All Questions
10,784
questions
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9
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How much are the pronunciations of 'è' and 'é' distinguished in modern French? [migrated]
There's a similar pair of pronunciations in Korean, ㅐ and ㅔ; their pronunciations are not exactly the same as é and è but very similar. And the modern Korean has lost the distinguishment between these ...
- 73
3
votes
1
answer
83
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Representation of /o/ phoneme in Cuneiform
I was reading Wikipedia's introduction into the Elamite language, where it says that it had a vowel inventory of /a/, /e/, /i/ and /u/. “What a coincidence,” I thought, “just like Akkadian!” Now, ...
- 131
0
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0
answers
28
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Conas a déarfá, as Gaeilge, 'like the god Lú' [closed]
Táim ag scríobh agus tá gá agam le cur in iúl an gníomh a bhfuil an aidiacht aige 'de nó cosúil leis an dia Lú.' Conas a athraíonn tú an t-ainmfhocal ‘Lú’ ina aidiacht?
Mar shampla, as Béarla, ...
-1
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0
answers
17
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Looking for a large context free grammar [duplicate]
I've lost hope looking for a large context free grammar file resource. It could be either German or English and should cover a somewhat large variety of sentence structures.
The only thing I found ...
0
votes
1
answer
39
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How to type IPA quickly on Mac?
I want shortcuts (pre-existing or customised) for IPA symbols.
I've installed IPA Unicode keyboard, which works fine on notes/ google docs but not on pages. I don't have ms word.
Keyman does not come ...
- 1
0
votes
1
answer
64
views
What script is this, and what does it mean? [closed]
A girl in the gym has this printed down her trousers but has no idea what the text means or where the trousers even were bought from.
My two guesses are either Amharic or Oghams. Who knows?
- 111
1
vote
0
answers
37
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How do I identify constituents and clause boundaries?
I'm going through some practice exercises for an upcoming exam and trying to do syntax trees is really tripping me up. Could anyone please walk me through how they would break them down and how to ...
- 59
-1
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0
answers
26
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Reading suggestions for Dutch language games (okki-taal, p-taal, Panovese Kal)?
Do you know of relevant readings on the languages of okki-taal, p-taal, and Panovese Kal?
- 17
2
votes
2
answers
227
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About phrasal verbs, separable verb and verbs with adverbs
I was wondering about the concepts listed in the title. In one side we have the separable verbs in German, like mitkommen:
Ich komme mit.
On the other hand we have phrasal verbs such as think over ...
- 1,416
5
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0
answers
78
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Do the "gibberish lines" in the Charition farce reflect a Dravidian language?
The Charition farce (P.Oxy. III, 413) is a Greek theatre play which tells the story of a girl, Χαριτίων Charitíōn, who is held captive in a coastal kingdom of India. The only manuscript of this ...
- 660
0
votes
1
answer
61
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Determining the number of phonemes from set of phones
For this exercise, I'm to determine the number of phonemes from a set of phones and then write their allophonic rules for each phoneme
phones: [b], [ɣ], [β], [l], [t], [d], [g]
However, I think I'm ...
-1
votes
2
answers
127
views
Half-letters in American English
I'm an American spending some time in Japan, and notice that even though most people know some English words, they have a hard time understanding and pronouncing a word like "left" because ...
- 99
-2
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0
answers
17
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Jeevem Sharadah shatam is in first person plural What will be second person for the same sentence [closed]
In Sanskrit
Jeevem Sharadah Shatam is first person singular. What will the sentence be in second person singular
-2
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0
answers
40
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What comes to you when you hear "wizzhub". Generally is it something bad? [closed]
First of all I would say I'm not native English guy.
For some reason I have to choose decent web name. I think an opinion from native Englishmen it's what I need to consult to. If I'm googling the ...
-2
votes
0
answers
66
views
Explain why this sentence is non-equative or equative sentence [closed]
Why this sentence “Cairo is not the largest city in Africa” is a non-equative sentence.
- 1
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0
answers
32
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The acceptability of verbal phrase ellipsis and subject-auxiliary inversion in triple modal sentences
I have been researching on multiple modal constructions, which is a feature used in the Southern United States. Unlike Standard English, this dialect allows more than one modal auxiliary per clause.
...
- 1
2
votes
1
answer
58
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How exactly are vowel qualities plotted on a neat quadrilateral chart?
How exactly are vowel qualities of a particular speaker, or average qualities of the speakers of an accent, plotted on a neat quadrilateral chart like these (from the Wikipedia articles for Received ...
- 340
-2
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0
answers
35
views
What is "SUBCAT<>" in HPSG Framework?
When I tried to read articles that are related to HPSG theory, I encountered the following picture. It seems that the tree in HPSG is very complicated and hard to understand. So, in this forum, does ...
- 173
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0
answers
26
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Distance between languages [duplicate]
This question is similar to this one; the difference is that I'd like to find out about quantitative measurements that are not based solely on the vocabulary.
Are there any such objective quantitative ...
- 101
3
votes
1
answer
47
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Clarifications on exophora
An exophora is an expression referring back to something outside the text. Specifically, wikipedia states "not in the immediate text".
Does “not in the immediate text” mean not within the ...
- 243
-1
votes
1
answer
98
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How and when was the name of Somalia written with س in Iran?
In Arab world Somalia is written with ص. They call it صومال.
But in Iran where people use so many Arabic words in a daily basis without misspelling them, write Somalia with س. They write it سومالی.
...
- 157
0
votes
1
answer
94
views
Why do Spanish words change meaning when put in a sentence? [closed]
The word "ponga" means "I put" but when put in this sentence: Que solo la mire de lejito y se ponga asi" is "That he only looks at her from afar and gets like this" &...
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1
vote
1
answer
69
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In PIE, what was the function of the suffix *-(ō)l?
For example, in the word:
*H₃nóbʰ-ōl / *H₃ómbʰ-l̥ "navel" (Wiktionary: Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₃nóbʰōl)
- 11
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votes
2
answers
60
views
How can we represent a stressed monosyllabic word?
According to Wiktionary, in Chinese, the word 是 means "truly; indeed" when it is stressed. However, according to Wikipedia, it appears that the concept of word stress is not applicable to a ...
- 1
0
votes
1
answer
86
views
Closeness between written words and spoken words over different languages
In my understanding, the different languages exist in spoken form and (mostly) in written forms (what about sign languages?).
Some languages have developed a close relationship between the written ...
- 101
-1
votes
1
answer
61
views
Standard representation of dialects across cultures?
If you expand the "Dialectal data" link here on the Chinese Wiktionary, you see like ~40+ what I'll call "varieties". They are grouped under 2 categories:
Variety (parent group, ...
- 4,130
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votes
0
answers
15
views
Is there any type of app that trains my english skills?
I like to write some more in english and for that I want to improve my vocabulary (and overall grammar skills). Is there an app that focuses on teaching new words and explains their meaning? I know ...
2
votes
1
answer
87
views
Possessive reflexive pronouns (himself's, herself's, myself's, etc.)
"He looked out the window and saw his car."
Does "his" mean the same person initially called "he", or someone else? In English, it could be either one.
If the English ...
- 635
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0
answers
45
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Syntax of proto language entries?
I saw the asterisk * in proto-lang words like *ŋgo means it is not observed (i.e. hypothetical). However, what is the full syntax for these proto sort of words? I am looking at the links here and ...
- 4,130
1
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0
answers
32
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Is this syntactic tree correct so far? [closed]
*Not homework
I have been doing practice problems, but I am really struggling with syntax trees.
I think I have the first part of the tree, but I'm not sure about the rest.
Here is the practice ...
- 21
-1
votes
1
answer
44
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What are the 2 errors of the tree diagram for the sentence "Did Sarah find the man in June?" Explain each error + how to correct it [closed]
[
Syntax tree of the sentence Did Sarah find the man in June? with two errors that need to be solved and explained.
I have been doing practice linguistic questions to prep for a future uni course, but ...
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10
votes
3
answers
6k
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Are the vast majority of Ukrainians more proficient in Russian than Ukrainian?
An answer to a different question pointed out that the vast majority of search engine queries coming from Ukraine, before the invasion, seemed to be in Russian. That was despite the fact that the ...
- 1,012
0
votes
1
answer
44
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Can complementisers be glossed as "C"
I have been glossing complementisers as "C" for years and I could have sworn that I got this from the Leipzig Glossing Rules list of standard abbreviations, however, recently, when I looked, ...
- 87
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0
answers
56
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How should this English sentence be parsed linguistically? [closed]
On p173 of Section "Subjective Truth and the Problem of Relativism" of The Big Questions by Solomon:
Rationality is tying our knowledge and our lives together in the most coherent and ...
- 829
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50
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Did the discovery of Akkadian texts written in Ugaritic script affect our knowledge of Akkadian?
Besides Ugaritic, Hurrian and Akkadian texts, written in Ugaritic alphabetic script, were also discovered at Ras Shamra.1
My question is straightforward: did the discovery of Akkadian texts written ...
- 969
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0
answers
11
views
Historical pronunciations [migrated]
Is there a unified resource that gives the pronunciation of an English word according to how those most responsible for establishing its current spelling would have pronounced it?
- 99
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0
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46
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Is there a name for a word that includes two or more words that overlap on one more or more letters?
I'm wondering if there's a name of a word that is either fully or partially formed of multiple potentially overlapping words?
A couple of examples of what I'm thinking of is something like:
static
...
8
votes
2
answers
3k
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Is there a list of word meanings that are universally represented in all languages?
I am looking for a comprehensive list of words/concepts that are represented in most if not all known languages - presumably the category would include human body parts (hand, foot, mouth, eye), ...
- 211
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0
answers
40
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Does the word "mi" mean anything by itself in finnish?
Starting to learn finnish, I have noticed lots of question words in finnish all start with the syllable "mi": mika, mista, missa, miten ...
Does "mi" mean anything by itself, or is ...
- 101
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votes
3
answers
133
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Does English have genuine literary conversation without the use of Latin and Greek words?
The most languages have their own literary and original way of conversation and writing, which is different from common conversation. This dichotomy between the speech of the courtiers and the ...
- 87
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0
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56
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Why do words become unpopular
It seems like there are a lot of words that just decrease in usage without any immediate cause like word being considered inoffensive or there being no usage for the word anymore. So what might cause ...
2
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0
answers
15
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To what extent can Jakobson's communicative functions be applied to an analysis of written texts?
As a tutor of teachers in Spain taking the state entrance exam for English I am often confronted with the typical exam question 'identify the communciative fuctions' for text analysis. The teachers ...
- 21
1
vote
1
answer
154
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What influenced the fact in almost all European languages the word human "man" means a male?
Why "werman" (OldEnglish man as male) became simply Man (human) and "wifman" (OldEnglish man as female) became woman?
Man in English (man, human)
Homme in French (man, human)
Mann ...
- 27
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0
answers
13
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What is "Argument Visibility" and “INFL“ in Case Theory?
I didn't know much about case theory. Can anyone help me explain the meaning of "argument visibility" in a way that is easy to understand?
What's more, does the "INFL" mean "...
- 173
3
votes
1
answer
104
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Why is P the head of PP?
I was wondering what arguments there were to know that P is the head of a phrase [P + N].
As far as adjunct phrases are concerned, we can clearly see that as Ps select Ns (*during the rock; *in the ...
- 69
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votes
2
answers
49
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Can "words" ever have multiple parts of speech?
I am considering the design of database schemas for various word types, and wondering how the properties work. For example, it appears that a wordnet entry has 1 partOfSpeech and 1 lemma. But I don't ...
- 4,130
11
votes
5
answers
3k
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Why did Japanese borrow words for simple numbers from Chinese?
I just realised that all (standalone) Japanese numbers from 1-10 are borrowed from Chinese (maybe except 4 and 7 if they're read as よん and なな instead of し and しち). Now, I understand why a language ...
- 113
2
votes
4
answers
103
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Does there exist a pair of words with the same parts of speech, same base form, but different inflections?
I will attempt to illustrate my question via example. Let's say we have two verbs which are homonyms of eachother: "fleeber" and "fleeber". The first means "to create a soft ...
- 23
0
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0
answers
14
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How to calculate significance of the number of deponent verbs with a certain feature? [migrated]
In a language like Ancient Greek, verbal forms are marked for voice. Some verbs exist only in the middle (or passive) voice, but appear to have an active meaning, e.g. ἔρχομαι 'come'.
Suppose I have ...
- 3,760
3
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0
answers
89
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How did "y" come to represent the semi-vowel yod /j/ in French orthography?
I went down a bit of a rabbit hole trying to work out where the different sounds of the "y" in English came from. I quickly established that the semi-vowel was originally written with a yogh,...
- 141