Questions tagged [standard-average-european]
For questions concerning the Standard Average European (SAE) Sprachbund and its common features.
6
questions
0
votes
0answers
47 views
Vowel Change in Europe Book
Perhaps a rogue question but my father loves languages and when on holiday in Holland was trying to tell me about the two vowel (or constant? Shifts) changes that occured, and so why English and ...
9
votes
2answers
899 views
How Standard Average European is Modern Hebrew?
Standard Average European (SAE) is a Sprachbund centred around German and French and extending to almost all European languages. Haspelmath has examined Maltese for SAE features, but he did not ...
0
votes
1answer
110 views
Periphrastic verb forms in Gothic
What periphrastic verb form are attested in the Gothic language, the oldest Germanic language we have substantial records from?
Skimming through a grammar of Gothic I found that for the past tense ...
7
votes
1answer
710 views
Subtypes of Standard Average European
I was looking at a sprachbund called Standard Average European, which seems to include Germanic, Romance and Slavic languages. I will not list all the features here since they can be found on ...
11
votes
6answers
457 views
How did the same perfect-tense structure become so widespread in Europe?
In many Germanic and Romance languages, the perfect tense is formed with the verb 'to have' or 'to be' plus a past participle. It's easy to find explanations ["I have an arrow (which is) made (by me)"...
16
votes
6answers
895 views
Is there a term for the syntax difference between English “I like you” and Spanish “Tú me gustas”?
English and Spanish each have one main verb for "to like".
In English "to like", the grammatical subject must be the one doing the appreciating:
I like her.
But with Spanish "gustar", the person ...
