Search found 274 matches

by Jetboy
Tue Jan 22, 2013 9:53 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Proofread a short grammar (with a substantial interlinear)?
Replies: 3
Views: 2730

Re: Proofread a short grammar (with a substantial interlinea

Ah, turns out I was wrong about the deadline– it's not due till the end of this week, so no rush.

Ambrisio, yes, xalet does mean friend.

GBR, thank you; even what you've already given me is helpful.
by Jetboy
Tue Jan 22, 2013 4:09 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Proofread a short grammar (with a substantial interlinear)?
Replies: 3
Views: 2730

Proofread a short grammar (with a substantial interlinear)?

Hello all. I've written a brief overview of my conlang, Nirimian, which I'm going to include in my college applications, since it's one thing to say that you've made a language and know a lot about linguistics, and another to show that you know what an antipassive construction is well enough to desi...
by Jetboy
Sun Jun 10, 2012 9:33 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: The Innovative Usage Thread
Replies: 2452
Views: 413771

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

I recently ran across "have an inspiration" in a novel, meaning what I would phrase as "be struck by inspiration." Perhaps it's on analogy with "have an idea."
by Jetboy
Tue Jun 05, 2012 10:37 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Replies: 2827
Views: 614093

Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread

Is there any sort of precedent for [l] -> [r] and [ll] -> [l]?
by Jetboy
Tue May 29, 2012 10:44 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: The Innovative Usage Thread
Replies: 2452
Views: 413771

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

My teenage nephew use "a lettuce" today for "a piece of lettuce"
by Jetboy
Sun May 27, 2012 10:26 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: The Innovative Usage Thread
Replies: 2452
Views: 413771

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

I'd expect /ɪ.ˈzn̩t/ if it was in the context of: "Did you say 'it is red'?" "No, I said 'it is n't red'", but not normally elsewhere. The thing is, though, I'd still give <isn't> initial stress– stronger initial stress, but still initial stress. Or maybe "it's not"; that's not terribly likely (or ...
by Jetboy
Sun May 27, 2012 8:30 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: The Innovative Usage Thread
Replies: 2452
Views: 413771

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

I ran across <is n't > online recently, which I interpreted as indicating stress on the second syllable– except I can't imagine anyone saying /ɪ.ˈzn̩t/. I'm not sure whether that's some sort of formatting error, a writing convention, or actually reflective of a pronunciation. I also managed to menta...
by Jetboy
Thu May 24, 2012 11:35 pm
Forum: L&L Museum
Topic: Bizarre Sound Changes
Replies: 190
Views: 93422

Re: Bizarre Sound Changes

I'm not sure if this applies for any other words, but for my grandmother and a few other older speakers around here, the word <borrow> has a pretty drastic vowel shift at the end of the word, that is, /ou/ > /i/, so the word is pronounced approximately [bɑɹi]. There are some dialects that merge fin...
by Jetboy
Mon May 21, 2012 9:07 pm
Forum: L&L Museum
Topic: Bizarre Sound Changes
Replies: 190
Views: 93422

Re: Bizarre Sound Changes

Also, if anyone feels like cutting out steps, Latin -> colloquial Spanish has /s/ -> /e/ #_C. The colloquial Spanish of Caribbeans and some southern Spaniards, please don't generalize this to the rest of us. :P Huh, I thought it was more widespread than that. I knew an Argentinean who had debuccali...
by Jetboy
Sun May 20, 2012 9:25 pm
Forum: L&L Museum
Topic: Bizarre Sound Changes
Replies: 190
Views: 93422

Re: Bizarre Sound Changes

In a number of Austronesian languages (independently), a prothetic /j/ was added to words beginning with /a/ (*Ø → j /#__a). This one reminds me of the fact that Ancient Greek had a prothetic /h/ inserted before initial /y/, apparently just because there were already a large number of words beginni...
by Jetboy
Sun May 20, 2012 3:47 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: The Official ZBB Quote Thread
Replies: 2878
Views: 637208

Re: The Official ZBB Quote Thread

Bob Johnson wrote:
Astraios wrote:He used "and etc."
Which is wrong, by Electra!
he is one of the hoi polloi
by Jetboy
Thu May 03, 2012 8:28 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: The Innovative Usage Thread
Replies: 2452
Views: 413771

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

My Shakespeare teacher has an expression "get dead" she likes to use semi-comically for "die," as in "And at the end of the play, Lady Macbeth gets dead." However, I noticed her use it transitively for the first time, meaning "kill," while we were discussing Richard III : "Richard gets Clarence dead...
by Jetboy
Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:31 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: The Official ZBB Quote Thread
Replies: 2878
Views: 637208

Re: The Official ZBB Quote Thread

linguoboy wrote:
Legion wrote:Terrorists are just a fairytale, they don't exist.
Planes, trains, border crossings, and nightclubs just blow themselves up. It's symptomatic of postmodern ennui.
by Jetboy
Sun Apr 15, 2012 11:12 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Confusing headlines and other trips down the garden path
Replies: 1058
Views: 221762

Re: Confusing headlines, and other trips down the garden pat

I saw an add for some extermination service depicting an oversized insect with the caption "He can eat more than your 16-year-old." However, instead of "He can eat more than your 16-year-old [can eat]", my first thought was "He can more things in addition to eating your 16-year-old." I was quite imp...
by Jetboy
Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:22 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: For those who know Greek
Replies: 15
Views: 2700

Re: For those who know Greek

FH? Is there actually a frat with a digamma in it?
by Jetboy
Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:18 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: The Official ZBB Quote Thread
Replies: 2878
Views: 637208

Re: The Official ZBB Quote Thread

Salmoneus wrote: Jesus has beautiful quads
In actuality discussing the grounds at English universities.
by Jetboy
Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:01 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: The dream thread
Replies: 1807
Views: 311637

Re: The dream thread

Last night I had one of the weirdest dreams I can remember. It was in four distinct parts. It started out with me on a boat that was out on some Northeastern lake, say Champlain. There were other passengers, and for some reason I was getting hints from the crew that there was a lake monster. Then we...
by Jetboy
Sat Mar 31, 2012 10:40 pm
Forum: L&L Museum
Topic: The Correspondence Library
Replies: 568
Views: 284685

Re: The Correspondence Library

Anyone have something to the tune of the vowel changes between PIE and Shakespeare?
by Jetboy
Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:36 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: The Innovative Usage Thread
Replies: 2452
Views: 413771

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

I've noticed that people here in Vancouver pronounce "Japanese" [ ˈdʒa p(ə)ˌnɪiz] pretty much universally, even though "/ˌdʒæpə ˈniːz /" is what you usually find in dictionaries. So far, people I've told that dictionaries usually say that "Japanese" supposedly rhymes with "Chinese" (which they do p...
by Jetboy
Sun Mar 25, 2012 12:32 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Replies: 2827
Views: 614093

Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread

Alright, thanks for the ideas!
by Jetboy
Sat Mar 24, 2012 11:10 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Replies: 2827
Views: 614093

Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread

Anything else more interesting than depositing nasal consonants and denasalizing?
by Jetboy
Sat Mar 24, 2012 10:21 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Replies: 2827
Views: 614093

Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread

So, I've been trying something with nasal vowels recently, for the first time. The thing is, I'm not sure how to get rid of them. Is nasalization turning into length attested?
by Jetboy
Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:15 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Replies: 2827
Views: 614093

Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread

Jana Masala wrote:How would I derive a series of pharyngealized (or velarized) labials?
Perhaps contraction of neighboring vowels, with /a/ vowels triggering velarization on the proceeding consonant? Or the same thing but with apocope?
by Jetboy
Wed Mar 07, 2012 6:31 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: The Innovative Usage Thread
Replies: 2452
Views: 413771

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

He's from DC, as far as I know, though he spent a lot of time in Europe as a child (he is a native speaker, though). Still, it doesn't seem to be a front-back distinction; I was pretty sure he did have [α] in COT, and CAUGHT sounded like [α̃]. I'm going to try to double check, though. EDIT: So, I as...
by Jetboy
Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:54 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: The Innovative Usage Thread
Replies: 2452
Views: 413771

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

So I realized today that one of my friends has doesn't have the CAUGHT-COT merger (as someone who's always wished that had phonemic /ɔ/, this is exciting), and when I pointed it out to him, he tried to get me to produce his CAUGHT vowel. However, while he was doing this, I noticed that the vowel did...