Search found 132 matches
- Tue Jun 19, 2018 12:01 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Japanese N
- Replies: 1
- Views: 3660
Re: Japanese N
"The moraic nasal existed in Old Japanese only in words borrowed from Chinese." ( Japanese: A Linguistic Introduction , Yoko Hasegawa) Japanese A simple example would be 天. It was pronounced something like /tʰen/ or /tʰien/ in Middle Chinese and would've been borrowed into Old Japanese most likely ...
- Tue May 29, 2018 3:06 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Population numbers for languages
- Replies: 16
- Views: 11600
Re: Population numbers for languages
I ran into a similar issue a few years back when looking at population numbers for (Central) Okinawan. The Ethnologue gave a figure of 980,000 speakers in 2000, which doesn't make sense given that the total population was roughly 1 million around that time and it's well-known that the islanders prim...
- Sat Oct 29, 2016 3:48 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Numbers from 1 to 10 updated
- Replies: 98
- Views: 29111
Re: Numbers from 1 to 10 updated
Okinawan: Slight correction for native numbers: Number 1 should be "tīchi" (with the macron on the first vowel). Okinawan also has Sino-Okinawan numbers, not sure if you wanted to add them: 1 ichi 2 nī 3 san 4 shī 5 gū 6 ruku 7 shichi 8 hachi 9 kū 10 jū Source: Utsukushii Okinawa no Hougen , by Yos...
- Mon Oct 24, 2016 11:31 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Archaisms and curiosities in well-known language families
- Replies: 31
- Views: 9302
Re: Archaisms and curiosities in well-known language familie
Belgian French retains the distinction between /œ̃/ as in brun and /bʁɛ̃/ as in brin. In Parisian French and often elsewhere in France these two vowels have merged completely. If you learn standard French you will likely never learn to distinguish them because the market is almost entirely dominate...
- Sun Oct 23, 2016 10:33 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: any language families with kh/S correspondence
- Replies: 23
- Views: 6390
Re: any language families with kh/S correspondence
These are the closest examples I could find in the Japonic languages: k_h (or just k) - S "today" Japanese /kjoo/ Shodon /kʰjuu/ Yoron /ɕuu/ Shuri: /t͡ɕuu/ Itoman /kɯɯ/ Yonaguni /su/ In this scenario, you could match Shodon /kʰj/ or Itoman /k/ to Yoron /ɕ/ (which is similar to /ʃ/). k_h - ts In the ...
- Sat Oct 01, 2016 11:37 am
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Basic distinctions: No word for "eat"
- Replies: 11
- Views: 4289
Re: Basic distinctions: No word for "eat"
I wonder what they would use if they were eating, say, both rice and meat in a meal. Would they use a more generic verb to say "eat rice and meat", or would they say "eat1 rice and eat2 meat"? Kind of like how we have "eat rice and drink water" vs "consume rice and water".
- Tue Apr 12, 2016 11:06 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Final glottal stop in Japanese
- Replies: 7
- Views: 2423
Re: Final glottal stop in Japanese
See The Phonetics of sokuon, or geminate obstruents , by Shigeto Kawahara, and specifically sections 5.3 & 5.4 The summary is that a some have argued in the past that geminates in Japanese involve some form of glottal or laryngeal constriction. But a few others recently found no evidence for any suc...
- Sun Apr 10, 2016 4:36 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Resolved: Name/paper for PNG language - it's Rapoisi
- Replies: 4
- Views: 1827
- Tue Nov 25, 2014 11:58 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: "Behind" versus "In back of"
- Replies: 10
- Views: 3884
Re: "Behind" versus "In back of"
I use both, though I wouldn't use "in back of" in a paper. "In back of" also doesn't fully overlap with "at the back of" and not at all with "in the back of", as "in back of the car" specifically means behind the car, while "at the back of the car" and "in the back of the car" both refer to the insi...
- Wed Sep 10, 2014 4:14 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Idiolectal pronunciations
- Replies: 50
- Views: 9697
Re: Idiolectal pronunciations
I can't help but pronounce "vague" as [væːg], so that it rhymes with "bag" [bæːg].
- Wed May 07, 2014 10:20 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: On French grave accents
- Replies: 8
- Views: 2152
Re: On French grave accents
voilà / voila (< voiler)
revoilà / revoila (< revoiler)
lès / les
florès / flores
Close:
holà / (Spanish) hola
après / âpres
guère / guerre
ère / erre
près / prés
revoilà / revoila (< revoiler)
lès / les
florès / flores
Close:
holà / (Spanish) hola
après / âpres
guère / guerre
ère / erre
près / prés
- Thu Jan 02, 2014 1:14 am
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: whenever and wherever in other languages
- Replies: 37
- Views: 9817
Re: whenever and wherever in other languages
The translation of these two terms really depends on the context. To provide some French examples: For "wherever": Wherever he goes , he always has an English breakfast. = Peu importe où il va / Partout où il va / Où qu'il aille , il prend toujours un petit-déjeuner anglais. Wherever possible , .......
- Sun Dec 01, 2013 12:38 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Unintelligible dialects of your language - post examples ITT
- Replies: 39
- Views: 9226
Re: Unintelligible dialects of your language - post examples
In French, I agree with Cajun being a tad difficult to understand without subtitles, though it's not incomprehensible to me in comparison to Louisiana Creole . I also tend to have a little more difficulty with dialects from France, seeing as I'm from Canada. In Japanese, there would be quite a few i...
- Tue Nov 12, 2013 1:54 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: "Imagination" Etymology in Different Languages
- Replies: 20
- Views: 5768
Re: "Imagination" Etymology in Different Languages
Okinawan has: かんげー【考げー】 kangee "thought; idea; conception; hope; resolution; imagination; etc." [nominal form of the verb kangeein "to think; to consider; etc."] ちむうみー【肝思みー・心思みー】 chimu'umii "imagination; fancy" [compound of liver/heart + thought] Which I suppose are relatively close to Japanese かんがえ...
- Sun Nov 03, 2013 4:01 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: "Book" Etymology in Different Languages
- Replies: 21
- Views: 4109
Re: "Book" Etymology in Different Languages
書物 "book" is used in various southern Japanese dialects and Ryukyuan languages (e.g. Kagoshima [ɕomoʔ]~[somoʔ]; Amami [-mut h u]; Okinawan [sumut͡ɕi]; Miyako [-mutu]; Ogami [simuks]). It stems from a compound of 書 "writing" and 物 "thing" and takes on a Sinitic reading, though I don't think it was ev...
- Wed Oct 23, 2013 4:18 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Multiple-choice question about nasal vowels in French
- Replies: 5
- Views: 2016
Re: Multiple-choice question about nasal vowels in French
Could it be possible that the French you heard spoken was in a dialect that you're not used to hearing? Because there's a pretty big difference in vowels between North American French varieties and those of France.
- Fri May 31, 2013 2:56 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: The Innovative Usage Thread
- Replies: 2452
- Views: 413791
Re: The Innovative Usage Thread
Not so much an English word, but a French one:
It seems that in my region, the word cabanot is used to mean "closet". Although the word is already a regionalism, other French Canadian speakers seem to interpret it as some sort of shed or cabin.
It seems that in my region, the word cabanot is used to mean "closet". Although the word is already a regionalism, other French Canadian speakers seem to interpret it as some sort of shed or cabin.
- Wed Apr 24, 2013 6:21 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Let's test sound symbolism.
- Replies: 35
- Views: 7131
Re: Let's test sound symbolism.
1b, 2a, 3c, 4c
- Tue Feb 19, 2013 11:53 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Genitive Marker to Subject Marker.
- Replies: 23
- Views: 5069
Re: Genitive Marker to Subject Marker.
In Old Japanese, the particles ga and no had overlapping functions as both genitive and nominative markers, and were ultimately distinguished by their degree of politeness. Such a contrast still exists in many Kyushu dialects and Ryukyuan languages, though the exact usage varies. Often, ga is less p...
- Tue Jan 29, 2013 7:53 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: How Do You Sound Fancy in French?
- Replies: 45
- Views: 9673
Re: How Do You Sound Fancy in French?
The pattern for pompous language generally seems to rely on the following: Avoiding perceived colloquialisms and reductions Using words, spellings, expressions and forms once common in the language's past Using words and expressions borrowed from a language of prestige Using poetic devices, allusion...
- Wed Jan 09, 2013 6:53 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: The Innovative Usage Thread
- Replies: 2452
- Views: 413791
Re: The Innovative Usage Thread
a) It's thawing - weird b) It's unthawing - acceptable c) It's thawing out - acceptable Realistically, I think I would use "unthawing" when talking, but "thawing out" is perfectly fine otherwise. However, to me, you can talk about the soil of a muskeg as "thawing", but you can only talk about an ite...
- Fri Nov 09, 2012 7:42 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Is "like" becoming a topic/object marker in English?
- Replies: 17
- Views: 4567
Re: Is "like" becoming a topic/object marker in English?
Comparing to Japanese, the usage feels a lot more similar to its so-called quoting particle って -tte . 彼って背が高いんだよね~ kare tte se ga takain da yo ne~ "He's like, incredibly tall!" 俺って最低だ。 ore tte saitei da. "I'm like, the worse." 海を食べたって感じです umi o tabeta tte kanji desu "I feel like I ate the entire sea...
- Sat Sep 01, 2012 8:44 pm
- Forum: L&L Museum
- Topic: The Correspondence Library
- Replies: 568
- Views: 284702
Re: The Correspondence Library
Yes, it is rendaku. The question is simply what decides whether rendaku of /ɴ/ + /h/ will result in a /p/ or a /b/. For example: /h/ → /p/: 担 /taɴ/ 'bear' + 保 /ho/ 'safeguard' becomes 担保 /taɴpo/ 'collateral' /h/ → /b/: 田 /taɴ/ 'rice paddy' + 圃 /ho/ 'cultivated field' becomes 田圃 /taɴbo/ 'cultivated ...
- Tue Jul 31, 2012 3:58 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Newest Addition to the Indo-European Family: Burushaski
- Replies: 72
- Views: 15394
Re: Newest Addition to the Indo-European Family: Burushaski
I have access, but the paper is a little overwhelming since it feels a little everywhere. A lot of the comments against Časule's work also seem quite bare and don't really address much besides dismissing everything altogether as chance, coincidence, loans and whatnot. Not really sure what to think.
- Thu Jul 26, 2012 1:40 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: What Do You Call It
- Replies: 56
- Views: 11542
Re: What Do You Call It
I'd be most interested to know what Canadians call it. Well, as noted on Wikipedia, "road/street allowance" are officially used in Ontario (but most people wouldn't know this name since it's technical), and "(roadside) boulevard" seems common too (though it sounds weird to me, since a boulevard is ...