Questions tagged [grammar]
A body of rules, features, or generalizations which reliably differentiate between grammatical and ungrammatical constructions.
348
questions
2
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1answer
103 views
Distribution and origin of reflexive pronouns like “myself” across languages
I'm neither a professional linguist nor a native English speaker, please excuse me if I use any term incorrectly. Feel free to make and suggest edits to make my question more clear.
Question
Hello,
...
1
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1answer
60 views
How does switch-reference typically arise in a language?
How does switch-reference typically arise in a language?
In linguistics, switch-reference (SR) describes any clause-level morpheme that signals whether certain prominent arguments in 'adjacent' ...
0
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0answers
35 views
Diacope Confusion
I'm a little confused by diacope as a rhetorical feature. All examples I can find are short simple sentences "drill baby drill" for example.
I'm trying to work out what the correct term would be to ...
-1
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2answers
56 views
How to know when to use a direct and indirect object pronoun [closed]
Il faut les rendre actifs - we have to make them active
Nous devons leur donner le choix - We have to give them the choice
Please can someone explain why the second sentence takes an indirect object ...
1
vote
2answers
69 views
Is wrong article use a matter of pronunciation or grammar?
I was in a discussion with someone, where they described my wrong use of an article as a "mispronunciation". I argued it was rather a matter of grammar, as I did pronounce the article correctly, but ...
0
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2answers
73 views
Why isn't this sentence in a passive form? [closed]
I found this sentence in a grammar book for grade 10
Which CD sells the most? A traditional music CD.
I wondered why it isn't in a passive form, or just because it's used in spoken context?
-4
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2answers
72 views
Chains of nouns in English
English is becoming so indifferent to the proper roles of parts of speech that I have been finding longer and longer chains of nouns in written materials. I am under the impression that chaining ...
29
votes
1answer
5k views
Is it unusual that English uses possessive for past tense?
When learning some basic French, I was somewhat surprised to learn that phrases of the form "I have found the cat" generally translate almost word-for-word from English (J'ai trouvé le chat). To me, ...
0
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1answer
76 views
Context-Free grammars and Language
As someone trained in neither, how could you explain the analogies between context free grammars / languages and certain programming languages in computer science? Have I misunderstood whether there ...
-1
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2answers
112 views
How many sound-to-letter sequence mapping rules does English have compared to other languages?
In English (I haven't really thought too much about English yet), there are tons of what-seem-like one-off patterns.
(the "oo" sound)
tool /tul/
two /tu/
to /tu/
through /θɹu/
blue /blu/
queue /ku/
(...
1
vote
1answer
35 views
Which option should I use if I want to learn theories that will account for as much English sentence's structure as possible
Option 1: "Cambridge English Grammar Language" by Geoffrey Pullum
or
Option 2: a site which, i think, is based on government and binding theory: https://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/syntax-textbook/
...
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1answer
69 views
How definitive are “patterns” in grammar across languages?
So when you learn a new language from English like Spanish in school, they make it seem like "hey there's these clear patterns and rules once learned you'll master spanish". So you learn the verb ...
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3answers
105 views
What is the 'best' language, and by what metrics, why those metrics…? [closed]
This is sort of the old question that you'd see whispered about a lot in Western academia, and shouted out by linguists of the past, who had their own circumstances, own canons, own less-connected (?) ...
0
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2answers
158 views
Why do languages modify their words for different moods?
At the bottom on Wikipedia's Grammatical Moods page they list a bunch of different moods, but not all of them. I have yet to find a list of all moods across languages (if you know of one please ...
0
votes
1answer
80 views
How does the Thai language express the instrumental?
In English and many European languages the instrumental is expressed with a preposition:
I eat noodles with chopsticks.
(But "with" is not dedicated to this function and has other uses such as the ...
1
vote
2answers
86 views
In which languages could a phrase like “We went to lunch with Bob” signify an event in which exactly two people took place?
I'm sorry for the perhaps weirdly worded question, but here's my attempt to explain better what I mean:
In English, if I say
"We went to lunch with Bob" means that the people involved are me, Bob, ...
1
vote
3answers
53 views
In what sense do non-restrictive phrases limit meaning?
In what sense do non-restrictive phrases limit meaning?
It's well known that non-restrictive phrases are inessential to the meaning of the sentence because they
do not limit the reference of a ...
0
votes
2answers
70 views
What is the boundary of morphologically decided gender assignment and the phenomenon like a/an-distinction in English from a synchronic perspective?
And are there any examples in world's languages of the one mechanism developed into the other?
Grammatical gender is a specific form of noun class system in which
the division of noun classes ...
34
votes
4answers
6k views
Why isn't “I've” a proper response?
Suppose someone asked me the question, "Have you completed the project?". A standard response would be "I have". Why does the equivalent "I've" sound so strange and never used as a replacement?
I am ...
-1
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1answer
115 views
Can anyone explain me the structure of the FCFG grammar
I was not able to understand the grammar rules explain in discourse.fcfg file.
Can any one help me understanding SEM means in S[SEM = <app(?subj,?vp)>] -> NP[NUM=?n,SEM=?subj] VP[NUM=?n,SEM=...
4
votes
3answers
493 views
Is the concept of grammatical function related to inflexion?
Studying the book Understanding Morphology by Martin Haspelmath, arrived at this fragment.
The importance of the latter part of the definition is seen in paradigms like insula. Although there are ...
5
votes
1answer
102 views
What is considered a grammatical case in the framework of turkic languages?
Let's take kazakh language as an example. In every source I've read there are 7 cases in kazakh language:
nominative úı - a house, laq - goatling;
genitive úı-diń - of a house, laq-tiń - of a ...
1
vote
3answers
218 views
How to 'correctly' measure the complexity of the grammar of a language?
Linguists have some methods to measure the complexities of the grammar of a language. Some linguists may refer to how many grammar rules that language has. some may also refer to how many morphemes ...
2
votes
1answer
833 views
Paradigmatic vs syntagmatic relationship
I was exploring some various aspects of corpus linguistics and studying different approaches to corpus research on the internet when I came across these phinomena of paradigmatic
and syntagmatic ...
0
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2answers
96 views
When is a thing correctly called a person? [closed]
When does a thing become a person, in any language. When is it correct grammar to refer to a thing as a person?
1
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2answers
130 views
Can we predict language death just by looking at grammar?
Is it possible to predict that a language is about to die out just by looking at its structure? So without taking into account the number of native speakers it has and other external factors? If so, ...
1
vote
1answer
94 views
Standardized and ambiguity-free language
Is there exist a language (the natural or the constructed one) with a completely standardized and ambiguity-free rules, and which is suitable for the modern use?
I am wondering for a language which ...
1
vote
1answer
81 views
Grammatical case vs semantic case
I'm not sure what these terms mean. In my lecture notes I wrote that grammatical case is used to show the syntactic functions of a nominal syntagm, depending on its relation to the verb. Semantic case,...
0
votes
2answers
61 views
How to break down sentences into known grammatical categories
I'm trying to break down and analyse different sentence structures in English. Each group contains one present, past, and future sentence, but otherwise should be the same within a group.
1
He ...
1
vote
3answers
236 views
What's the difference between a modifier and a complement?
Take this syntax tree as an example:
Why is a prepositional phrase (PP) sometimes a post-modifier and sometimes a complement? What is the difference in general? I need to be able to spot them and ...
2
votes
0answers
29 views
Grammar induction from grammaticality rules
Let's have formalisation of grammaticality judgments in some deduction system. Is it possible to learn/induce grammar from rules that govern grammaticality judgments? Is there theory, that connects ...
1
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1answer
146 views
Is there such thing as a 'half-plural'?
If yes, does any language have this feature?
By 'half-plural' I mean, somewhere between singular and plural, but not dual, trial, or quadral.
2
votes
2answers
90 views
Is English “<adjective> to <verb>” an idiomatic schema, or what do you call “easy to do”?
Is the question clear? Idiomatic scheme is not a term of art, I guess, but it's idiomatic and it follows a schema.
It's a weird one, for sure. Some thoughts:
The Adjective can't be removed
* The ...
0
votes
1answer
113 views
How to understand semelfactive aspect of a verb? How is it varied/similar to iterative aspect?
How semelfactive aspect of a verb that represents a single occasion of an event like knock,hit etc..is perfective and moment defined.
whereas,iterative aspect is event that is repeated on single ...
-1
votes
1answer
117 views
Describing continuity and change (like mou and mada in Japanese)
In Japanese, mada まだ refers to a continuing state: 'still (as it was)' or 'not (changed) yet', and mou もう is about change: 'already (changed)' or 'no longer (the same)'. Are there other languages ...
3
votes
0answers
68 views
How is “In we go” syntactically valid?
Various simple sentences occur in English that I can't explain precisely.
"In we went!"
"Off he goes!"
Is this an arcane idiom from an earlier grammar, or is there a general rule that can be ...
0
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0answers
43 views
Principle C of Binding Theory and Cataphoric Reference, why these notions are against each other?
Principle C of Binding Theory stated that 'referential expression' can not be c-commanded, even across clause boundaries.
While cataphoric reference refers to a reference which occurs before its ...
23
votes
2answers
2k views
Fourth person (in Slavey language)
I was reading a Wikipedia article about the Slavey (Slave) language in Canada, and it says that Slavey has first, second, third and fourth person. I've never heard about a language having a fourth ...
1
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1answer
87 views
If you can use nouns as verbs for different languages
Along the same lines of If you can use Chinese nouns as verbs, or vice versa, I am wondering if you can treat nouns as verbs or verbs as nouns in languages such as these:
Inuktitut
Hebrew
Japanese
...
3
votes
0answers
60 views
Behaviour of attributive nouns in foreign languages
A common construction in some foreign languages, but seemly not in English, is to use a noun where we would use an adjective. The two forms are:
A: PRONOUN "BE" ADJECTIVE
B: PRONOUN "HAVE" ∅-...
-1
votes
1answer
105 views
Is *grandmother* a compound?
"Grand is used in a specialized sense in kin terms like grandmother or grandson to indicate a further degree of lineal distance beyond that expressed in the head. Such forms can themselves be modified ...
7
votes
1answer
263 views
Etymology of Latin infinitive verb endings
I was wondering, what the etymology of Latin infinitive verb endings -are, -ere and -ire was. I assume they are Indo-European, but I haven't found any information about it.
-1
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1answer
46 views
Universal Grammar or Other Area of Study
So, what I am wondering about is what I should look up to study the following. From my understanding, there is a limited number of ways languages are implemented. That is, there is a set of abstract ...
1
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2answers
50 views
Can the need for ambiguity lead to merge of grammatical person, or other semantic merge?
My mother tongue doesn't distinguish 3.SG.F and 3.SG.M in speech. In some cases I feel the redundancy of it and the need for ambiguity of the grammatical person when I speak a language which ...
1
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0answers
34 views
Are there any statistic how similar are any two languages? [duplicate]
Are there any statistics on how similar any two languages are?
For a whole language (lexical and structural) or maybe just a comparison of two dictionaries (vocabulary)?
3
votes
2answers
115 views
Understanding Feature Grammar syntax
Background: I am a software dev who doesn't really know much about linguistics but I am trying to learn some of it for an application I'm making
I am trying to understand Feature Grammar syntax, and ...
2
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0answers
48 views
How are clauses containing adverbial clauses and free modifiers represented in syntax trees?
I know that relative clauses simply go in the noun phrase containing the noun they modify, but what about adverbial clauses and free modifiers? How do you represent a clause containing an adverbial ...
1
vote
4answers
115 views
All that glitters is confusing!
"All that is gold does not glitter"
"Not all that is gold glitters"
The first phrase appears in Lord of the Rings, modified from Shakespeare, and contextually implies that "Aragorn is vastly more ...
5
votes
1answer
92 views
Experimental support for construction grammar?
I realize there are many different instantiations of Construction Grammar (CxG), and I'm not necessarily tied to any particular version yet. I was curious if there are experiments that support CxG, or ...
1
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0answers
33 views
Noun Phrase/absolute clause distinction
What is the difference between a supplemental noun phrase and a absolute clause? In these examples and in general. Is it just the non-finite nature of the second example ?
He won at his favourite ...
