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.
Search found 274 matches
- Tue Jan 22, 2013 9:53 pm
- Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
- Topic: Proofread a short grammar (with a substantial interlinear)?
- Replies: 3
- Views: 2730
- 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...
- 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."
- 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]?
- 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"
- 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 ...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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:he is one of the hoi polloiAstraios wrote:He used "and etc."
Which is wrong, by Electra!
- 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...
- 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:Planes, trains, border crossings, and nightclubs just blow themselves up. It's symptomatic of postmodern ennui.Legion wrote:Terrorists are just a fairytale, they don't exist.
- 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...
- 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?
- 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
In actuality discussing the grounds at English universities.Salmoneus wrote: Jesus has beautiful quads
- 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...
- 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?
- 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...
- 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!
- 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?
- 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?
- Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:15 pm
- Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
- Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
- Replies: 2827
- Views: 614093
Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Perhaps contraction of neighboring vowels, with /a/ vowels triggering velarization on the proceeding consonant? Or the same thing but with apocope?Jana Masala wrote:How would I derive a series of pharyngealized (or velarized) labials?
- 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...
- 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...