All Questions
1,105
questions
43
votes
15
answers
487k
views
What's the difference between phonetics and phonology?
Having practiced armchair linguistics for some years I should be able to sum up the difference off the top of my head, yet often I don't know which term to use.
And looking them up on Wikipedia doesn'...
- 14.4k
10
votes
4
answers
2k
views
A list of parts of speech
I want to know if there are other parts of speech -other than particles- in other languages than English or other Romance/Germanic languages.
- 579
29
votes
4
answers
14k
views
Is there a list of mutually intelligible languages?
Is there a list of languages which are mutually intelligible (i.e. a speaker of A can understand language B and [perhaps] vice versa)?
And would this beg the question of whether they really are ...
- 491
49
votes
5
answers
14k
views
Why do most words for "mother", across languages, start with an [m], and for "father" with [p]/[b], but not vice versa?
It has been observed that in general, a word for "mother" tends to be based on a bilabial nasal [m] or similar consonant, and for father it tends to be [b] or [p]. This is found in many language ...
- 8,451
15
votes
8
answers
4k
views
Is the very concept of the phoneme disputed?
I believe there was some important research published in recent decades which brought a fundamental change to the way linguists think about phonemes.
Or is it that the concept of the phoneme has ...
- 14.4k
13
votes
3
answers
4k
views
How are languages and dialects distinguished from one another?
Are there any cases where two varieties of the same language are treated as separate languages, or where two distinct languages are treated as varieties of the same language. If so, why?
- 1,293
49
votes
9
answers
216k
views
What's the difference between syntax and grammar?
From what I've read, both terms have to do with the rules of formation of sentences. I've seen grammar used in mathematical contexts, in computability theory, where it has a precise definition. But ...
- 593
-1
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How can PSG describe the vertical dimension of sentence structure? [closed]
PSG (phrase structure grammar) describes the horizontal dimension of sentence structure with strings, sequences of sentence parts, in a way we are all familiar with. We know that nominal expressions, ...
- 12.3k
26
votes
4
answers
19k
views
Worldwide map or data for linguistic distance?
I came upon an excellent graphical representation of the linguistic distance between a number of European languages. I'm looking for a similar worldwide map of currently spoken languages. Or at least ...
- 848
21
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Connection between right (opposite of left) and right (legal term)?
Does anyone know of a connection, or some sort of established historical/etymological explanation why in a few languages, "the opposite of left" and "legal term" are the same or seemingly related ...
- 313
3
votes
1
answer
387
views
Eliminating intermediary forms to account for production and perception
If linguistic rules which describe the derivation of surface forms from underlying ones, are meant to account for both production and perception, then it seems that intermediary forms like the two ...
- 2,701
25
votes
23
answers
27k
views
Is there a language whose writing is 100% phonemic?
Is there a language that has a complete one-to-one correspondence between the graphemes (letters) and the phonemes of the language?
In other words, is there a language that is 100% ideally phonemic?
- 621
20
votes
7
answers
2k
views
What divides semantics from pragmatics?
To my understanding... Semantics is the raw meaning and connotations a word carries on it's own and pragmatics is the context-dependent meaning a word holds.
Is this accurate? Can anyone explain it ...
- 303
65
votes
10
answers
16k
views
Why did early Indo-European languages seem to be morphologically complex?
Apparently there is a general trend that languages lose morphological marking over time. For example, according to this question PIE had 8 noun cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, etc), Latin 5, ...
- 8,451
19
votes
8
answers
52k
views
What is the difference between native language, first language, mother tongue and L1?
Note: I'm not a linguist, and I realize I might be treading in a grey area here.
I'm wondering what the differences (and/or similarities) between native language, first language, mother tongue and L1 ...
- 366
10
votes
4
answers
49k
views
What is the difference between complements and adjuncts?
What is the difference between complements and adjuncts? I always have a problem drawing a tree diagram for the syntax structure of a sentence with placing complements with word level category and ...
- 103
9
votes
1
answer
5k
views
What are the differences between palatal consonant and palatalized consonant?
In IPA chart, there is a column named "palatal consonants", including consonants as ɲ, c, ɟ, ç, ʝ, ʎ for example.
There is also a 'palatalization sign': ʲ, which can be applied to all consonants, used,...
- 93
41
votes
10
answers
4k
views
Languages that are gaining morphological distinctions
In diachronic comparison of languages, say PIE to Latin to Romance, it is a classic recognition that the later languages strictly lose some of the morphologically marked categories. PIE had 8 noun ...
- 4,416
25
votes
8
answers
17k
views
Why did English lose declensions while German retained them?
Why did (or more specifically what caused) English lose declensions whilst they were retained in German? I ask as I have recently been reading into the various Germanic languages and it struck me that ...
- 353
20
votes
6
answers
7k
views
What's the global difference between nouns and verbs?
Is there a way to distinguish nouns and verbs that applies to all languages?
This problem has been occupying my mind for some time now. I'm not quite sure how to approach this question, so I'll just ...
- 2,126
13
votes
3
answers
4k
views
How to distinguish a polysynthetic language from other languages? When is something a word?
For example, the probably most quoted sentence in a polysynthetic langauge (from Yupik):
tuntussuqatarniksaitengqiggtuq:
tuntu- ssur- qatar- ni- ksaite- ngqiggte- uq
reindeer- hunt- FUT- ...
- 133
9
votes
3
answers
13k
views
What's the difference between recursion and embedding?
Chains of relative clauses and strings of attributive adjectives are both examples of recursion--Correct?
Chains of relative clauses have each non-initial relative clause embedded within the previous ...
- 8,651
9
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Definition(s) of phoneme
What different definitions of phoneme do you know?
Please note that I'm not asking for an explanation of what phoneme is but rather for professional definitions. I'm interested in how the issue is ...
- 1,842
3
votes
5
answers
915
views
Could Proto-Indo-Uralic be reconstructed?
I am interested in linguistics and how words spread from place to place. I have seen that there are two language families, and that there are signs that they might be related. Proto-Indo-Uralic is the ...
- 1,523
45
votes
9
answers
8k
views
Is there any language that uses different pronouns for "we" depending on whether the spoken to person is included in the group?
As in "we are going out tonight" using a different word for "we" depending on whether you mean "me and some other people" or "you and me (and potentially other people as well)".
- 561
38
votes
5
answers
3k
views
Why does speech speed seem to vary between different languages?
I feel that French and Spanish speakers speak their languages faster than English speakers do. Is this difference real, or is it just a mistake in my observation (note: I am much less familiar with ...
- 8,451
24
votes
1
answer
5k
views
Deciphering a handwritten script
There are many studies on calligraphy, and in some cultures (Chinese, Indic, Arabic) it became a really significant part of culture.
However, there are not only examples of good handwriting. Often we ...
- 8,604
23
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Is there a linguistics equivalent to Turing completeness?
In computer science, programming languages can be described in terms of "Turing completeness", basically, whether a programming language is capable of expressing any* algorithm. A non-Turing-complete ...
21
votes
7
answers
18k
views
Convert audio recording of word to IPA representation
Are the any open source tools/software libraries to convert an audio clip to its IPA representation? If so, are they accurate? If not, why not?
Here is a Gaelic word I wish to convert:
Ogg format:
...
- 1,042
19
votes
8
answers
3k
views
Is the countable vs mass noun distinction common outside English?
English makes a difference between count nouns (also known as countable nouns) and mass nouns (also known as uncountable nouns).
Count noun: One cat, two cats, few cats.
Mass noun: Some information, ...
- 14.4k
17
votes
5
answers
2k
views
What empirical evidence can be produced that all syntactic structure is binary branching?
A tenet of the Minimalist Program is that all syntactic structure is binary branching. Merge always merges two constituents to a greater constituent until the greatest constituent, the sentence, is ...
- 5,495
17
votes
11
answers
6k
views
Replacing Chinese characters with pinyin forever as Vietnamese did
I know both languages to a certain extent. By no means I am fluent; reading is still a challenge, especially in Chinese, thus I am not allowed to firmly stand by my opinion.
I often ponder on the big ...
- 1,179
15
votes
2
answers
1k
views
What is the minimal set of words that make a language "complete"?
In programming languages, there is a concept of turing completeness - whenever a system reaches "turing completeness", it is capable of emulating any programming language and, thus, as expressive as ...
- 151
14
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Do some Slavic languages have an "extra" gender distinction for animate nouns?
I seem to recall hearing and reading that certain Slavic languages including Czech treat animate nouns as something like an extra gender. Even Wikipedia in some places counts more than three genders ...
- 14.4k
14
votes
3
answers
104k
views
Does an IPA to 'English' translator exist?
IPA is really tricky to read, especially for beginners like me.
Are there any online tools that can almost 'convert' pasted IPA into phonetic pronunciations or similar?
I've tried Wolfram|Alpha ...
- 141
13
votes
1
answer
2k
views
How did Chinese recursion evolve?
The modern Chinese linguistic recursion system is essentially the same as English. If you have a highly embedded sentence, you can translate it word for word, the embedding is very much the same. In ...
13
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Where to find frequency list of English words from newspapers, books and magazines?
I'd like to download a frequency list of English words that are most common in newspapers, books and magazines. It should contain at least 50.000 words.
Is it possible to download such a list from ...
- 281
13
votes
14
answers
4k
views
Languages with multiple forms of the verb "to be"
Many languages have multiple forms of the verb "to be". For example, Spanish has ser and estar, while Nepali has हो and छ. Some other examples are given in this nice blog post. My question is: what ...
- 233
13
votes
6
answers
85k
views
What is recursion?
What is recursion? I've looked at the Wikipedia's explanation (recursion and then recursion in language) but that explanation is not really clear.
- 139
12
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Is a loanword also a cognate or are the two terms mutually exclusive?
A borrowing or loanword is when a word from language A is added to the lexicon of language B, with whatever phonological adaptations are necessary.
But is a cognate only a word directly inherited ...
- 14.4k
12
votes
6
answers
6k
views
Are some languages more advanced than others?
I have read about animal communication, particularly in mammals and historical evidence in early hominoids. Naturally, I am always amazed how much information species like dolphins and orcas can ...
- 291
12
votes
4
answers
2k
views
How are proper nouns distinguished from other nouns in linguistics (not in orthography)?
When you ask most people the difference between common nouns and proper nouns they mostly can only tell you that proper nouns start with a capital letter.
But this has problems:
Capital letters and ...
- 14.4k
11
votes
5
answers
14k
views
What is the difference between a diphthong and a glide?
It's easy for me to imagine the difference, but hard for me to conceptualize it. I guess one involves two vowels and the other involves a consonant, right? Am I on the right track, or is there a more ...
- 486
11
votes
3
answers
1k
views
How can adjective-noun order in French be explained by parameter theory?
I just finished reading The Atoms of Language. The gist is that languages have parameters, one of which will tell you which side of a phrase to add a new word.
But in some languages, like French and ...
- 2,894
10
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Textbooks in Formal Semantics / Montague semantics
I'm looking for a cheap, thorough but reasonably accessible introduction to formal semantics. There appear to be lots of options on the market. I assume there are plenty of experts in formal semantics ...
- 201
10
votes
2
answers
820
views
Are "txt-speak" and "emoticons" examples of normal language evolution?
"txt-speak" appeared because of the need to fit a communication into 160 characters.
"Emoticons" appeared due to the need to convey an emotional context with your message so that it is read correctly ...
- 289
10
votes
9
answers
8k
views
Textbook suggestions for syntax, semantics/pragmatics and phonetics/phonology
I am coming to linguistics from a completely non-linguistic background; I was a mathematician. Next year I will start taking some serious (Master's level) linguistics courses and I would like to have ...
9
votes
3
answers
10k
views
How to determine which phoneme a group of allophones realizes?
This question is related to this other one, about the difference between Phonetics and Phonology.
I can understand the difference between the two subfields as well as what it means to produce ...
- 8,168
9
votes
2
answers
17k
views
What defines a language?
I'm reading around multimodal text and many of the readings I have come across (Kress, Halliday) seem to define language as spoken or written communication. That seems to exclude sign language and ...
- 576
9
votes
1
answer
225
views
How are dictionaries produced
What are the steps invoked in producing a dictionary?
I am primarily interested in understanding the role software plays in the production process.
Obviously a corpus for the language is first ...
- 1,042