Search found 54 matches

by Circeus
Sun Jun 03, 2018 6:47 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: How to conflate verbs with verbal nouns
Replies: 2
Views: 4041

Re: How to conflate verbs with verbal nouns

So let me get this straight. You mean a language where there is no noun that corresponds to the action expressed by the verb, i.e. there is not separate form that correspond to the second member of do vs. action, perform vs. performance. It's worth noting that such noun are very commonly repurposed ...
by Circeus
Tue May 29, 2018 2:35 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: The Great Proto-Indo-European Thread
Replies: 2225
Views: 448561

Re: The Great Proto-Indo-European Thread

And lastly, a hotbed of diversity in a language family is likely to be near the original homeland, but it can emerge secondarily off the centre, e.g. if branch after branch moves into it. Clearly you have no familiarity with the concept of evolutionary radiation . While radiation is better seen in ...
by Circeus
Tue May 22, 2018 9:19 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Faites-le le
Replies: 10
Views: 8058

Re: Faites-le le

Faites-le le plus souvent faites-le le soir du 23 décembre Faites-les les lire I don't think I do anything special here. The second le will often be reduced to /l/ with the schwa elided, if the following word starts with a consonant that isn't /l/. Also, there will often be an intonation break betw...
by Circeus
Thu May 03, 2018 7:48 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Languages without Quantifier Hopping?
Replies: 14
Views: 10032

Re: Languages without Quantifier Hopping?

For French, permettre allows a pretty neat separation thanks to the ne...que restrictive negation, though one of the meanings (marked with *) requires a passive construction and cannot be expressed in an active "voice" Satan ne permet qu'aux conlangers de faire des auxlangs. = (Only conlangers) can ...
by Circeus
Thu May 03, 2018 7:09 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: /ɑ/ /ɛː/ in Quebec / Belgian French: inflectional paradigm?
Replies: 3
Views: 3977

Re: /ɑ/ /ɛː/ in Quebec / Belgian French: inflectional paradi

il a ↔ tu as; il va ↔ tu vas; il mangera ↔ tu mangeras; il dîna (past historic) ↔ tu dînas (past historic) ↔ (qu')il dînât (imperfect subjunctive); il sait ↔ je sais, tu sais; il fait ↔ je fais, tu fais; il changerait ↔ je changerais, tu changerais; il pensait ↔ je pensais, tu pensais; il connaît ↔...
by Circeus
Sat Apr 28, 2018 12:59 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: What do you call...
Replies: 22
Views: 13419

Re: What do you call...

I have the vague feeling the curt formulation is also a problem in Zompist's examples. E-H are all dubious to unacceptable for me, yet these versions seem to work: E1: Before he'd even eaten lunch, Noam Chomsky had fainted. G1: Before the sheep had bitten him, Noam Chomsky had already fainted. H1: I...
by Circeus
Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:07 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Relative clauses: cross-linguistic comparison
Replies: 23
Views: 13038

Re: Relative clauses: cross-linguistic comparison

While we're on the topic, I'm curious to ask: how "normal" are relative clauses where the relativized noun is not an argument at all cross-linguistically? (are they even relatives proper :? ) Stuff like "the reason why", "the place where/whence", "the year when" etc.
by Circeus
Thu Mar 29, 2018 7:49 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Mfalen: an attempted initial sketch
Replies: 20
Views: 11893

Re: Mfalen: an attempted initial sketch

I had not noticed this post earlier, so apologies for this incredibly late answer. In-laws Traditional Mfalen society doesn't have a concept of in-laws because one of the two spouse is essentially adopted into the other's clan (i.e. come sunder the exclusive authority of that clan's leader for vario...
by Circeus
Thu Mar 22, 2018 3:09 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: The Innovative Usage Thread
Replies: 2452
Views: 413665

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

I know you're being somewhat mischievous, but doesn't it follow right up from the assumption that "this" can now clearly be used as an onomatopoeia/sentence word? Just checking on my linguistic analysis instinct. Well, in standard English "this" is a pronoun— more precisely a pro-NP. Pronouns can't...
by Circeus
Sun Mar 18, 2018 6:01 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: The Innovative Usage Thread
Replies: 2452
Views: 413665

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Something I saw on Twitter the other day: This. So much this. All the this. I'm pretty sure this is impossible according to X-bar theory. :) I know you're being somewhat mischievous, but doesn't it follow right up from the assumption that "this" can now clearly be used as an onomatopoeia/sentence w...
by Circeus
Sat Mar 17, 2018 10:40 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sebastic (Semitic lang) Workpad [NP: Ergativity? Discussion)
Replies: 44
Views: 27657

Re: Sebastic (Semitic lang) Workpad [NP: Ergativity? Discuss

I'd like to make sure I get this right. You want a construction where a verb which is normally intransitive with an absolutive subject acquires a second argument without the subject changing case, right? I.e. you want a transformation X-abs VERB.int-aspect → X-abs VERB.int-aspect-[?marker] Y-[?case]...
by Circeus
Sat Mar 17, 2018 4:06 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sebastic (Semitic lang) Workpad [NP: Ergativity? Discussion)
Replies: 44
Views: 27657

Re: Sebastic (Semitic lang) Workpad [NP: Ergativity? Discuss

The "transitive" version's second mandatory argument (assuming it is truly mandatory) could simply not be ergative? That is the verb is not syntactically transitive, but its meaning still change, so you have an absolutive subject and an "object" in, say, the dative.
by Circeus
Mon Jan 01, 2018 7:28 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Quick question about French
Replies: 7
Views: 3025

Re: Quick question about French

I can confirm that there are no words with the sequence /yj/ word-finally. The words in Zompist's list are either written -ouill , or have another vowel afterwards so the sequence is /ɥijV/. Actually, the sequence (well, its analogue/-ɥij/ anyway) occurs word-finally in aiguille . You'll also hear ...
by Circeus
Sat Dec 16, 2017 11:32 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Internet slang dating: is IIRC a somehow aging abbreviation?
Replies: 26
Views: 8361

Re: Internet slang dating: is IIRC a somehow aging abbreviat

I had never considered this. It's true that I became a netizen well before the advent of social media as we know it today. Thinking on it, that probably explains my aversion to emojis... "Netizen" is another dead giveaway. True enough XD I've advised my mom that she looks either fifteen or sixty-fi...
by Circeus
Sat Dec 16, 2017 11:22 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Internet slang dating: is IIRC a somehow aging abbreviation?
Replies: 26
Views: 8361

Re: Internet slang dating: is IIRC a somehow aging abbreviat

I think there is a generational issue, yes. But there's also a subcultural issue. Most of the internet abbreviations, ime, are primarily used by what you might call internet 'natives' - people who use the internet extensively, not merely as a tool for organising their RL, and who use parts of the i...
by Circeus
Fri Dec 15, 2017 8:09 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Internet slang dating: is IIRC a somehow aging abbreviation?
Replies: 26
Views: 8361

Re: Internet slang dating: is IIRC a somehow aging abbreviat

FWIW (another I've had people asking about, as it happens <<;;;) by "significantly younger" I mean early-to-mid 20s, so people who have been online for around half their lives.
by Circeus
Fri Dec 15, 2017 2:32 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Internet slang dating: is IIRC a somehow aging abbreviation?
Replies: 26
Views: 8361

Internet slang dating: is IIRC a somehow aging abbreviation?

(Hopefully this is the best forum for this thread.) I started coming regularly on the internet in the mid-nineties, and have always been a frequent user of various IM abbreviations. Recently (i.e. in the last couple years), I've had multiple people ask me what "IIRC" ("If I Remember Correctly"). Now...
by Circeus
Wed Dec 13, 2017 9:57 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Getting rid of grammatical features
Replies: 12
Views: 4454

Re: Getting rid of grammatical features

Maybe an alternative to "the" gets more widely used - some English speakers will use "that" in preference to "the" - and then the work that "the" does becomes more and more marginal. "That" might take on the functions of "the" in marking definiteness, or it might not. Although in that case one migh...
by Circeus
Sat Dec 02, 2017 11:04 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Kinship: children of cousins?
Replies: 15
Views: 4488

Re: Kinship: children of cousins?

Children of your cousins are, more technically, your "first cousins once removed". Those kids, and your own kids, are "second cousins". (I.e. second cousins are people whose parents are first cousins.) I am well aware of that, but these fall into the same opposition between english in-laws and the ...
by Circeus
Sat Dec 02, 2017 6:26 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Kinship: children of cousins?
Replies: 15
Views: 4488

Kinship: children of cousins?

I've never seen a kinship chart that includes this particular relationship (they only ever seem to include children of siblings), so I wondered the obvious: does any natural language have dedicated terms for children of cousins?
by Circeus
Sat Nov 11, 2017 11:36 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Mfalen: an attempted initial sketch
Replies: 20
Views: 11893

Re: Mfalen: an attempted initial sketch

I like this, but wouldn't the "reveal" ones be better ordered the other way around? Revealing the object is the result of a physical motion there, which in the other three verbs comes at the end of the word. In the case of reveal , the usage started as one of those cases of high-literary ditransiti...
by Circeus
Thu Nov 09, 2017 11:01 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Mfalen: an attempted initial sketch
Replies: 20
Views: 11893

Re: Mfalen: an attempted initial sketch

A few tidbits I wanted to show off/jot down: The three meanings of verbs An example: Base verb: EAT (deverbal root: food/meat, the Mfalen assimilate most plant matter very poorly) Intransitive: have a meal Transitive: eat something ("you gotta eat to live" would is a deobjective) Bitransitive: eat s...
by Circeus
Sat Sep 23, 2017 7:51 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Mfalen: an attempted initial sketch
Replies: 20
Views: 11893

Re: Mfalen: an attempted initial sketch

In a bid to get things back on track... Interesting. Makes me think of Adyghe actually. Actually, as you'll see, it's a lot closer to Russian, with a (C)(C)V(C) structure that generally disallows vowel hiatuses. I wanted something that was definitely a little out there compared to Standard Western ...
by Circeus
Thu Sep 21, 2017 7:36 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Mfalen: an attempted initial sketch
Replies: 20
Views: 11893

Re: Mfalen: an attempted initial sketch

I'm sorry, when did it "get suddenly hijacked"? Did you not bring up egalitarian and matriarchal societies? Is it that surprising that a discussion of patriarchy might follow from that? Let's just say that I think a debate on what real world societies were or weren't misogynist patriarchies and the...
by Circeus
Wed Sep 20, 2017 5:16 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Mfalen: an attempted initial sketch
Replies: 20
Views: 11893

Re: Mfalen: an attempted initial sketch

(One day I will be able to start threads on here that don't get suddenly hijacked over a trivial matter)