Search found 382 matches

by Chuma
Mon Jul 17, 2017 11:11 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Phonemes and the biuniqueness
Replies: 6
Views: 2472

Re: Phonemes and the biuniqueness

That's a neat example. What happens to these phonemes intervocalically? The realisations are for syllable onset and coda, keeping their pronunciations in compounds and derivations. As for -VCV- in roots, in the examples I can think of, they seem to stick with the most stressed vowel. is there any r...
by Chuma
Mon Jun 05, 2017 8:51 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Sunburnt penguins (black, white, red...)
Replies: 16
Views: 4412

Re: Sunburnt penguins (black, white, red...)

In Swedish, I've heard at least black, white, red, and yellow. They're all mostly used in rather particular constructs. svartna "blacken" could be used more generally, but most commonly in the expression det svartnade för ögonen , literally "it blackened for the eyes", used when a person is near pas...
by Chuma
Sun Jun 04, 2017 5:39 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Writing styles of genders, ages, and authors: A PhD thesis
Replies: 23
Views: 6043

Re: Writing styles of genders, ages, and authors: A PhD thes

The basic approach is quite simple: For each candidate (a person or a category), count how often they use certain words, and compare that with the unknown text. There are various ways of making the comparison, which I'm not going into. One thing I look at is using elements of grammar instead of word...
by Chuma
Sun Jun 04, 2017 6:23 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Writing styles of genders, ages, and authors: A PhD thesis
Replies: 23
Views: 6043

Re: Writing styles of genders, ages, and authors: A PhD thes

So, if you were to compare e.g. a forum post to a combined selection of texts, books, and newspaper articles, you'd get worse results than comparing simply forum posts alone? Yes, pretty sure, although I haven't done that experiment myself. My main focus has been on identifying specific authors, so...
by Chuma
Sat Jun 03, 2017 7:51 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Writing styles of genders, ages, and authors: A PhD thesis
Replies: 23
Views: 6043

Re: Writing styles of genders, ages, and authors: A PhD thes

What this research basically does is asks the question "do people with a sign of Aries use the written language in a significantly different way from people with a sign of Taurus?". Right. And since it's fairly obvious that they don't (to any measurable degree), the main reason for including astrol...
by Chuma
Sat Jun 03, 2017 7:24 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Writing styles of genders, ages, and authors: A PhD thesis
Replies: 23
Views: 6043

Re: Writing styles of genders, ages, and authors: A PhD thes

Yes, I just wonder what reactions my master's thesis about triangles would have drawn. Angry Christians calling it an attack on monogamy? Muslims upset that a triangle is half a Star of David? :D
by Chuma
Sat Jun 03, 2017 6:46 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Writing styles of genders, ages, and authors: A PhD thesis
Replies: 23
Views: 6043

Re: Writing styles of genders, ages, and authors: A PhD thes

Well that took a surprisingly political turn. The methods can definitely be used by governments, fascist or otherwise. And you can rest assured that various government agencies with hazy ideas of the right to privacy are researching the same things right now, along with IT companies and others, who ...
by Chuma
Sat Jun 03, 2017 7:51 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Is Basque really weird?
Replies: 33
Views: 9474

Re: Is Basque really weird?

A while back, I asked the board about a feature of my conlang, where double fricatives become affricates (so <ss> -> /ts/, for example). I wondered if it was too weird, and I was told that Basque does it too. I don't know if that makes it less weird.
by Chuma
Sat Jun 03, 2017 7:14 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Writing styles of genders, ages, and authors: A PhD thesis
Replies: 23
Views: 6043

Re: Writing styles of genders, ages, and authors: A PhD thes

It does indeed not seem to be possible. Age and gender can be done surprisingly well, but job is so far mostly unsuccessful, and astrological sign shows no sign of being possible.
by Chuma
Fri Jun 02, 2017 12:04 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Writing styles of genders, ages, and authors: A PhD thesis
Replies: 23
Views: 6043

Re: Writing styles of genders, ages, and authors: A PhD thes

Actually, I was originally funded by the military, who wanted to use the technology to spy on people on the internet. But that didn't work out, so I guess that makes me a rebel now?
by Chuma
Fri Jun 02, 2017 8:48 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: How do boards of directors function in multilingual settings
Replies: 26
Views: 7757

Re: How do boards of directors function in multilingual sett

Ars Lande wrote:Asking if people speak English, or saying bonjour and merci is more than enough.
I don't do that anymore. I just smile sweetly and ask them, "English, motherfucker, do you speak it?"
by Chuma
Thu Jun 01, 2017 7:07 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Writing styles of genders, ages, and authors: A PhD thesis
Replies: 23
Views: 6043

Writing styles of genders, ages, and authors: A PhD thesis

I'm finally finishing my thesis, yay! It's in computer science, but leaning heavily towards linguistics. The main focus is on text classification; that is, how can we get a machine to statistically analyse a text and figure out, for example, who wrote the text, the author's gender or age, whether th...
by Chuma
Mon May 29, 2017 5:23 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: How do boards of directors function in multilingual settings
Replies: 26
Views: 7757

Re: How do boards of directors function in multilingual sett

I agree with Magb. We don't care about the language, but we might care about foreign influence over businesses. Scandinavians speak so much English that it's hardly even a foreign language; language learning experts apparently think of learning English in Scandinavia as "native environment", or what...
by Chuma
Fri May 26, 2017 3:31 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Loanwords with a more specific meaning
Replies: 63
Views: 14579

Re: Loanwords with a more specific meaning

A few IT-related one in French: commit(er), merge(r), push(er) That's true, I use those as well. We could see that as another slightly different case: words that have a second, more specialised meaning in the original language and are imported with only that meaning. japanese also has email > "mail...
by Chuma
Fri May 19, 2017 5:05 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Thoughts on Language Family Tree (PDF Attached)
Replies: 1
Views: 1689

Re: Thoughts on Language Family Tree (PDF Attached)

Sure, I guess? I mean, it's a pretty generic tree.

Didn't any of them die out?
by Chuma
Fri May 19, 2017 5:02 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Premise for a theocratic matriarchy I want feedback on
Replies: 14
Views: 5192

Re: Premise for a theocratic matriarchy I want feedback on

Yes, it's quite interesting! For one thing, even if men are themselves powerless, they are still half the genetic makeup of every daughter born to every woman That's certainly true; there's still some pressure for men to be strong, but it's less than for women. It also seems that "higher" animals ha...
by Chuma
Sun May 14, 2017 5:42 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Loanwords with a more specific meaning
Replies: 63
Views: 14579

Re: Loanwords with a more specific meaning

To complicate things a bit more: Apparently there's a root kar "black", whence we also get kari "charcoal; grill; stir-fry". I also distinctly recall seeing a claim that kari can mean "black pepper", which I guess also makes sense?
by Chuma
Wed May 10, 2017 9:58 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: English help needed
Replies: 44
Views: 13207

Re: English help needed

There are other slang expressions for TV, like "the tube" or "the idiot box", which would be a pretty obvious translation. Don't know if people actually say that - or, maybe the relevant question is, did say that in 2005. I think the present tense is pretty unusual in Swedish too. Can't imagine ther...
by Chuma
Wed May 10, 2017 9:50 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Loanwords with a more specific meaning
Replies: 63
Views: 14579

Re: Loanwords with a more specific meaning

I've never heard "mole" used in that sense. Interesting.

And "salsa" is a great example. It even fits the more narrow definition I talked above, words used for local meanings.
by Chuma
Tue May 09, 2017 11:13 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Loanwords with a more specific meaning
Replies: 63
Views: 14579

Re: Loanwords with a more specific meaning

Sure, that's just, I don't know, normal use of words. But this way, you get local words - I mean, not specific to your own locality, but to some other locality. A different kind of local. Don't know if I'm making any sense here, it's 6 in the morning and I've been working all night. :p For example, ...
by Chuma
Tue May 09, 2017 6:34 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: English help needed
Replies: 44
Views: 13207

Re: English help needed

But it sounds like it's supposed to be a strong expression, so "fucking faggot/homo" seems like the most most appropriate translation. Then again, English-speaking audiences may be more sensitive; consider how the Swedish film "Fucking Åmål" became "Show me love" in English. I think you might also w...
by Chuma
Tue May 09, 2017 6:23 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Loanwords with a more specific meaning
Replies: 63
Views: 14579

Re: Loanwords with a more specific meaning

Great examples! But "narrowing" can also be used more generally, right? I would associate that with more of a gradual shift of meaning to an already existing word. Maybe there's no specific word for this particular thing. I guess that means we need to make one up. Hmm... How do you say "narrow entra...
by Chuma
Mon May 08, 2017 8:57 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Loanwords with a more specific meaning
Replies: 63
Views: 14579

Loanwords with a more specific meaning

You know that thing, where you import a word, but use it to mean something much more specific? I think it's a very common phenomenon, but at the moment, I can't think of what it might be called, or eve a lot of examples. "Sombrero" in English is a pretty good example; if I'm not mistaken, it means j...
by Chuma
Thu May 04, 2017 2:28 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Premise for a theocratic matriarchy I want feedback on
Replies: 14
Views: 5192

Re: Premise for a theocratic matriarchy I want feedback on

A few thoughts: I discovered that most find it unrealistic for a matriarchy to remain in power for long Whether and how a matriarchy could survive in a realistic human culture is a complicated question; preindustrial cultures have usually been clearly patriarchal, and never clearly matriarchal, and ...
by Chuma
Thu Mar 09, 2017 3:37 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Standard Average You
Replies: 33
Views: 12102

Re: Standard Average You

StrangerCoug wrote:
Chuma wrote:- Always base 16. It's the best base.
Makes me think your conworld's inhabitants are going to have an easier time with computer science than Earthlings xD
And they can count to 255 on their fingers. :D
Soap wrote:"verbal pregnancy"
Awesome idea.