All Questions
8,882
questions
1
vote
1answer
20 views
When are 'or' and 'unless' exclusive in (daily) English?
I have two questions since I saw this SE answer.
First, for the following sentence:
English 'or' is only exclusive when only one premise is possible: 'You hydrate or you don't hydrate.' or 'I saw a ...
-1
votes
0answers
20 views
How do you analyze the word “finance” as linguistic analysis? [closed]
By comparison with similar words either as synonym or only structurally.
5
votes
1answer
135 views
Evolution of [v] to [b] and vice versa
There are many examples that show that two phones [v] and [b] are related:
b
v
Meaning
Old English to New English
* habban
have
have
Middle Persian to New Persian
varan
baran
rain
Middle Persian ...
1
vote
1answer
29 views
What is the term for the role of “believe”, “think”, and “feel” in a sentence?
I remember vaguely that there is an encompassing terms for these words when used in a sentence. Something that represent it is not a normal factual claim, but something that is subjective to the ...
-3
votes
0answers
22 views
X-Bar Syntax Trees [closed]
I can't seem to understand x-bar syntax tree drawing, could you please help me out with these phrases:
a. A psychic will give a talk.
b. The professor mentioned that a cat chased a dog.
c. the boy ...
-2
votes
0answers
17 views
How does the Tree-Structure look like for this sentence? [closed]
I'm practicing drawing tree structures and I can't figure out how the tree for the following sentence looks like:
Peter thinks that John has disclosed their plan to the police.
I don't really ...
1
vote
0answers
48 views
Is it true that neologisms (loaned words) have a more limited and specific meaning?
My impression was that many neologisms tend to provide a more specific meaning than the original, have a more limited application, and a less large sense than the origin-word.
But I have seen some ...
0
votes
0answers
35 views
Does Sephardi Hebrew pronunciation distinguish between the vowels Tsere and Segol? [closed]
Does Sephardi Hebrew pronunciation distinguish between the vowels Tsere and Segol?
I'm aware that Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation distinguishes them. And I've heard that Modern Hebrew pronunciation ...
-2
votes
0answers
28 views
Does English have a “plural of majesty” for nouns? [closed]
Does English have a "plural of majesty" for nouns?
I know there's the "royal we", so that'd be plural of majesty for pronouns.
2
votes
0answers
42 views
What factors determine how you continue the sentence “Are you together with your brother or…” with the word “sister”?
For example if I call my friend. I know he is wether with his brother or sister, and then I ask further: Are you together with your brother or...
you can finish the question in several ways:
... ...
1
vote
0answers
16 views
Is the sequence of time adverbials, place adverbials and manner adverbials appearing in the same sentence universal or typologically determined?
For example, in English there is "I bought a dress with my friend at the mall yesterday" where the sequence is manner-place-time, while in Russian it is time-place-manner, in Mandarin it is ...
-2
votes
0answers
22 views
How are the minority languages affected by discourses surrounding and privilege and power? [closed]
What is meant by discourses surrounding this question? does it mean relations between the minority languages and power and privilege?
10
votes
2answers
3k views
Why are J, U, W considered part of the basic Latin Alphabet?
J, U, W are included in ISO basic Latin alphabet which consists of 26 letters. However,
The classic Latin has only 23 letters, and J was only used as a variant of I as σ do to ς.
J, U were not ...
-4
votes
0answers
30 views
Are the hoor in Jannah aaqil? [closed]
In Arabic, humans, jinn and angels are considered "aaqil" ("عاقل"), meaning they are sentient or thinking beings. Everything else is considered "gair aaqil" ("غير ...
-2
votes
0answers
49 views
What is the pronunciation of “גוֹלֶה” — the Hebrew word for wanderer [closed]
I'm working on an app idea and would like to use the English pronunciation of this Hebrew word. I can't seem to find it anywhere without paying for it. Thanks in advance.
1
vote
1answer
414 views
Does Biblical Hebrew have a plural of majesty?
Does Biblical Hebrew have a plural of majesty?
I'm aware there's the word Elohim which can mean God or gods.
But I don't think that's good evidence of plural of majesty because for example, you have a ...
0
votes
0answers
23 views
Is there a standard accepted definition of in-situ quantification, and if so what is it?
I'm reading a paper that references Montague being focused on in-situ quantification. I'm not a linguist, so apologies for the naivety, but how does this differ from what is being called bounded ...
-5
votes
0answers
10 views
Explain the ambiguous meaning of the following statements by drawing tree diagrams [closed]
A modern literature teacher
Tommy hit the man with an umbrella.
5
votes
1answer
517 views
What was Anatolian language during the Neolithic era according to Kurgan hypothesis proponents?
The Anatolian hypothesis asserts that people in Anatolia spoke Proto-Indo-European during the Neolithic era and that the language spread from there starting in 7000 BCE. On the other hand, the Kurgan ...
2
votes
0answers
59 views
Easier to understand some foreign languages with a higher pitch
As a bit of background:
I've native level in English and French, I can understand day to day discussions in German and Spanish and I'm able to understand what's going on in a conversations in Italian, ...
2
votes
0answers
63 views
What is the origin of the pronunciation difference between 'replicate' (noun) and 'replicate' (verb)?
In English, the noun 'replicate' is pronounced with a schwa (ə) at the end while the verb is pronounced with the diphthong 'eɪ'. The same is true for the word 'duplicate'. Is there a more general ...
3
votes
1answer
99 views
Historically, did the Sanskrit alphabet contain two 'la' consonants?
Historically, did the Sanskrit alphabet (varnamala) contain two 'la' consonants (vyanjan varnas)? It seems there was one in the 'ya' series (varga) and another one in the 'sha' series.
Current texts ...
-2
votes
0answers
50 views
Are these glyphs real or invented? [closed]
I saw them in the University of California San Francisco hospital, 2nd floor, biomedical imaging department.
0
votes
0answers
29 views
Is there an example of ʔɓ/ʔɗ sounds in contrast to ʔb/ʔd in Vietnamese?
I'm unable to distinguish between the preglottalized implosives ɓ/ɗ and the preglottalized explosives b/d in Vietnamese. Is there any audio sample of these sounds that would allow me to make out the ...
2
votes
3answers
634 views
Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Yeniseian paper
I'm an amateur linguist and recently wrote a paper called "The relationship between Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Yeniseian" which mostly comprises a short history of the Yeniseian language ...
0
votes
0answers
47 views
Are Vietnamese lệnh and Thai เลย related?
Are Vietnamese lệnh and Thai เลย related?
If I understand correctly both words are vague in both languages in the sense that they can have various meanings depends on context but in general used as ...
0
votes
1answer
31 views
Where can I get the complete list of word entries present in Merriam Webster's dictionary?
I can't find any list, github repo, etc to find the total list of entries defined in merriam webster. Any ideas?
1
vote
1answer
64 views
Short words that change based on their proximity to other vowels
In English, "a" becomes "an" when it is followed by a word starting with a vowel sound. A similar thing occurs in Spanish with the word "y", which becomes "e" ...
-4
votes
0answers
40 views
Good afternoon: My question is; what will be the future of new trends of linguistics [closed]
What will be the future of new trends of linguistics
3
votes
0answers
54 views
Noun phrases in dictionaries
Today's Oxford English Dictionary word-of-the-day ("ice master") reminded me of a question that's been on my mind for some time:
What criteria do dictionary-makers use to decide whether a ...
2
votes
0answers
56 views
Proto-Slavic ablaut type
PS решти rešti (to speak) full e-grade / рѣчь rěčĭ (a speech) lengthened ē-grade
PS ĭ PIE i may also be lengthened to PS i PIE ey
But what type of ablaut is бьрати bĭrati (to gather) / берѫ berǫ (I ...
1
vote
1answer
98 views
Is there a region in which velarized L is the primary (and sole) articulation? Or is it indicative of an articulation disorder?
Listening to Ira Glass the other day, I noticed his 'l', to my ears, sounds exclusively velar with little to no dental component. Here's a clip (he says the word "like" a couple times in ...
2
votes
0answers
34 views
Why are the organization of mental lexicon and lexical access interdependent?
I read in Carroll ("Psychology of Language") that how the mental/internal lexicon is organized and how we access lexical information are interdependent issues.
However, he does not really ...
0
votes
0answers
30 views
Formal terms for pronunciations of loanwords in source and recipient languages?
If they exist, what are formal terms meaning "pronunciation of a loanword in the donor language" and "pronunciation of a loanword in the recipient language"? In shorter terms, the ...
-3
votes
1answer
106 views
Non-standard English spelling and other things in 18th century writing — how much due to quill pens?
I was just thinking how even in books and newspapers prior to the computer age, like in the 1950s and before, there were a lot of errors that are glaring now but I am sure were accepted then.
So I ...
-1
votes
0answers
21 views
What is the definition of Phrase structure grammar ? is phrase structure grammar and context free grammar is the same thing?
Is phrase structure grammar is a subset of generative capacity ? and Transformational grammar is the same thing as generative grammar ? if not what difference ?
I was searching everywhere but I still ...
3
votes
0answers
30 views
Interleaving (Cross serial dependency) using context sensitive grammars
I saw from different sources that Context Free Grammars are insufficient to generate cross serial dependencies (interleaving) in languages and it would require mildly context sensitive grammars to do ...
0
votes
0answers
7 views
Can interlanguage and fossilization be applied to first language acq.(L1) and second language acq.(L2) or both of them?
For each of the following terms/concepts,
i am writing an exam about language acquisition and I need help concerning the question above. I would be happy to get some answers.
0
votes
1answer
82 views
Slavic second palatalization
Why is the Slavic second palatalization took place before PIE *aj (Proto-Slavic *ě), but врагъ (vragŭ, enemy) / враѕи (vradzi, enemies), where vradzi is a PIE *ey (Proto-Slavic *i)?
1
vote
1answer
117 views
Examples of ě₁ palatalization
"The distinction between *ě₁ and *ě₂ is based on etymology and have different effects on a preceding consonant: *ě₁ triggers the first palatalization and then becomes *a, while *ě₂ triggers the ...
-2
votes
0answers
33 views
Borrowing And Spread Of European Proverbs
Proverbs are easily spread from one language to another and are conveyed through linguistic communication paths. (Wikipedia, 2021) Meider considers four possible sources of common proverbs in European ...
3
votes
1answer
48 views
Why did Finnish and Sami noun-final A and I flip over?
I noticed a weird sound correspondence between Finnish and Northern Sami, and that is a list of words which pairwise end in -a or -ä in Finnish (this is the same archephoneme), and end in -i in ...
1
vote
1answer
21 views
What is the nominal attribute in Milewski's typology?
The wikipedia page on Milewski Typology gives 6 divisions:
Milewski proposed a division of languages into 6 groups, based upon
consideration of 4 main syntactic relationships; these were:
the ...
0
votes
2answers
23 views
Plot rate of change of pitch using Praat
Does anyone know of a Praat script or method for plotting the rate of change of vocal pitch? At a pinch I could do the plotting in Excel if I could extract the raw time / pitch data.
2
votes
1answer
52 views
What tool was used to generate Vietnamese IPA entries on Wiktionary?
The IPA entries on en.wiktionary.org for Vietnamese words are very complete and surprisingly accurate. Moreover, every word has an entry for each of the three major dialects of Vietnamese. I would ...
9
votes
3answers
5k views
Days of the week in Yiddish — why so similar to Germanic?
I note that Saturday is Shabbes but the other days are similar to German which are based on Norse mythology -- one could easily see this being a problem and that a choice to use the Hebrew words for ...
0
votes
1answer
75 views
Would we be able to prove “Afroasiatic hypothesis” without Akkadian and Egyptian corpora?
In an alternative world where ancient Akkadian and Egyptian corpora didn't survive, if someone formulated the "Afroasiatic hypothesis" encompassing the branches that current consensus places ...
0
votes
0answers
17 views
Question about what can be put in the head of a CP (complementizer phrase)
I'd like to know which of the following words "then, no, when, is, has" becomes the head of a CP and which doesn't?
I know that "wh" becomes a +Q and No is declarative, however ...
2
votes
0answers
65 views
Intuitive phonemic transcription systems for various languages
When a text or video about pronunciation is aimed at the average reader, it often doesn't use the IPA to represent sounds. Instead, it might talk about the "AW" sound as in law, the "AH&...
1
vote
0answers
21 views
Can someone suggest resources to slang and particularly queer/ LGBTQ slang?
I am working on a paper on queer communication and I need resources for sociolinguistic studies on slang and queer/ LGBTQ slang. Thanks!