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62

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10

answers

13k

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53

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13

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41

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Nov 27 '16 at 6:38 Ken Graham 263

40

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10

answers

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historical-linguistics morphology language-change

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36

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35

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4

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Why are certain there-sentences infelicitous in English?

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Sep 29 '11 at 12:37 kgr 549

34

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2

answers

12k

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31

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27

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Dec 16 '18 at 18:59 Community♦ 1

25

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9

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phonology phonemes american-english allophones

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24

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answers

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Why do Polish and Belarusian have an atypical greeting if compared to other Slavic languages?

syntax evolution polish

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21

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6

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Why is constituency needed, since dependency gets the job done more easily and economically?

syntax phrase-structure dependency-grammar

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21

votes

23

answers

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Is there a language whose writing is 100% phonemic?

phonetics orthography list-of-languages

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21

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8

answers

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Does Japanese have determiners?

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20

votes

2

answers

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Paucal number without singular

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20

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2

answers

30k

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Why is /h/ called voiceless vowel phonetically, and /h/ consonant phonologically?

phonology phonetics

Mar 31 '19 at 15:26 Carl Dombrowski 262

20

votes

3

answers

1k

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How powerful is literacy to slow down language change?

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Jan 13 '12 at 12:50 Floating Tone 2,050

19

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1

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What characteristics are unique to English (or at least rare among language as a whole)?

Why did early Indo-European languages seem to be morphologically complex?

Do unschooled people use cases correctly, e.g. in Germany and in Russia?

What is word order used for in “free word order” languages?

Languages that are gaining morphological distinctions

Why does speech speed seem to vary between different languages?

Why are certain there-sentences infelicitous in English?

Why is “ß” not used in Swiss German?

What languages lack personal pronouns, and why?

Which Romance languages have reflexes of the Latin nominative in nouns?

Are there any languages or cultures that have genderless given names?

American English : are [ə] and [ʌ] different phonemes? (schwa vs. chevron)

Why was מֹשֶׁה‎ transliterated as [moʊzɨz]?

How do linguists distinguish between case endings and postpositions, especially in languages which have both and/or have no traditional grammar?

Why do Polish and Belarusian have an atypical greeting if compared to other Slavic languages?

Why is constituency needed, since dependency gets the job done more easily and economically?

Is there a language whose writing is 100% phonemic?

Does Japanese have determiners?

Paucal number without singular

Why is /h/ called voiceless vowel phonetically, and /h/ consonant phonologically?

Reversal of kinship terms when speaking to a child

How powerful is literacy to slow down language change?

Are there languages that distinguish between inclusive and exclusive “or”?

Are there any fundamental differences in personal pronoun acquisition across languages?

Are the Japanese and Korean subject particles known to be related in any way, including by Sprachbund?

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

Are there any languages that mark nouns as mass?

Are there any languages that don't permit instrumental subjects?

Is Slavic [zima] (“winter”) derived from “snow”?

Do any languages mention the top limit of a range first?