replies: 7
- Views: 315
Re: Whale Linguistics
This seems rather over-egged. Playing a noise game - which you can do with a cat or a dog - is not the same as having a conversation. Even if whales can speak, they wouldn't necessarily use speech when playing a turn-taking noise game. I don't have any resources off-hand but you can search for them ...
- 09 Apr 2024 00:25
- Forum: Conlangs
- Topic: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
- Replies: 1758
- Views: 366440
Re: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
I think you're kind of coming from the wrong direction and getting trapped as a result. Languages don't work on the principle of "here's a cool label a linguist invented - I guess I'd better work out where it most logically applies!" They work on the principle of "this is what we do, ...
- 05 Apr 2024 00:39
- Forum: Conlangs
- Topic: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
- Replies: 1758
- Views: 366440
Re: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
Voiced codas can lengthen vowels, but I wonder if long vowels can voice codas? In my conlang, Middle Wenthish, a Germanic language, I voice consonants after long vowels - and, since this isn't something that comes naturally to me or that I've done in any other language, I presume I had a good reaso...
- 03 Apr 2024 19:07
- Forum: Linguistics & Natlangs
- Topic: False cognates
- Replies: 910
- Views: 334544
Re: False cognates
Another odd thing about having a language from an entirely different biome is stuff like "ribbit". There are no frogs that sound anything like that here, just "gronk gronk gronk", "reeeeeeeeee", "wark" and "ree-kit-kit" ... some that just make a lou...
- 03 Apr 2024 18:23
- Forum: Conlangs
- Topic: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
- Replies: 1758
- Views: 366440
Re: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
Do the triggers also have to be back?
- 30 Mar 2024 02:09
- Forum: Conlangs
- Topic: The Great Exposition of Ruykkarraber
- Replies: 32
- Views: 2023
Re: The Great Exposition of Ruykkarraber
Please don't use the word "experiencer" for 'intransitive subject'. It's WRONG . Rather, "experiencer" is a semantic role that may or may not be an intransitive subject. Many, in fact, most intransitive subjects aren't experiencers. [:x] [:$] [>_<] Thank you; I've looked it up, ...
- 30 Mar 2024 01:29
- Forum: Conlangs
- Topic: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
- Replies: 1758
- Views: 366440
Re: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
Does anyone have any advice about how to make a reference grammar of a conlang in the style of a real reference grammar? (Aside from reading a lot of real reference grammars.) How should it be organized? What should it include? It should include whatever is necessary to fully describe the language,...
- 30 Mar 2024 01:26
- Forum: Conlangs
- Topic: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
- Replies: 1758
- Views: 366440
Re: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
What do you think of this vowel harmony system? Is it plausible? It's /a e i ɤ o ɯ u/ /o u/ are rounded /ɤ ɯ/ are unrounded /a e i/ are neutral /a/ is usually unrounded/back in rounding/backness harmony systems and paired (or re-paired) with a back rounded or front unrounded vowel. Are there any ot...
- 29 Mar 2024 23:29
- Forum: Linguistics & Natlangs
- Topic: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
- Replies: 1137
- Views: 296642
Re: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
I don't think anything and everything is the correct answer. I know of no language that uses only word order to distinguish person, number, tense, aspect, modality, or evidentiality. But I might be wrong of course. I can't name any, but I'd be surprised if there are no languages that at least secon...
- 29 Mar 2024 02:14
- Forum: Everything Else
- Topic: Web 1.0 nostalgia
- Replies: 12
- Views: 891
- 29 Mar 2024 02:13
- Forum: Everything Else
- Topic: Web 1.0 nostalgia
- Replies: 12
- Views: 891
Re: Web 1.0 nostalgia
Late 19th and early 20th century Russia was an amazing time period, culturally. Diverse political engagement, and a fantastically rich artistic culture - graphic art, literature, music, architecture. There's various modernists, alongside both conservatives and populists, all in dialogue with one ano...
- 28 Mar 2024 21:29
- Forum: Linguistics & Natlangs
- Topic: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
- Replies: 1137
- Views: 296642
Re: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
Another of my 'speculative' questions... How might a language develop an animate/inanimate (or any other binary gender-like) distinction, on demonstratives specifically? I ask about demonstratives, since they are likely one of the first points in the development of a gender system (at least accordi...