Search found 575 matches

by brandrinn
Mon Jul 07, 2014 4:43 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Rate of sound change
Replies: 35
Views: 8534

Re: Rate of sound change

This seems like the cousin of the tonogenesis sound change where final consonants affect tone and then disappear. In both cases certain information is lost after it has been safely stored earlier in the word.
by brandrinn
Sun Aug 04, 2013 2:03 am
Forum: Almea
Topic: Almean Industrial Revolution... and imperialism?
Replies: 20
Views: 8542

Re: Almean Industrial Revolution... and imperialism?

Is this really colonization? We have to be careful of calling everything Europeans did in foreign countries colonization--and not applying the same standard to other peoples. Does setting up Chinatowns constitute colonization, for example? If you had extraterritoriality in Chinatown, then yes. Of c...
by brandrinn
Sun Aug 04, 2013 1:56 am
Forum: Almea
Topic: Almean Industrial Revolution... and imperialism?
Replies: 20
Views: 8542

Re: Almean Industrial Revolution... and imperialism?

Excellent post, Sal. There is one huge difference between Almea and Earth that would have a big impact on colonization. On Earth, India and China were very economically and technologically advanced relative to Europe in the early modern period. When the Portuguese first came to India, they were step...
by brandrinn
Thu Aug 01, 2013 11:34 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Rosa's roses: all in your heads?
Replies: 22
Views: 5494

Re: Rosa's roses: all in your heads?

Couldn't schwa be an allophonic realization of either /6/ or /I/? That way, you can admit that it's not phonemic while maintaining the "two schwa" contrast.
by brandrinn
Sat Jul 27, 2013 1:06 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Paralyzing Plate Tectonics
Replies: 10
Views: 5365

Re: Paralyzing Plate Tectonics

I still don't understand the problem. You start with a super continent. Draw some divergent fissures on it in random places (a look at a tectonic map of Earth will give you an idea how many you need), and fast forward. The resulting convergent boundaries will yield coastal mountain ranges like the P...
by brandrinn
Sat Jul 27, 2013 12:49 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Hunter-gatherer languages
Replies: 25
Views: 6802

Re: Hunter-gatherer languages

Most of the differences will be lexical, and some of them will be obvious based on culture and technology. Some of them might not be so obvious. Technologically primitive cultures in places like New Guinea often have very few words for color, for example, compared to the several basic color words of...
by brandrinn
Fri Jul 26, 2013 11:59 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Paralyzing Plate Tectonics
Replies: 10
Views: 5365

Re: Paralyzing Plate Tectonics

What?
by brandrinn
Sat Jul 20, 2013 10:57 am
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Creativity of the day
Replies: 1704
Views: 323305

Re: Creativity of the day

According to this site , there are 400,000 apartment dwellers in Missouri. Then this article says that there are 135,000 units in the "metro St Louis" area. In fact, according to that article, demand for apartments is on the rise, with the lowest vacancy rate in ten years and 1000 more units planned...
by brandrinn
Wed Jul 10, 2013 11:11 am
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Creativity of the day
Replies: 1704
Views: 323305

Re: Creativity of the day

Only cartoon plutocrats with monocles and liveried footmen have a separate room for dining. Humans eat in the kitchen. Or the bedroom if they're under 25 and that's where the computer happens to be.
by brandrinn
Thu Jun 27, 2013 9:05 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Conlangery Podcast (Latest Ep: #94: Face and Politeness)
Replies: 974
Views: 177275

Re: Conlangery Podcast (Latest Ep: SHORTS #08: Pahran gramat

"Half eight" meaning 8:30 will never cease to confuse me. Obviously "half eight" should mean either 7:30 or 4:00, but it should never be anything higher than eight!
by brandrinn
Sun Apr 28, 2013 9:11 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Plausible limits of population [now playing: outer space]
Replies: 71
Views: 14913

Re: Plausible limits of population

The heat death of the universe is inevitable.
Burn everything.
by brandrinn
Sun Apr 28, 2013 11:19 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Plausible limits of population [now playing: outer space]
Replies: 71
Views: 14913

Re: Plausible limits of population

But anyway, that ignores that half of the insolation doesn't reach the surface, and that two-thirds of what does falls on the oceans (which in this model we've dedicated to our farming). On the other hand, 20% efficiency is incredibly conservative. Surprisingly, that's not the case! About 30% of to...
by brandrinn
Sat Apr 27, 2013 7:58 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Plausible limits of population [now playing: outer space]
Replies: 71
Views: 14913

Re: Plausible limits of population

OK, I'll bite. How much light do we actually need? If humans spend 8 hours in total darkness, and the other 16 hours using indoor light, then the vast majority of sunlight that falls on the Earth is superfluous. We could just cover the entire surface of the planet in solar panels, and use some of th...
by brandrinn
Fri Apr 26, 2013 12:57 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Plausible limits of population [now playing: outer space]
Replies: 71
Views: 14913

Re: Plausible limits of population

All Earth carrying capacity equations forget that the Earth must be inhabited by people, and people never explore the practical limits of what they can do. We have the internet. That means we could all be doing online masters programs with every spare minute of our days. We should all be quintuple d...
by brandrinn
Fri Apr 26, 2013 12:50 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Let's test sound symbolism.
Replies: 35
Views: 7130

Re: Let's test sound symbolism.

c, b, a, b
by brandrinn
Mon Apr 15, 2013 9:25 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Genetics/Sex question
Replies: 37
Views: 9477

Re: Genetics/Sex question

Even without any differences in fitness, a 4 sex system will eventually reduce, given enough time. At least, so long as the children's sex is determined by their parents. The same happens with any lineage. Patronymic names break down over just a few thousand years (compare the Netherlands to Korea)....
by brandrinn
Thu Apr 11, 2013 12:27 am
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Linguistic Quackery Thread, take 2
Replies: 812
Views: 203582

Re: Linguistic Quackery Thread, take 2

All conjunctions evolved from [ə]. He has one thing in common with the people on this board. He cannot tell the difference between [ə] and [ɐ]. Granted, in many dialects of American English they are merged, but where they are merged, the enunciated pronunciation is [ɐ]. [ə] is only found in reduced...
by brandrinn
Wed Apr 10, 2013 9:06 am
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Linguistic Quackery Thread, take 2
Replies: 812
Views: 203582

Re: Linguistic Quackery Thread, take 2

All conjunctions evolved from [ə]. He has one thing in common with the people on this board. He cannot tell the difference between [ə] and [ɐ]. Granted, in many dialects of American English they are merged, but where they are merged, the enunciated pronunciation is [ɐ]. [ə] is only found in reduced...
by brandrinn
Fri Feb 01, 2013 12:33 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: How Do You Sound Fancy in French?
Replies: 45
Views: 9671

Re: How Do You Sound Fancy in French?

What a fantastically helpful response to an admittedly silly question! There are lots of ideas here for making registers in conlangs. If this discussion keeps going, we should edit out the juicy bits and archive them in L&L Museum.
by brandrinn
Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:23 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: How Do You Sound Fancy in French?
Replies: 45
Views: 9671

How Do You Sound Fancy in French?

So in English we have Latinate words for most things when we want to put on our fancy pants. But to a Francophone our attempts to sound urbane must seem feeble. "His visage turned pugnaceous" just means "He looked at me with fighty-face." "She masticated the raconteur into submission" just means "Sh...
by brandrinn
Sat Jan 19, 2013 12:23 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sound Change Game
Replies: 2673
Views: 495783

Re: Sound Change Game

Bristel wrote: Tuneg Lilitu: dowah laimah [dowaʔ lai̯maʔ]
Visdel: toa' lhaima' [dɔwəˤˈɫəimɐˤ]
by brandrinn
Thu Jan 17, 2013 10:23 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Conlangery Podcast (Latest Ep: #94: Face and Politeness)
Replies: 974
Views: 177275

Re: Conlangery Podcast (Latest Ep: #80: Zonal Auxlangs)

Just expressing my approval of the last couple of podcasts. Great work.
by brandrinn
Mon Dec 03, 2012 12:07 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: English as a North Germanic language?
Replies: 31
Views: 8204

Re: English as a North Germanic language?

What sound changes do Northern Germanic and Anglo-Frisian have in common (that are not of transparently recent origin, and which are not also shared by West Germanic)? I can't find any.
by brandrinn
Wed Oct 24, 2012 9:11 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Linguistic Quackery Thread, take 2
Replies: 812
Views: 203582

Re: Linguistic Quackery Thread, take 2

Vuvu wrote that sentence in Greek and hit "translate."
by brandrinn
Thu Oct 18, 2012 12:27 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Appliquéd & Crocheted - Peculiar inflexion of borrowings
Replies: 31
Views: 7541

Re: Appliquéd & Crocheted - Peculiar inflexion of borrowings

When I was a kid, I thought "fetid" was a past participle of a verb "to fet." There may be some other morons who were similarly confused about "pallid" or "squalid." But I don't even know if those are loan words.