Search found 1547 matches

by Ser
Sun Mar 25, 2018 10:49 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Good syntax books
Replies: 32
Views: 15982

Re: Good syntax books

I just hope you'll attempt to include as much content as you can on how syntactic theories can be applied to languages other than English, instead of writing another introduction to the study of English syntax. This is easily one of the top reasons why conlangers don't seem to be interested in moder...
by Ser
Mon Feb 12, 2018 11:12 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: One-syllable words with specific technical or rare meanings
Replies: 313
Views: 108958

Re: One-syllable words with specific technical or rare meani

I recently heard SPA (single-page application) pronounced the same as spa, /spɑ/.
by Ser
Tue Jan 23, 2018 1:33 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: One-syllable words with specific technical or rare meanings
Replies: 313
Views: 108958

Re: One-syllable words with specific technical or rare meani

Trump's recent stand on NAFTA has gotten people on the radio to talk about its effects on ag (agriculture) here (among other economic fields).

I recently heard "CLI" (command line interface) pronounced as /kli/ too.
by Ser
Thu Jan 04, 2018 11:50 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: The Arrakum language (aspects of aspect)
Replies: 42
Views: 25625

Re: The Arrakum language (aspects of aspect)

Basically, I was trying to say that you should have either four (labial, etc.) or up to twelve (bilabial, etc.) locations across the top of your code. While the latter's true, you mix a major class of articulation (labial) with more specific places (glottal), which confuses people. Oh c'mon, not ev...
by Ser
Thu Dec 28, 2017 1:02 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Help your conlang fluency (2)
Replies: 6633
Views: 726087

Re: Help your conlang fluency

Buk=tšak' k'áh-lə-tsə=tša=zə tol-sa-yəm=zə yår-mu ġå-yw-o=pə gaw-ə. over=ALL carry-PFV-GER=DAT=REL much-COMP-P.M=REL thing-P.M find.PFV-1.S-3.P.M=COMP be_necessary.IPFV-3.S.M [ˈbukʰtɕʰækʼ ˈkʼɑhlɐtsʰɐtɕʰæzɐ ˈtʰolsæjɐmzɐ ˈjɔɾmu ˈɣɔjwopʰɐ ˈɡæwɐ] I need to find more things to translate. naupi antama ri...
by Ser
Thu Dec 07, 2017 11:04 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: unambiguous syntax and grammar
Replies: 18
Views: 5636

Re: unambiguous syntax and grammar

Huh? Sindyr has a whole lot of posts in C&C Quickies for their conlang, which while not explicitly stated, is basically an attempt at a logical conlang (and people have even pointed them to the various logical conlangs that are already hanging about). To the point where at first I thought this thre...
by Ser
Wed Dec 06, 2017 11:55 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: unambiguous syntax and grammar
Replies: 18
Views: 5636

Re: unambiguous syntax and grammar

Obligatory XY problem avoidance: why do you want to find them? Do you have a goal in mind? In responce to lojbans complexity I have created several conlangs with the subject and now I research how others did it and in what way differently. Maybe my approach has flaws I'd find worth fixing before I ...
by Ser
Tue Dec 05, 2017 6:08 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: unambiguous syntax and grammar
Replies: 18
Views: 5636

Re: unambiguous syntax and grammar

English is obviously ambiguous. In the phrase `Red roses and apples' - are apples red? That's not an example of ambiguity for subject-marking though. :P You want the classic " Fruit flies like a banana " instead (bananas and fruits in general are able to fly, why do you ask?). But if you do mean sy...
by Ser
Thu Nov 23, 2017 4:08 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Should I make the lexicon or grammar first?
Replies: 10
Views: 4427

Re: Should I make the lexicon or grammar first?

A grammar needs examples that use part of the lexicon.

An entry in the lexicon is often not complete without information about grammar.

Why not both at the same time?
by Ser
Wed Nov 22, 2017 2:34 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: ZBB Conlang Index (check the first post)
Replies: 43
Views: 25753

Re: ZBB Conlang Index (check the first post)

Ryan of Tinellb wrote:It took me a while to work out that the index is the first post, and that it's being kept updated.
I have changed the title of the thread to reflect this.
by Ser
Mon Nov 13, 2017 5:41 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: ZBB Conlang Index (check the first post)
Replies: 43
Views: 25753

Re: ZBB Conlang Index

Checked for rotten links again, and deleted the ones I found.
by Ser
Thu Nov 09, 2017 6:23 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Phonemes which are found in <5 languages or so
Replies: 54
Views: 14216

Re: Phonemes which are found in <5 languages or so

amazing that /t d n s l/ are so rare. There must be a reasn, such as tracking only pure /t/ isntead of /tɣ/~/tʲ/ etc, since for sure there are more languages with coronal elementals than that! e.g. even /s/ shows up at only about 45% . Dental and alveolar consonants are separated. For example, Nene...
by Ser
Sun Oct 29, 2017 3:05 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Your first conscript
Replies: 14
Views: 6487

Your first conscript

We've discussed our first conlangs in the past, but what about our first conscripts? When I was 9 years old, in El Salvador, my parents bought me a keyboard to start taking piano lessons. It came with a manual in various languages, including Japanese and Chinese. I had seen Japanese/Chinese characte...
by Ser
Wed Oct 18, 2017 11:02 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Help your fluency in a nifty way
Replies: 4604
Views: 1116214

Re: Help your fluency in a nifty way

Has sido un ¿Acaso te has vuelto filósofo? En espagnol les noms des professions ne prennent pas d'article si l'on ne les modifie pas, comme en français et en italien. In Spanish, the names of professions don't take an article when they're not modified, as in French and Italian. Peut-être que tu es ...
by Ser
Sun Oct 15, 2017 4:09 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Odd pronunciation of a Chinese name
Replies: 26
Views: 7368

Re: Odd pronunciation of a Chinese name

Different Mandarin speakers will pronounce it in slightly different ways, but either "[weɪ tɕyə̯n]" (like zompist) or "[weɪ tɕyn]" (like Vijay) are good.
by Ser
Sun Oct 15, 2017 1:47 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Word Order and Nominal Cases
Replies: 9
Views: 3318

Re: Word Order and Nominal Cases

Vijay wrote:
vergil wrote:So I've heard the accepted wisdom is that, generally, SOV-type languages have lots of cases, while SVO-type languages have few or none.
It's not as far as I'm aware.
It's definitely part of conlanging lore though. I've seen conlangers making such a claim over the years at various points.
by Ser
Wed Sep 13, 2017 4:00 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Adpositional Adverb Complex Sentence word order
Replies: 5
Views: 2858

Re: Adpositional Adverb Complex Sentence word order

in my syntax tree below I had to move it to the middle, because in syntax trees lines cannot cross Just as an aside, James McCawley would have disagreed. He played with trees where lines could cross, connecting to somewhere else than their linear order. So you could put your -que in its proper line...
by Ser
Wed Sep 13, 2017 2:19 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Adpositional Adverb Complex Sentence word order
Replies: 5
Views: 2858

Re: Adpositional Adverb Complex Sentence word order

I've never seen a language that allowed sentences (or any long constituent) to be coordinated by an "and" at the end, after juxtaposing both elements, and I doubt that they exist. There's just not much of a point of having an "and" if it's not at or near where the sentences or constituents are separ...
by Ser
Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:25 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Minimizing the noun-verb distinction? [split from Random Thread]
Replies: 67
Views: 20634

Re: Random Thread

Any other languages with such or similar feature? How many are there in Bulgarian? I think there's literally only two of such in Spanish: Correveidile corre-ve-y-di-le run.2SG.IMP-see.2SG.IMP-and-tell.2SG.IMP-him/her 'a gossip, tattler' Tentempié ten-te-en-pie hold.2SG.IMP-yourself-on-foot 'a snack...
by Ser
Fri Sep 08, 2017 9:24 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Help your fluency in a nifty way
Replies: 4604
Views: 1116214

Re: Help your fluency in a nifty way

.התאמצתי כל כך הרבה כשהייתי בארץ כדי להגיע לרמה הזאת בעברית. איזה באסה שאשכח אותה בסוף Hit’amatsti kol kakh harbë kshe-hayiti ba-Arets kdey lehagia‘ la-ramä ha-zot be-‘ivrit. Eyzë bāsä she-eshkaḥ otä ba-sof. I made such a big effort to get to this level of Hebrew when I was in Israel. What a shame ...
by Ser
Fri Aug 25, 2017 11:20 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Incorrect pronunciations you have (or have had) to unlearn
Replies: 669
Views: 149453

Re: Incorrect pronunciations you have (or have had) to unlea

It wasn't until about four years ago that I finally learned "category" is not pronounced */kəˈtɛgəɹi/ but /ˈkætəgɔɹi/.
by Ser
Fri Aug 25, 2017 11:12 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread
Replies: 3108
Views: 639842

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

"complex" Here in Vancouver, the noun is always pronounced cómplex, but I hear the adjective pronounced both cómplex and compléx. Curiously, when people say compléx, they usually say it in a slower, more careful way, which makes me think it must feel a bit artificial to speakers or something. Do you...
by Ser
Wed Aug 23, 2017 8:07 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: How many words do you need?
Replies: 14
Views: 4629

How many words do you need?

A user from another forum (reineke, language-learners.org forum) made mention of this interesting paper. Nichols, Johanna. "How many words do you need?" Published: 2005-01-18. Accessed: 2017-08-23. URL: http://emeld.org/school/classroom/text/lexicon-size.html Introduction: How much material is neede...
by Ser
Wed Aug 23, 2017 12:28 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Singing pronunciation in different languages
Replies: 16
Views: 6134

Re: Singing pronunciation in different languages

There's nothing, as far as I can tell, to be remarked upon pronunciation-wise in most of merengue, salsa, cumbia, tango, flamenco, reggaeton, or pop/rock music in Spanish, other than the fact stress is sometimes placed in an unusual syllable to fit the music or the rhythm. For example, you can hear ...