Search found 138 matches

by Jashan
Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:12 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Quick translation request (Chinese, I think)
Replies: 6
Views: 2193

Re: Quick translation request (Chinese, I think)

Figures. Damn them and their nonsense! As much as I like the painting, I'm not going to buy it if every time someone comes over and they ask "What's that mean?"I have to say "it's just gibberish that someone slapped on a poster."
by Jashan
Mon Mar 11, 2013 3:58 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Quick translation request (Chinese, I think)
Replies: 6
Views: 2193

Quick translation request (Chinese, I think)

Saw this painting in a store and liked it (color/composition). But of course, I have no idea what it says, and it's not listed in the painting description. Picture is taken sideways (but that's how it was displayed; not sure they know which end is up).

http://www.tcdale.com/sandbox/IMG_0436.JPG
by Jashan
Fri Mar 01, 2013 10:14 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Future Dutch, some questions about sound changes
Replies: 21
Views: 6173

Re: Future Dutch, some questions about sound changes

OK, voiced plosives may be more frequent initially than voiceless ones in Dutch (are they?) I can't say on this. Voiced obstruents definitely are, since Dutch voices initial fricatives as a general rule ( vijf , zever , etc.) But it doesn't happen with plosives so I'm not sure how you could tell ot...
by Jashan
Fri Mar 01, 2013 5:05 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Future Dutch, some questions about sound changes
Replies: 21
Views: 6173

Re: Future Dutch, some questions about sound changes

Does Dutch have stressed vowels phonemically? If so, why not have glottal stops appear word-initially before them? Unstressed initial vowels would remain unadorned. Then you could have stress shift any way you want it to and there you have them, contrastive glottal stops. Dutch does have contrastiv...
by Jashan
Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:37 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Future Dutch, some questions about sound changes
Replies: 21
Views: 6173

Re: Future Dutch, some questions about sound changes

I'll look at the cluster reductions again. I liked the "spl > sl; str > sr"-change, because it reintroduces /sl/ and /sR\/ onsets. If you like it and want to keep it, it doesn't really matter how realistic it is or not -- that's the beauty of conlanging. Dutch also does have /fn/ and /Xn/, but both...
by Jashan
Mon Feb 25, 2013 11:30 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Future Dutch, some questions about sound changes
Replies: 21
Views: 6173

Re: Future Dutch, some questions about sound changes

First reaction: "Nooooooo you're making it sound like German!" Second reaction: "But there are some interesting sound changes." You might specify where you're starting off at (i.e. the Dutch of Gent is very different from the Dutch of Leiden -- you mentioned 'northern Dutch' a lot, so I'm assuming y...
by Jashan
Tue Feb 19, 2013 5:36 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Lowan: A Germanic conlang
Replies: 64
Views: 19914

Re: Lowan: A Germanic conlang

FYI, for those interested, I've started the Lowan Scratchpad, which focuses much, much more on current linguistic development and translations. Feel free to chime in over there, too :)
by Jashan
Mon Feb 18, 2013 8:48 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: So what is "I seen?"
Replies: 63
Views: 10654

Re: So what is "I seen?"

Native dialect: Midwest USA. I seen to me is: 1) Totally not common among average speakers, unless you are speaking ebonics and/or redneck. 2) Per above, a very distinct marker of low education. 3) A malformed way of saying "I saw" I'd put it on par with examples like He done it or You was... etc. I...
by Jashan
Wed Feb 13, 2013 3:47 am
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Confusing headlines and other trips down the garden path
Replies: 1058
Views: 221474

Re: Confusing headlines, and other trips down the garden pat

Found this one on Het Laatste Nieuws : Dove voorzitter van dovenclub voor rechter voor bestelen van doven. Not really a garden path, but "Deaf chairman of deaf club called before a judge for stealing from deaf people." I think they just really like the word "doof / doven" Also, I suffered minor bili...
by Jashan
Tue Feb 12, 2013 8:14 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Lowan: A Germanic conlang
Replies: 64
Views: 19914

Re: Lowan: A Germanic conlang

Watch in horror as the zombie thread rises from its grave....! So, I just copied/pasted this whole thing into Word file where I can go through and try to consolidate stuff. Main problem is that I can't find my original version of sound changes, so my dictionary might have to change a bit to get goin...
by Jashan
Fri Feb 08, 2013 4:34 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: "I fok horses"
Replies: 5
Views: 2901

Re: "I fok horses"

I think it's likely a cognate, simply because of cross-linguistic similarities in the Germanic languages. Here's the Etymonline entry for it Here's the full exchange that I read about: Dutch Speaker: "I fok horses." [Intended meaning: I breed horses. , using Dutch word fokken - to breed, raise] Engl...
by Jashan
Tue Oct 16, 2012 4:21 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Lowan: A Germanic conlang
Replies: 64
Views: 19914

Re: Lowan: A Germanic conlang

Hi there, I was pretty surprised to see new posts on this thread after so long! I don't stop in much any more (I think this is my first time since August-ish), because I've been super busy with career stuff, but... yeah, here I am. Am I still working on Lowen? Yes, off and on. Has there been much pr...
by Jashan
Mon Jun 25, 2012 9:31 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: dem mann seinen wagen
Replies: 5
Views: 1764

Re: dem mann seinen wagen

Afrikaans uses a possessive construction with 'se'; Ons seun se naam 'our son´s name'. Is it a too wild guess to asume that it is the dutch his-possessive-construction that is behind this? 'His' in Afrikaans is 'sy', so they don't really use the word 'his'. I would assume it's directly related, act...
by Jashan
Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:37 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: dem mann seinen wagen
Replies: 5
Views: 1764

Re: dem mann seinen wagen

When you in German use the dative + sein/ihr construction instead of genitive, must you then inflect sein/ihr for case? Heisst es also: Ich sehe dem Mann sein en Wagen.? And how do you construct with preposition?: Ich bin in dem Mann seinem Wagen (I am in the man's car)? Not an answer to your quest...
by Jashan
Fri Jun 22, 2012 9:18 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Google launches the Endangered Language Project
Replies: 73
Views: 11592

Re: Google launches the Endangered Language Project

This looks like something I shall happily waste hours exploring. Thankee for the link.
by Jashan
Wed Jun 06, 2012 1:48 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: The coping thread
Replies: 85
Views: 21270

Re: The coping thread

I'm ok with an ass grab. It'd be nice if someone, I dunno, hugged me or something once instead of going straight for the tits and ass, but that is too lofty a goal for someone such as me. So grab away. Hug females. Regardless of sexual orientation, girls are less grabby. Hug straight females, and n...
by Jashan
Thu May 31, 2012 10:02 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: AmerEnglish past tense with bare verb root
Replies: 5
Views: 2017

AmerEnglish past tense with bare verb root

I've noticed this before, in recorded interviews with my great-grandmother (my grandmother's mother), and my .... well, we call her "great aunt" (my great-grandmother's sister-in-law). Both have since passed away. But, they had a habit of forming the past tense by simply using the bare root of the v...
by Jashan
Wed May 16, 2012 12:43 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: The coping thread
Replies: 85
Views: 21270

Re: The coping thread

I keep busy. On the bad days (or bad months), that can mean anything and everything. From, say, August 2011 to about December, I was rarely at my house for more than 2-3 hours a day. I would sleep, wake up, leave and go to work; after work, go directly to the gym for an hour or so, and then possibly...
by Jashan
Sat May 12, 2012 1:28 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Odd type of "we"
Replies: 5
Views: 1529

Odd type of "we"

I know there's inclusive and exclusive "we"s (1PL) - inclusive being "We - I, the speaker, and you the listener" and exclusive being "We - I, the speaker, and someone else but not you, the listener." And I imagine you can put numbers on that: we (dual), etc. But does any language -- natural or other...
by Jashan
Sun May 06, 2012 10:59 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Discourse-Functional Grammar
Replies: 2
Views: 1132

Discourse-Functional Grammar

Can anyone explain to me, relatively succinctly, what discourse-functional grammar is and entails? What it's key characteristics are? A brief example? All I can find online are references to one specific college course, and a bunch of stuff on "functional discourse" grammar, but I have no idea if th...
by Jashan
Mon Apr 30, 2012 11:17 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Not Speaking Native Language/Dialect?
Replies: 44
Views: 7970

Re: Not Speaking Native Language/Dialect?

How far back do you want to go? One set of my grandparents, and one set of my great-grandparents, spoke German, but never passed it down. Thus I'm the 2nd (on one side) or 3rd (on the other) who doesn't speak it. Nothing special about that, though. It wasn't passed on because they wanted to have "go...
by Jashan
Mon Apr 30, 2012 12:07 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Nonsence?
Replies: 16
Views: 4110

Re: Nonsence?

In the most recent Language Log entry , Geoff Pullum takes aim at this utterance from Stephen Fry: It so happens that more people in the world are bitten by New Yorkers every year than they are by sharks. I don't see the "it's not a sentence" bit (it has a clearly defined subject -- albeit it a dum...
by Jashan
Fri Apr 27, 2012 8:54 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: will have had gone
Replies: 18
Views: 3590

Re: will have had gone

It works for me: "will have gone" = action which takes place in the future, but before another action which also takes place in the future. Here's an example using "finished" instead of "gone", but same principle By the time we arrive at the concert [in the future], the band will have finished playi...
by Jashan
Sat Apr 21, 2012 3:54 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: the r/w distinction in English
Replies: 37
Views: 6546

Re: the r/w distinction in English

Well, I don't know about British English, and I'm not sure what kind of "merger" you're referring to without a sound sample, but in American English it seems standard that the our /r/ is labialized. That is, if you say "red", you actually purse/round your lips at the beginning when you say "r". I ev...
by Jashan
Fri Apr 20, 2012 3:07 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Nice sounding natlangs
Replies: 391
Views: 66097

Re: Nice sounding natlangs

I specified Mexican Spanish because it's the only variant of Spanish that I've heard (being that I live in the southern US). I don't know if Castillian Spanish sounds remotely similar. But in any case, Spanish (that is, Mexican Spanish), sounds like rapid-fire chihuahuas hyped up on too much espresso.