Search found 168 matches
- Wed Mar 28, 2018 11:26 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Nostratic, Eurasiatic, Mitian, ...
- Replies: 217
- Views: 83702
Re: Nostratic, Eurasiatic, Mitian, ...
Africanists are much more inclined towards macro-relationship than today's Eurasianists, it seems, though the support for Nilo-Saharan seems to be waning lately, and Khoisan has pretty much been abandoned. Is there actually good evidence for Niger-Congo? Khoisan has absolutely been completely rejec...
- Mon Feb 26, 2018 10:53 pm
- Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
- Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
- Replies: 2827
- Views: 632714
Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread
I think so, but that would still make the language very unusual, as phonologies with a functional velar-uvular distinction in fricatives are very few and far between. Is this really the case? It's very areal, for sure, but there's a heck of a lot of North American languages in the PNW with this dis...
- Sun Feb 25, 2018 2:54 am
- Forum: None of the above
- Topic: Classical Composers
- Replies: 103
- Views: 45053
Re: Classical Composers
Salmoneus, I really liked your speculation on the future of classical and pop music and their place in musical history. I just wanted to add my two cents to this. I pretty much exclusively listen to classical music. I don't have any knowledge whatsoever of music theory, so it goes to show that it's ...
- Fri Jan 19, 2018 1:08 am
- Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
- Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
- Replies: 2827
- Views: 632714
Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Voiceless nasals could become voiceless fricatives at the corresponding place of articulation, like /m̥/ > /ɸ/ or /n̥/ > /θ/
- Mon Nov 06, 2017 9:27 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: The Innovative Usage Thread
- Replies: 2452
- Views: 428697
Re: The Innovative Usage Thread
Not sure of a better place to put this, but I wanted to share: I just realized that maybe there’s an incipient sound change in English where word-final /nt/ is simplified to /t/, as demonstrated by misspellings/confusions such as “tenant” for “tenet”, “dominate” for “dominant”, “laminant” for “lamin...
- Mon Nov 06, 2017 6:30 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Why does Lat. /ka'tena/ > N. It. /kad'æŋna/?
- Replies: 14
- Views: 4952
Re: Why does Lat. /ka'tena/ > N. It. /kad'æŋna/?
- Some varieties of Italian Romance not only preserve a neuter (like Romanian), but some in fact have up to four grammatical genders - Some varieties of Italian Romance have innovated gender marking on verbs, and some have even developed gender marking on prepositional phrases How did these innovat...
- Fri Nov 03, 2017 2:28 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Why does Lat. /ka'tena/ > N. It. /kad'æŋna/?
- Replies: 14
- Views: 4952
Re: Why does Lat. /ka'tena/ > N. It. /kad'æŋna/?
/uno/ > /vuk/?? Wow. That is really weird. I dont think I've ever seen a sound shift of /n/ > /ŋ/ > /k/, especially not in final position where nasals are usually favored. But yeah, it looks like the map is correct, and in fact, if Im reading the paper right, they claim a regular shift of /n/ > /ŋn...
- Sat Oct 28, 2017 6:26 pm
- Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
- Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
- Replies: 2827
- Views: 632714
Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Has there been recorded an unconditional change of [ɔ/o] to [œ/ø]? More or less, yes, at least if it's part of a larger vowel system where there's another shorter/laxer o-like consonant. E.g. in some English varieties, such as the Baltimore dialect, /oʊ/ is fronted almost all the way to /øʊ/ or eve...
- Thu Oct 05, 2017 7:19 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: The Innovative Usage Thread
- Replies: 2452
- Views: 428697
Re: The Innovative Usage Thread
My roommates, who are from New York City, sometimes use a rather strange verb: fucks - as in, that's the base, uninflected form. It only appears after the auxiliary can , as in "I can fucks with that" or "He can fucks with that." Fucks with means "to manage, handle, or work with [something]", clearl...
- Tue Sep 26, 2017 8:48 pm
- Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
- Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
- Replies: 2827
- Views: 632714
Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Most lenitions of /s/ seem to take /z/ or /h/ as initial pathways; i.e.
/s/ > /h/ > /∅/
/s/ > /z/ > /ʐ/ or /r/ or /ɹ/
Can anyone think of any other outcomes for lenited /s/, or any other initial pathways? Especially in a voiced environment?
/s/ > /h/ > /∅/
/s/ > /z/ > /ʐ/ or /r/ or /ɹ/
Can anyone think of any other outcomes for lenited /s/, or any other initial pathways? Especially in a voiced environment?
- Thu Sep 21, 2017 6:12 pm
- Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
- Topic: Porphyrogenitos' scratchpad
- Replies: 16
- Views: 6461
Re: Porphyrogenitos' scratchpad
Some ideas for a language with templatic reduplication I've had: Clusters are only permissible syllable-initially. Permissible clusters consist of a nasal + homorganic stop, a stop + a liquid, or a stop both preceded by a homorganic nasal and followed by a liquid. Stops in clusters are always voiced...
- Sat Sep 02, 2017 2:00 pm
- Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
- Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
- Replies: 2827
- Views: 632714
Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread
They could also simply become geminates.
- Fri Sep 01, 2017 9:52 pm
- Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
- Topic: Porphyrogenitos' scratchpad
- Replies: 16
- Views: 6461
Re: Porphyrogenitos' scratchpad
You have a biconsonantal root now! Is that intentional? Oh, huh. I didn't even notice that. That's interesting. Though those two consonants, /tm/, are probably gonna stay smushed together like that, unless a suffix is added that shifts the original stress one syllable to the right. Also note that t...
- Fri Sep 01, 2017 9:16 pm
- Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
- Topic: Porphyrogenitos' scratchpad
- Replies: 16
- Views: 6461
Re: Porphyrogenitos' scratchpad
Here's a little thing I came up with about a language with an unmarked default/masculine and a marked feminine, that switches to a default/feminine and marked masculine system. Likely undergoing further revision after I read up some more on masculine-feminine noun classes outside IE. This contrasts ...
- Wed Aug 30, 2017 9:48 pm
- Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
- Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
- Replies: 2827
- Views: 632714
Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Sorry, it's kind of a weird question. From Latin? Not from Latin - from any historical/phonological starting point you wish. It doesn't have to be masculine/feminine, but that's what I intend to do with it. Sorry Im not sure I understand the question. Wouldnt the unmarked form always be predictable ...
- Wed Aug 30, 2017 12:32 pm
- Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
- Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
- Replies: 2827
- Views: 632714
Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread
I was getting some input on this on Tumblr, but I'm gonna ask here too: Can anyone think of a change besides final vowels reduced to schwa > final consonants deleted > schwa deleted (much as in French) by which a predictable/regular marked form could become unpredictable/irregular - thus allowing it...
- Tue Aug 29, 2017 8:51 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Masculine-feminine gender systems beyond IE
- Replies: 10
- Views: 3752
Masculine-feminine gender systems beyond IE
Does anyone know anything about non-Indo-European languages with masculine-feminine grammatical gender/noun class systems? Or any links to articles or papers discussing them, or (especially) their historical development?
- Tue Aug 22, 2017 11:59 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Metathesis in languages that are mostly CV?
- Replies: 7
- Views: 3622
Re: Metathesis in languages that are mostly CV?
Oh and metathesis to maintain CV structure is how a lot of languages developed infixes.
E.g. ak + ole = akole, but ak + tura = *aktura, so the onset of the root is switched with the affix to make takura.
E.g. ak + ole = akole, but ak + tura = *aktura, so the onset of the root is switched with the affix to make takura.
- Tue Aug 22, 2017 11:39 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Isolating languages outside East Asia
- Replies: 8
- Views: 3218
Re: Isolating languages outside East Asia
You may be interested in this paper by John McWhorter, who says it's not a coincidence that extremely isolating languages are only found in East Asia, a certain area of West Africa, and among the languages conventionally considered creoles - that radical analyticity (as opposed to moderate degrees o...
- Sun Aug 13, 2017 9:54 pm
- Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
- Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
- Replies: 2827
- Views: 632714
Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Do you mean it was originally /i ɛ u o ɑ ɨ/? If so, that's perfectly fine.smii wrote:Would ɨ > y be realistic, if the original vowel system was /i ɛ u o ɑ/?
- Wed Jul 26, 2017 11:09 pm
- Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
- Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
- Replies: 2827
- Views: 632714
Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread
So I like the syllable stress and weight system of Wiyot , which is a bit unusual but has a certain appeal, and am trying to use it (or something similar) in a conlang: Wiyot syllables always begin with consonants or consonant clusters, which are followed by a vowel. This vowel may be long or short....
- Tue Jul 25, 2017 11:19 pm
- Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
- Topic: Turning vowel reduction into ablaut
- Replies: 25
- Views: 14107
Re: Turning vowel reduction into ablaut
Very interesting. After reading this I tried out a tiny scheme of my own like this, using just /i a u/ and two syllable types - CV and CV: - and with the stress falling on the heaviest of the last two syllables. Short unstressed /i u/ became [ɨ]; short unstressed /a/ became [ə]; but after alevolars ...
- Thu Jun 08, 2017 1:33 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Curiosities from the languages of Italy
- Replies: 10
- Views: 4016
Re: Curiosities from the languages of Italy
Even though Robert Hall did posit /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ in Proto-Romance Phonology (1976), for stressed syllables at any rate, it's very common for scholars to refer to your "Western" 7-vowel system as "Proto-Romance", "Common Romance" or even "Vulgar Latin", even when they do recognize a stage with a 9-vowe...
- Tue Jun 06, 2017 4:42 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Curiosities from the languages of Italy
- Replies: 10
- Views: 4016
Re: Curiosities from the languages of Italy
Just out of curiosity, did you take that "Proto-Romance" vowel system from the book? I mean, it was what the book had, but I didn't really, since I've read about the Romance languages before and that's just the standard reconstruction of the Proto-Romance vowel system, e.g. as seen in this Wikipedi...
- Sun Jun 04, 2017 4:48 pm
- Forum: Languages & Linguistics
- Topic: Curiosities from the languages of Italy
- Replies: 10
- Views: 4016
Re: Curiosities from the languages of Italy
Okay, so you know how the Romance languages are often divided into primary branches based on how they resolved the Proto-Romance vowels? E.g. as shown here: http://i.imgur.com/SULagd7.png Well, it turns out Sicilian and some related Calabrian dialects have done something slightly different. They've ...