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Tha crìtheol na reinion eadar a dhà[1]: feumar roimhear air uairibh mar a'[2] fhraingis, feumar call air uairibh mar a n tS uaithili. Creole is between the two: sometimes you need a preposition like in French, sometimes nothing like in Swahili. [1] Is it possible to use a bare number pronominally G...

Tha sneachd nas motha ann an seo!

There's more often snow here!

http://www.spiegel.de/reise/fernweh/reu ... 72662.html

I am likewise an uncharacteristic listener of hip-hop at the moment. I had no idea the music of Griogair Labhruidh would be classed as hip-hop though. But then that's partly because I listen more to his more traditional music than the examples on this link.

People generally vote for parties rather than individuals; as a result, German legislators are very heavily dependent on their parties, and almost never vote against them. Ich habe eine Unterschied zwischen die Wahl während des Ermächtigungsgesetzes (und das französischen Gegenstück) in Deutschland...

I see what you mean. I'm not a fan of autotune myself. There have on occasion been songs that I could otherwise have listened to but the autotune put me off. It's quite disappointing that you describe Swahili music like this. Obviously, Swahili music was not always like this. Perhaps looking at olde...

@VS: Germany eased their citizenship laws in 2014 though.

@Richard: Denmark seems to be runner-up in topsy turvy citizenship ideas at the moment.

That's cool that you shared the song and translated it. I've translated two Réunionese songs, one into German: 'Mangé pou le coeur' by Alain Péters Essen für d'n Herz Ich geh' auf dem Weg Ich seh' Schwierigkeit gibts viel Wovon kommen sie? Überall wo ich geh' Das Ganz' versteh' ich nicht Gibts zu vi...

Thank you for these detailed explanations, Sal.

It's an unpleasant reminder of how deeply morally compromised the police and the security forces (and the government itself) became in that era.

It is indeed an unpleasant reminder, but how does this level of moral compromise compare to other eras?

I think he would make an awful PM regardless of what he believes in (although I'm staunchly opposed to his Israeli policy) because he simply isn't good at leading his MPs and is too ideological. Sure, he had a leadership contest after being in charge of the party for a year. And, before the electio...

That's a fair and detailed analysis, Sal. I'd add only that Northern Ireland similarly focussed on their two major parties (DUP and Sinn Fein, rather than the more moderate SDLP, UUP and Alliance) although I don't know the details of how that happened.

Here's a short piece on the Scottish results:https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/laurie ... l-election

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It's a bit scary a president claiming people miss the monarchy...

In my opinion, the only things that need being standardised for all users of one language are official (i.e. law and administration) and technical language (like in scientific papers) as it is necessary for them to be understandable for everybody. The rest of language, I think, shouldn't be codifie...

You're just jealous, because you'd rather have this unrepresentative electoral system than one where an electoral alliance can get 7% of the vote and not a single seat. Yeah, because a system that guarantees no representation is better than a system that requires you to pass the electoral threshold...

The Greens were second in Bristol West last election. If it weren't for the major gains in support for Labour (which is where former Green support is going lately), the Greens could be getting that seat this time around. Wow! Two seats instead of one. They do matter now! You're just jealous, becaus...

It's interesting to see to which extent your descriptions are objective or subjective... The Greens were second in Bristol West last election. If it weren't for the major gains in support for Labour (which is where former Green support is going lately), the Greens could be getting that seat this tim...

The Economist had 'zut alors!' on its front page recently and I saw a discussion on France 24 where everybody on the panel agreed it's something nobody says in France, very oldfashioned but apparently it's still taught in the UK, I think someone even called it being part of "British French" or some...

How does the last phrase break down into words in a gloss?

You might not like cider, but other people do, including me, my friends and family. I think that, while it can have a sweet taste like wine, it's distinctive, generally a bit heavier. And I'm no fan of beer personally. Do you also prefer grapes to apples? What about turning cider to apple wine? I'd...

Soap wrote:Even horses have been found to be attracted to fermented apples that have fallen off of a tree, but I dont know how recently it is that people made the connection between the object and the pleasure it brings.

Yep, pigs too: http://www.pigprogress.net/Home/General ... PP007584W/

Cider is shit. But most beer is shit as well. I presume in the past, when beer was less of a booze, and more of a nutrient, there was more of a reason to make/drink it. But cider? Really? Get your shit together and make wine already. You might not like cider, but other people do, including me, my f...

Is that y>kʷ and w> tʃ? The weirdest thing in that would be that it isn't w>kʷ and y> tʃ.

Mélenchon voters not voting against Le Pen. Because, you know, a vaguely centrist candidate is just as evil as a right-wing extremist. So that's why I could never stand the far left. Some Mélenchon supporters are saying that, and some are even voting LePen, but more than half of them are planning t...

Do you distinguish /ɛr ɪr ʌr/ where /r/ falls in a coda position? (I was watching Shetland and the characters did that, most notably consistently pronouncing person with an [ɛr].) I also thought Scottish English had allophonic lengthening before some, but not all, lenis obstruents. It's generally m...

Yes, that would be realistic.

I presume it happened at the same time as it did further South: around the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Although it did depend on the area of the country at which point the consonant disappeared.