Search found 158 matches

by schwhatever
Wed May 04, 2011 8:14 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: On the pronunciation of English -ing
Replies: 48
Views: 7394

Re: On the pronunciation of English -ing

At least in my idiolect, there's no [IN] - king, ring, drink are [k_hiN r\`iN dz`_e)r\`iNk]
by schwhatever
Tue May 03, 2011 3:25 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: On the pronunciation of English -ing
Replies: 48
Views: 7394

Re: On the pronunciation of English -ing

Yeah, I have [e] or [eI] (not sure) in Genghis Kahn and penguin (although I'd understand some one who used for the last one).
by schwhatever
Tue May 03, 2011 11:16 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: On the pronunciation of English -ing
Replies: 48
Views: 7394

Re: On the pronunciation of English -ing

Some of you mentioned California dialects. I'll look into that, but what with air travel and all that, you can't exactly pinpoint a regional accent anymore. Yes, yes you can. Most people really don't move all that far from where they grew up, generally. Agreed. In coastal northern California (and I...
by schwhatever
Mon May 02, 2011 9:46 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: More short vowels than long vowels?
Replies: 30
Views: 5214

Re: More short vowels than long vowels?

TENTATIVE CONCLUSION: Long vowels are crazy unstable, and prone to becoming something else (mainly diphthongs), so more secure examples of them tend to have huge numbers of them (and hence more long vowels than short) but more common examples of them tend to have only a few (and hence more short vow...
by schwhatever
Sun May 01, 2011 1:41 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: On the pronunciation of English -ing
Replies: 48
Views: 7394

Re: On the pronunciation of English -ing

[In] or [iN] and yes those are the only two options (whoo California Vowel Shift!).

EDIT: At least in my idiolect, I > i /_N and only under those conditions, so the option of which way to pronounce the terminal consonant in -ing determines the pronunciation of the vowel.
by schwhatever
Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:23 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: the "u" + acc (gen?) pronoun construction
Replies: 9
Views: 2394

Re: the "u" + acc (gen?) pronoun construction

"U" doesn't mean "in" in East Slavic This. I don't think I've seen У in Russian outside of as a prefix on certain verbs (mainly motion ones, where it's actually about direction away and possibly a homophone particle) and in possessive constructions: Когде ты у йдёшь? - When will you leave? У его не...
by schwhatever
Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:02 pm
Forum: L&L Museum
Topic: Tidbits from beyond IE
Replies: 149
Views: 124862

Re: Tidbits from beyond IE

Also some (south?) Slavic languages IIRC.
by schwhatever
Thu Apr 28, 2011 3:51 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Adpositions and Relative Clauses in natlangs
Replies: 20
Views: 3724

Re: Adpositions and Relative Clauses in natlangs

AAAAH. Fracking sinus infection. Ok, I'm going to go sleep now.
by schwhatever
Thu Apr 28, 2011 3:46 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: The Innovative Usage Thread
Replies: 2452
Views: 413603

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

In another thread, I wrote:Romanized Tamil usually has <th t> for /t_d t`/ so I think it makes more (IMO) sense to have <th t> for /t_d t/ than the other way around.
I realized right after I posted this, that I had moved the prepositional phrase to before the head: "more in-my-opinion sense". What is this, Japanese?
by schwhatever
Thu Apr 28, 2011 3:38 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Adpositions and Relative Clauses in natlangs
Replies: 20
Views: 3724

Re: Adpositions and Relative Clauses in natlangs

On that note, here 's the only paper I could find that even briefly talks about non-European languages with this phenomenon. What it looks like is that Gbadi, one of the two Niger-Congo languages mentioned in the wikipedia particle, tends to produce subordinate clauses that associate (it's not clear...
by schwhatever
Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:34 pm
Forum: C&C Archive
Topic: Spatial and temporal metaphors.
Replies: 3
Views: 1938

Re: Spatial and temporal metaphors.

The tricky bit is when the speaker and listener don't agree on whether the object has a front or not.
by schwhatever
Wed Apr 27, 2011 9:28 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Adpositions and Relative Clauses in natlangs
Replies: 20
Views: 3724

Re: Adpositions and Relative Clauses in natlangs

Nominal number? How so? The only reason that preposition stranding is becoming grammatical in Welsh is because of English-Welsh bilingualism with higher competence in English, I think. Yeah, I don't feel comfortable considering it a process until we have another (more geographically distant) example...
by schwhatever
Wed Apr 27, 2011 10:58 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Adpositions and Relative Clauses in natlangs
Replies: 20
Views: 3724

Re: Adpositions and Relative Clauses in natlangs

It seems like there could be a potential shift (à la agglutinating :> inflecting :> isolating :> agglutinating) here: Stage 1: alternative component order with A-R/R-A sequence/forms/whatever "That's the woman to whom I gave it." This system requires a more complex relative conjunction system and us...
by schwhatever
Tue Apr 26, 2011 1:56 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Seahorses, I Love 'Em (& other Links of Interest)
Replies: 2235
Views: 433215

Re: Seahorses, I Love 'Em (& other Links of Interest)

Precisely, by pretending that a word being excluded from the OED permabans it from reality, they're actually encouraging that situation. They might as well try to fight gravity. Not to mention, there's something deliciously slippery-slope about their argument that OED including OMG and LOL will resu...
by schwhatever
Tue Apr 26, 2011 1:50 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: ZBB member photos, part 5. (Something for the weekend, sir?)
Replies: 5496
Views: 764969

Re: ZBB member photos, part 5.

I dunno where he was born, but he used to live in Scotland but now lives in Norway IIRC.
by schwhatever
Tue Apr 26, 2011 1:00 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Structural equivalent of present continuous as habitual
Replies: 8
Views: 2430

Re: Structural equivalent of present continuous as habitual

AFAICT, the construction is exclusively "progressive" in English, it's only that that progressing moment has gotten increasingly large in most dialects. There's (at least IMD) still a distinction between: -These days I follow the football results more closely. -These days I'm following the football ...
by schwhatever
Tue Apr 26, 2011 3:41 am
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Seahorses, I Love 'Em (& other Links of Interest)
Replies: 2235
Views: 433215

Re: Seahorses, I Love 'Em (& other Links of Interest)

that link wrote:The danger is that, over time, the usage of our generation will grow so different from the usage of previous generations that we will find their works impossibly foreign, as though we essentially speak in another dialect.
Hahahahaha, oh they're serious... :roll:
by schwhatever
Mon Apr 25, 2011 5:45 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Kuwaiti Arabic Phonology
Replies: 6
Views: 2503

Re: Kuwaiti Arabic Phonology

Maybe I'm just missing this somewhere, but how are /E: O:/ realized when situated next to pharyngealised consonants.
by schwhatever
Sun Apr 24, 2011 8:48 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: ZBB member photos, part 5. (Something for the weekend, sir?)
Replies: 5496
Views: 764969

Re: ZBB member photos, part 5.

I thought Mosmos (mosmos? MosMos?) was Armenian? Or is that the joke? :?

Also, I cut off all my hair:
Image

And then shaved:
Image

EDIT: And then I failed stupidly at HTML.
by schwhatever
Sat Apr 23, 2011 4:02 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Translations of "to be".
Replies: 57
Views: 9556

Re: Translations of "to be".

Cathbad wrote:1) Pes je žival. (although this sounds a bit... unnatural)
Is there any way to phrase it that sounds more natural?
by schwhatever
Tue Apr 19, 2011 8:12 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Translations of "to be".
Replies: 57
Views: 9556

Re: Translations of "to be".

And now for something completely different, Tamil, which is actually not really that different. 1. நாய் விலங்கு Naay vilangku - It's just the classic "(the) dog (is) (an/the) animal". 2. நாய் வீடுல இருக்கு Naay viit'ula irukku - It's pretty straightforward: "dog house-LOC exists" 3. வீடுல நாய் இருக்...
by schwhatever
Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:56 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Borrowed verbs & verbs created from borrowings in French
Replies: 10
Views: 2493

Re: Borrowed verbs & verbs created from borrowings in French

IIRC, German marks (predominantly French) borrowed verbs with -ieren. I'm not sure if that's just a suffix that was particularly productive during a spate of French borrowings and isn't any longer or is still actively being used to absorb other borrowings. A google search shows nothing but people sa...
by schwhatever
Thu Apr 14, 2011 8:07 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: The Innovative Usage Thread
Replies: 2452
Views: 413603

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

From Moldbug, emphasis added: In any case, had Professor Huxley been born and educated in North Korea, he would have been the first to praise the Dear Leader. Had he been born and educated in 4th-century Byzantium, he would have been the first to perform the proskynesis before the Emperor Constanti...
by schwhatever
Thu Apr 14, 2011 7:56 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Translations of "to be".
Replies: 57
Views: 9556

Re: Translations of "to be".

Ugh, adverbs. Likewise, I forgot about the present copula being an exception for the instrumental stuff. :oops:
by schwhatever
Thu Apr 14, 2011 6:34 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Translations of "to be".
Replies: 57
Views: 9556

Re: Translations of "to be".

1) Собака животное. This sounds a little off to me (though it might just be me). In this sort of "assigning a definition"-type sentence I'd rather use of the following: Собака — это животное. (using это as a stand-in copula) Собака является животным. (using the verb являться) It sounds off to me to...