User Yellow Sky

52 votes

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Is there any language that uses different pronouns for "we" depending on whether the spoken to person is included in the group?

answered Sep 23, 2015 at 20:23

51 votes

Is there any evidence to support the claim that English grammar is unusually straightforward?

answered Sep 23, 2020 at 19:42

47 votes

Is J. R. R. Tolkien's "translation" scheme found in real life?

answered May 4, 2023 at 6:41

46 votes

Is there a word in a dead or lost language that we lost the definition to?

answered Jul 21, 2021 at 23:30

44 votes

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Why does English not have a cognate of words like heter, in Swedish, or llama, in Spanish, etc?

answered Feb 19, 2015 at 22:37

36 votes

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Are there languages without words for "father" or "mother" but only "parent"?

answered Jun 18, 2017 at 22:45

31 votes

Is Sanskrit really the mother of all languages?

answered Sep 4, 2019 at 21:25

27 votes

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What is the function of the soft sign (Ь) in Russian?

answered Apr 21, 2017 at 9:27

26 votes

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Are there languages with no first person?

answered Jun 28, 2016 at 12:16

22 votes

Is Thai language related or a descendant of Sanskrit?

answered Apr 6, 2017 at 19:09

19 votes

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Are there any languages where verbs in the past form are used with the future tense?

answered Jul 19, 2022 at 9:26

18 votes

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Do the Belarusians understand the Ukrainian language better than Russians do?

answered Apr 2, 2022 at 12:15

18 votes

Why are many ancient languages so complicated compared to many modern languages?

answered Jan 14, 2014 at 15:39

16 votes

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Is "Kent" in Tashkent of Turkic origin or Indo-European?

answered May 24, 2014 at 12:11

15 votes

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Why do languages with such different alphabets use the same common punctuation marks?

answered Jan 3, 2015 at 1:33

15 votes

Which non-Indoeuropean languages have noun-adjective agreement?

answered Aug 13, 2023 at 7:15

14 votes

Which languages have words containing the same letter three times in a row?

answered Dec 4, 2014 at 17:36

14 votes

What do you call a failed attempt to use the "standard" speech?

answered Jun 28, 2016 at 11:37

14 votes

Why are there spelling inconsistencies in Spanish and Italian? What is the historical origin of this spelling pattern?

answered Jul 24, 2020 at 22:15

13 votes

Which languages have different words for "maternal uncle" and "paternal uncle"?

answered Mar 11, 2021 at 21:13

13 votes

Why are Native American names translated?

answered Dec 11, 2014 at 16:48

13 votes

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Please help me identify this language (image)

answered May 17, 2014 at 21:35

13 votes

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Is English the only language (except classical Latin, Cyrillic, symbol languages and auxiliary languages) that has no diacritic symbols/accents?

answered Dec 17, 2013 at 11:43

12 votes

Can the Chinese script be used to record non-Chinese languages?

answered Jan 11, 2014 at 19:40

12 votes

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Please help me identify this language (w/ image)

answered Oct 28, 2014 at 18:12

12 votes

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Can a stop be both voiced and aspirated?

answered Nov 7, 2014 at 1:44

12 votes

Are there any known natural languages in which tense is never (or very rarely) expressed through the modification of verbs?

answered Feb 11, 2017 at 4:46

12 votes

Are there any diacritics not on the top or bottom of a letter?

answered Jan 24, 2021 at 0:23

12 votes

Is a final -u in Semitic languages known outside of Akkadian?

answered Jun 12, 2020 at 16:34

12 votes

Is there any language with number system that uses subtraction? (Other than Ainu)

answered May 4, 2017 at 14:54

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308 Answers

Is there any language that uses different pronouns for "we" depending on whether the spoken to person is included in the group?

Is there any evidence to support the claim that English grammar is unusually straightforward?

Is J. R. R. Tolkien's "translation" scheme found in real life?

Is there a word in a dead or lost language that we lost the definition to?

Why does English not have a cognate of words like heter, in Swedish, or llama, in Spanish, etc?

Are there languages without words for "father" or "mother" but only "parent"?

Is Sanskrit really the mother of all languages?

What is the function of the soft sign (Ь) in Russian?

Are there languages with no first person?

Is Thai language related or a descendant of Sanskrit?

Are there any languages where verbs in the past form are used with the future tense?

Do the Belarusians understand the Ukrainian language better than Russians do?

Why are many ancient languages so complicated compared to many modern languages?

Is "Kent" in Tashkent of Turkic origin or Indo-European?

Why do languages with such different alphabets use the same common punctuation marks?

Which non-Indoeuropean languages have noun-adjective agreement?

Which languages have words containing the same letter three times in a row?

What do you call a failed attempt to use the "standard" speech?

Why are there spelling inconsistencies in Spanish and Italian? What is the historical origin of this spelling pattern?

Which languages have different words for "maternal uncle" and "paternal uncle"?

Why are Native American names translated?

Please help me identify this language (image)

Is English the only language (except classical Latin, Cyrillic, symbol languages and auxiliary languages) that has no diacritic symbols/accents?

Can the Chinese script be used to record non-Chinese languages?

Please help me identify this language (w/ image)

Can a stop be both voiced and aspirated?

Are there any known natural languages in which tense is never (or very rarely) expressed through the modification of verbs?

Are there any diacritics not on the top or bottom of a letter?

Is a final -u in Semitic languages known outside of Akkadian?

Is there any language with number system that uses subtraction? (Other than Ainu)