Search found 492 matches
- Mon Jul 18, 2011 6:08 am
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Some greek alphabet questions
- Replies: 40
- Views: 6817
Re: Some greek alphabet questions
I've seen, on the cover of a book presumably in Russian, cyrillic <Д> written as <Δ> and cyrillic <Л> written as <Λ>. That's not unusual at all (and indeed, the peaked tops of Δ and Λ are actually the older forms in Cyrillic). In handwriting and various decorative fonts they're extremely commonplac...
- Sun Jul 03, 2011 5:33 pm
- Forum: None of the above
- Topic: Linguistic Quackery Thread, take 2
- Replies: 812
- Views: 210577
Re: Linguistic Quackery Thread, take 2
Came across this post on the Word Reference forums in my google results when I was searching for something unrelated. This isn't actually first person quackery, but is some misinformed person perpetuating someone else's quackery. Here's the gem: It's a bit off topic, but I've read, that the words of...
- Sun Jul 03, 2011 7:50 am
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Most & Least Changed Languages
- Replies: 30
- Views: 5868
Re: Most & Least Changed Languages
PIE hadno passive. And just the fact s is retained in masc. words, doesn't mean more conserviativism. Icelandic has r in the same position, but other things may be less changed there than in Lithuanian. a) He means the mediopassive, clearly. b) Read what he wrote. He says it preserves the -s and th...
- Sat Jul 02, 2011 2:47 pm
- Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
- Topic: Word lists
- Replies: 64
- Views: 20772
Re: Word lists
I'm not sure I like their list for another reason though: It's enormous, going into way too much detail, it would take way too long to go though it. (Or even find something in it, why is there no table of contents?) Oh, sorry, I just didn't upload it. It's a separate file. http://cl.ly/2B3l33272U0D...
- Sat Jul 02, 2011 12:47 pm
- Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
- Topic: Word lists
- Replies: 64
- Views: 20772
Re: Word lists
While I appreciate the SIL list, I can't help but be offended by them listing homosexuality under "sexual immorality" in the same domain as "pervert". Yet one more reason to dislike SIL as a whole. In the end, their aim is not to study languages, it's to spread Christianity. When the document start...
- Thu Jun 30, 2011 5:43 am
- Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
- Topic: Word lists
- Replies: 64
- Views: 20772
Re: Word lists
I use the SIL Semantic Domain Template list. Thousands of terms organized semantically, plus it was actually developed to aid people documenting languages, so it actually tries to help you avoid simply copying English semantics. By far the best guide, IMO. Unfortunately I can't seem to find it onlin...
- Mon Jun 20, 2011 6:35 pm
- Forum: None of the above
- Topic: Linguistic Quackery Thread, take 2
- Replies: 812
- Views: 210577
Re: Linguistic Quackery Thread, take 2
From a grammar of Cypriot Greek, on why Cypriot Greek has a larger array of fricatives than Standard Greek: All languages formed in warm climates contain a large collection of vowels in their words and fricative consonants which is a strong characteristic of Greek Cypriot. The reason behind this is ...
- Fri Jun 10, 2011 1:28 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Begadkefat Rules
- Replies: 5
- Views: 1617
Re: Begadkefat Rules
Even the pronominal prefixes, like b- "in", d- "of," etc. are subject to this (not in Hebrew AFAIK). Prefixes are fricatized in formal Hebrew after ve- "and", which itself changes to u- : be-rega in a moment > uve-rega and in a moment kshe-telekh when you go > ukhshe-telekh and when you go ... but ...
- Sun Jun 05, 2011 8:20 pm
- Forum: C&C Archive
- Topic: Vocative kinship terms and titles
- Replies: 31
- Views: 11693
Re: Vocative kinship terms and titles
Question for Mecislau: Out of curiosity, how do the terms you use for family, friends, and otherwise differ with your Russian relatives as opposed to the ones in the US? Would you think that they're generally more formal here in the US or in Russia? Probably a bit more formal in the US, actually. I...
- Sun Jun 05, 2011 1:58 pm
- Forum: C&C Archive
- Topic: Vocative kinship terms and titles
- Replies: 31
- Views: 11693
Re: Vocative kinship terms and titles
Just a few comments/additions, Viktor: Grandmother and Grandfather: Grandparents are typically called by their diminutives grandpa and grandma or by these kinship terms plus their surname (given first names or nicknames are very uncommon). To use the full terms is unheard of. Another diminutive is g...
- Wed Jun 01, 2011 2:27 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: PIE Question
- Replies: 14
- Views: 2749
Re: PIE Question
Seconded.WeepingElf wrote:I recommend Indo-European Language and Culture by Benjamin W. Fortson IV.
- Mon May 30, 2011 9:21 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Alt Codes
- Replies: 22
- Views: 3565
Re: Alt Codes
I want a convenient way to write Kanji, Kana, Arabic script and maybe IPA. I don't want to install too many things, if that's possible. Just turn on new keyboard layouts or make a custom one. From my English keyboard I can type all of Basic Latin, Latin-1, and Latin Extended-A, and Latin Extended-A...
- Mon May 30, 2011 10:42 am
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Alt Codes
- Replies: 22
- Views: 3565
Re: Alt Codes
<unhelpful>learn to not use alt codes</unhelpful>
- Thu May 26, 2011 4:15 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Learning a language with a different writing system
- Replies: 37
- Views: 5169
Re: Learning a language with a different writing system
The Arabic script has the convenient feature of "twin letters", which are only differentiated by diacritics. Those aren't really diacritics as much as they are consonant points. Does the specific term really matter? I'm used to calling them diacritics, because that's what my teacher calls them in H...
- Mon May 23, 2011 3:22 am
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Animate + In-Animate gender?
- Replies: 8
- Views: 1956
Re: Animate + In-Animate gender?
Isn't the usual term for things like this "epicene"?
- Fri May 20, 2011 3:24 am
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: You shan't use shall
- Replies: 47
- Views: 7312
Re: You shan't use shall
A good joke: One day, a man fell in a river. He couldn't swim, so he shouted for help: "I shall drown, I shall drown! No one will save me!". The next day, another man fell into the same river. He couldn't swim either, but he shouted for help: "I will drown, I will drown! No one shall save me!". Wow...
- Thu May 19, 2011 4:55 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: You shan't use shall
- Replies: 47
- Views: 7312
Re: You shan't use shall
The point of legalese is not ego masturbation, but to destroy potential ambiguity so that the meanings of laws and instructions, etc., are as specific and precise as we can make them. In theory, at least. I've definitely come across legalese (in English!) that was completely incomprehensible to me ...
- Thu May 19, 2011 4:53 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Words that are their own opposites
- Replies: 107
- Views: 14818
- Thu May 19, 2011 2:04 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: You shan't use shall
- Replies: 47
- Views: 7312
Re: You shan't use shall
Myself, I think this is stupid. First, how can you get rid of shall and not should? That's just ignorance of grammar! Secondly, while I mostly consider myself a descriptivist, I don't understand why some, like the author above, want to destroy our nice and diverse auxiliary system. We have a nice s...
- Wed May 18, 2011 9:30 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Russian Dervational Morphology Question
- Replies: 9
- Views: 2253
Re: Russian Dervational Morphology Question
Probably from something like село.Silk wrote:I've noticed that a lot of small villages/settlements in Russia use the -ино and -ово/ево ending. What's the reason for this?
- Wed May 18, 2011 2:19 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Participle group
- Replies: 18
- Views: 3512
Re: Participle group
They have different names in different traditions. In Russian, for instance, they're known as деепричастия "verbal adverbs".
- Mon May 16, 2011 3:16 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Russian Dervational Morphology Question
- Replies: 9
- Views: 2253
Re: Russian Dervational Morphology Question
Well, I don't think any language has a good, productive system for forming planet names...dhokarena56 wrote:Um... planet names. This is for Russians in Space.
- Mon May 16, 2011 2:39 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Russian Dervational Morphology Question
- Replies: 9
- Views: 2253
Re: Russian Dervational Morphology Question
Could you be a bit more specific about what you're looking for? There's all sorts of different ways you could go about doing this, depending exactly on what you're looking for. If you mean something like city names, for instance, you can use a bare -sk ending (as linguoboy mentioned above), or you c...
- Mon May 16, 2011 2:33 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Russian Colors
- Replies: 17
- Views: 3321
Re: Russian Colors
What about short adjectives here? This pretty much covers long and short adjectives. Short forms wouldn't work here because colours are general qualities (in this context) rather than temporary or specific to a situation. I see. So it's supposed to be something along the lines of Spanish estar/ser?...
- Mon May 16, 2011 11:44 am
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Assimilation (?) Question
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1578
Re: Assimilation (?) Question
I don't believe that's unusual at all. All of the Hebrew I've heard varies considerably between the use of a uvular fricative and a uvular approximant (with, as was mentioned before, the approximant being the more frequent of the two).