All Questions
10,541
questions
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Perplexity of a model on charatcer and word level
Consider a LM in which each word has 6 letters in average. Can one rightfully assume that perplexity of the model on character level is 6 times the perplexity of the model on word level?
- 1
1
vote
2
answers
67
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Is there a database out there for mapping verb tense to its base form?
Obviously, almost all the online dictionaries could map some verb forms like "spoke, spoken, speaking, speaks" to its base form "speak".
I've searched this on github but didn't ...
- 3,526
3
votes
1
answer
138
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Update: what is the structure of the copula sentence in phrase structure grammar
When it comes to the copula sentence, usually the noun phrase preceding the copula is subject.
(1)The problem is the kids.
(2)??The problem are the kids.
(3)The kids are the problem.
(4)*The kids ...
- 5,495
0
votes
1
answer
16
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Why do some Vietnamese words have the tone marking on the last letter?
In my Vietnamese class at uni we learned that Vietnamese words have their tone marking on the second to last sound. However I've repeatedly run across cases where it appears on the last letter even if ...
- 2,935
1
vote
0
answers
114
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Are there natural languages with required, grammatical, emotional context markers?
Having seen some examples of ANADEW (A natlang's already dunnit, except worse) I was wondering if that statement applies to required, grammatical, emotional context markers, such as the conlangs of
...
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8
votes
3
answers
2k
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Is Russian the most diverged Slavic language?
Does the Russian language have more innovations and divergent development from other languages in the Slavic branch?
I am asking, because I always had the feeling, that the tense and pronunciation in ...
- 409
2
votes
2
answers
48
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Does 'z' act as a coda or onset in the syllable structure for the word crazy?
I am working on drawing the syllable structure for the word crazy. So far within kreizi, ei and i are nucliet, kr is an onset, but I am stuck on the 'z'. There are many words that start with z in the ...
- 76.8k
2
votes
1
answer
121
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A question regarding allomorphs
According to Wikipedia, two different word forms (allomorphs) can actually be different "faces" of one and the same word (morpheme). An example is the English indefinite articles a and an.
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1
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0
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17
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What is meant by "present thinking" in Goldstein's work on aphasia?
I am writing a paper on aphasia and have come across some work by Kurt Goldstein.
Apparently, Goldstein claims that people with aphasia speak without thinking first, and that their speech is not ...
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0
votes
1
answer
68
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Oxford/Cambridge Sanskrit Book
A few years ago I came across a book on Sanskrit (not a dictionary, not a grammar book, not a book on Sanskrit literature( that belonged to the "Classical Language Series" from either Oxford ...
- 7,314
0
votes
4
answers
129
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Human natural language metalanguage
I was thinking about how a controlled grammar of English can be used as a programming language because it’s fully parsible.
The idea of doing this for other languages, such as Sanskrit, brought me to ...
- 6,299
3
votes
1
answer
217
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Linguistic analysis of ChatGPT's default style of writing
Even though ChatGPT can - better or worse - mimic other writers' styles, it exhibits something like a default style of writing which is not very "characteristic" (because it's the ...
14
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.
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9
votes
2
answers
3k
views
What's the real need for an end-symbol in n-gram models?
There's a footnote in Jurafsky & Martin (2008, p.89) pointing out that, without an end-symbol, an n-gram model would not be "a true probability distribution". Even after seeking the paper they've ...
3
votes
0
answers
18
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Is an OBL argument in complement or adjunct position?
My syntax lecture materials on Arguementhood vs Adjuncthood explain that one difference between arguments and adjuncts lies in the participation in alternations: only arguments participate in ...
- 145
0
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0
answers
22
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"come a long way" [V+OBJ/COMP/ADJUNCT]?
Can someone tell me
i) in terms of constituent tree structure, if a long way is a complement as opposed to an adjunct
ii) in terms of thematic roles, whether a long way takes on the role of location ...
- 145
2
votes
0
answers
50
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What does information-status mean in linguistics?
The phrase information-status is used repdeatly in the article "Definiteness and Information-status in Hindi", Baldridge, 1996, but what does it mean? Could someone explain it simply/ say ...
0
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0
answers
64
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Is there any language where we say that places come to us rather than that we go to the place?
I don't know how to put my question abstractly, but it seems so on in all languages I am familiar with, we say "I am going to the store" rather than "the store comes to me".
For eg:...
0
votes
1
answer
93
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Why are some Word Classes not Immediately Dominated by a Phrasal Category?
Source: pp 106-107, Syntax, A Generative Introduction (3 ed, 2012) by Andrew Carnie
[6.] iv) English Phrase Structure Rules
a) CP ⟶ (C) TP
b) TP ⟶ {NP/CP} (T) VP
c) VP ⟶ (AdvP+) V (NP) ({NP/...
CommunityBot
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2
votes
5
answers
2k
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Are ~simba (Bantu) and ~simha (Indic) related?
Does Swahili (and hence cognates of other Bantu languages) simba have any relation to सिंह (~singh or ~simha in Hindi and Sanskrit respectively according to Wiktionary, please correct me if I am wrong)...
- 76.8k
0
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0
answers
39
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Are there any natural languages that have one or more morphemes that each stand for both "other(s)" and "more"?
I've been working on the quantifiers for a conlang of mine and noticed that the concepts "other" and "more" are each related to the notion of additional quantities. So, we have ...
- 8,651
1
vote
1
answer
54
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Establishing criteria for sounds likely to facilitate phonological mergers around them
I know extremely little about the history of sound changes in languages other than English, so that will be the source of my examples. However, I’m asking this question for a more general, cross-...
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-3
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0
answers
65
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How do we reconstruct the word for "palm" in Indo-Pacific languages?
I have noticed that in some Indo-Pacific (including Australian) languages the numerals for five are compound words with one part being similar to PIE numeral *penkʷe which etymologically meant "...
- 6,299
2
votes
1
answer
74
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Phonemic transcriptions for English compound words
I have a question about the phonemic transcription for compound words in English. Is there a general rule? Specifically,
Should there be space/hyphen/no space between each element in a compound?
How ...
- 2,935
0
votes
0
answers
21
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removing visarg in sanskrit sandhi
I have understood this example of visarg sandhi.
पुनः + रमते = पुना रमते
As per this page:
https://knowledgegallery.in/visarg-sandhi-in-sanskrit/
‘रो रि’। यदि विसर्ग (:) से पहले स्वर हो और उसके (वि...
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1
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0
answers
35
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What is the leipzig convention for glossing nonce words?
How do you gloss nonce words (words which are created for a single occasion and have no meaning on their own) in interlinear glossing?
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votes
2
answers
281
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Can a new alphabet be created and added to the English language? [closed]
Does the English language, or any other language for that matter provide the flexibility to add or remove new alphabets?
- 6,116
6
votes
1
answer
1k
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How do you draw a syntax tree for a sentence with a dummy subject?
I encounter difficulties when drawing a syntax tree for a sentence of expletive contruction. Should I mark the dummy subject "there" as a noun? Thx
0
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0
answers
90
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Why are there so few Hellenic languages when there are so many Romance languages? [duplicate]
Both Greece and Rome had huge empires and Greek was even used to administer the Eastern Roman Empire. Christian scriptures are even primarily written in Greek.
So why are there so many Romance ...
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0
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1
answer
72
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What tools are there to measure aspects of language?
I am seeking to construct an a priori language that is optimized to provide the greatest creativity for songwriting and poetry, in addition to being extremely general and productive in neologism, ...
- 924
10
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Can English syntax alone tell apart a person's background?
I was wondering if English syntax alone can tell apart a person's background? For example, if two strangers are exchanging texts - without looking at their spelling, word choices etc, just by the ...
- 4,745
1
vote
1
answer
35
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Is it possible (in terms of linguistic relativity) that maybe some cognitive processing happens later & that's why there's no relativity effect?
Title is very vague so I'll explain what I mean. Let's say an experiment was carried out involving grammatically gendered artefacts and whether or not participants will attach gendered stereotypes to ...
- 76.8k
-1
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0
answers
43
views
How to translate simple words/phrases into Elder Futhark runes?
I would like to find a way to translate simple words or phrases into Elder Futhark runes, ex:
chaos
fire inside me
I am hail
you will never find peace
I care about accurate and authentic ...
- 99
2
votes
1
answer
51
views
Looking for a linguistic term
I'm trying to pinpoint a linguistic concept that may or may not exist.
Let's say you have a complete set of "units" (i.e., sounds/letters/moras) in a language. This can be many things, ...
- 2,935
-2
votes
1
answer
59
views
Grammatical person and the generic you
In English, the second-person pronoun you can be used indefinitely. Wiktionary labels the generic you as an indefinite personal pronoun. Nonetheless, unlike pronouns such as one and anyone, the ...
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1
vote
2
answers
69
views
Wouldn't the premise of Chomsky's universal grammar theory be trivially true?
Quickly put, one could say that Chomsky's Universal grammar theory says that Humans are predisposed to language, and due to this all languages are equivalent.
But, aren't all languages equivalent by ...
- 76.8k
2
votes
0
answers
20
views
How does an opaque context come about in adverbials?
I cannot get my head around examples (19) and (20) in Maienborn & Schäfer (2011) (in v. Heusinger, Maienborn & Portner (eds), HSK 33.2). How is it that necessarily (as an epistemic adverbial) ...
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votes
1
answer
241
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Spelling of monotonous [closed]
All, I am just curious why 'monotonous' is spelled as mo·not·o·nous and not as
mono.tonus following the Greek origin of the word as mono + tone. Mono and tone could be spelled alone and actually ...
- 17.3k
-1
votes
1
answer
136
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identifying unknown script from artefact [closed]
A friend found these artefacts for sale in Afghanistan, was wondering what the script is? Maybe Avestan?
- 6,116
7
votes
2
answers
659
views
What does it mean when a phoneme represented by one IPA is "phonetically" a different IPA?
I have been studying Hungarian and its pronunciation for a long time, using references such as the Hungarian Phonology Wikipedia page and comparing that to the General American Phonology page.
The ...
0
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0
answers
23
views
Seeking translation for a sanskrit verse [closed]
I am in the process of learning sanskrit and still have only a very rudimentary understanding of its grammar. I am trying to translate a verse written by Swami Ramanujacharya in his commentary of ...
1
vote
3
answers
303
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Why was 'u' invented?
In the history of the letter 'v', Wikipedia mentions the origin of 'u' but unfortunately doesn't describe why it was created in the first place:
During the Late Middle Ages, two minuscule glyphs ...
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2
votes
1
answer
116
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How common is Teke as a written language in Gabon and what variety is usually the basis of the written language?
In many instances of Gabonese media, "Teke" seems to be regarded as a single language, however there are several varieties that are distinct enough to be considered as separate languages. ...
CommunityBot
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4
votes
0
answers
82
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Why can't the internal argument of "matter" raise?
The internal arguments of unaccusative verbs in English must raise to subject position to obtain case and satisfy the EPP. For example, verbs like melt, fall, die, arrive, etc. must have their ...
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0
answers
72
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How does lack of definite articles affect Malayalam? [In comparison to Germanic languages]
I am a (semi)-native Malayalam speaker from Kerala who has learned English and German. In Malayalam, an interesting phenomenon is that there is no definite article. It seems to me that indefinite ...
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0
votes
1
answer
80
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Is the name "Melisande" related to the Latin for "honey", "Mel"?
Some people say "Melisande" is just French Melissa, which ''is'' clearly derived from "mel", but Wikipedia doesn't mention any such thing for Melisande, instead saying that the ...
- 60.2k
7
votes
1
answer
263
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Limits of historical linguistic reconstruction
It is a well-known and widely repeated fact that the linguistic reconstruction associated with the comparative method is no longer effective for large temporal depths (informally estimated to be ...
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13
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8
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8k
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Why are the Dutch called "belanda" in Malay and Indonesian?
While reading on the etymology of the turkey, I found that the Malays and Indonesians called the animal ayam belanda (Dutch chicken). I was then reminded of the proboscis monkey, which is called ...
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1
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0
answers
32
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How do I put a devoicing ring on top of [ŋ] using TIPA? [migrated]
I am working with a language that has voiceless nasals, and I would like to be able to put the ring on top of the [ŋ] glyph.
So far, I have only been able to use \textipa{\textsubring{N}}, which puts ...
1
vote
0
answers
70
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how to recognize a modifier and a complement in an unclear NPs
You can take those examples which I find very hard and show me on them which is a complement and which a modifier?
The idea that he proposed //The idea that it will rain
I don't know, seems similar (...
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