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1500 questions
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Why does schwa have a special place among vowels?
What makes schwa so special? On my phonology exam my tutor phrased the question something like: Why is schwa the ruler/king of vowels? I don't know what he meant by this but I suppose it's got something to do with the fact that all vowels tend to…
lmc
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Why does there seem to be so much disagreement among linguists?
To put it another way, how much is there that all linguists would be willing defend as correct knowledge about linguistics?
I have just finished taking an introductory course in linguistics. One thing that struck me was how at every topic there was…
JohnJamesSmith
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Are there any languages with only one of "yes" or "no"?
Many modern languages have single words for "yes" and "no" (e.g. English), and some have more than a simple pair (e.g. French), while others have no word for "yes" or "no" (e.g. Latin and Irish).
Both "yes" and "no" have at least two meanings:
yes,…
CJ Dennis
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Selective fluency - is it a thing?
I speak 4 languages, and I have the least exposure to my native language, since I have never lived in the region where it's spoken. My only exposure to it is speaking to my parents, and some TV. I grew up speaking 1 other language as an infant, and…
insanity
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The letter "ff" in the name “Richard ffrench”?
I have a book called "A guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago" and the author is named as "Richard ffrench" with a small "f". The author's name is spelled the same way by the Library of Congress, with a lower-case letter starting the surname.…
Tyler Durden
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How Standard Average European is Modern Hebrew?
Standard Average European (SAE) is a Sprachbund centred around German and French and extending to almost all European languages. Haspelmath has examined Maltese for SAE features, but he did not examine Modern Hebrew (Ivrit). Since Modern Hebrew is…
Sir Cornflakes
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How does ghetto talk work in tonal languages?
Among historically low income/education groups in the US and in my native Mexico City, "ghetto talk" is heavy on the use of pitch to convey meaning. I've always attributed this to people compensating for a lack of vocabulary with pitch cues.
So I'm…
suckrates
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Do languages borrow morphemes?
It is clear that languages can borrow words and even syntax from other languages but do they borrow morphemes?
For example, the English morpheme -ation has a very specific usage in Portuguese. It is specially seen in the word embromation, that comes…
rberaldo
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Are there natural languages with the following properties (seen in Esperanto)?
Are there natural languages that have the following set of properties:
The language possesses nouns, adjectives, and definite articles
Nouns and adjective are both inflected for number and case (or at least one of the categories) and show…
Sir Cornflakes
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What is the difference between "anaphora" and "deixis"?
I've been trying to understand an answer from another SE site (Japanese Language & Usage) where the answer involves the differences between anaphora and deixis. Here is the link.
What would be the difference between anaphoric and deictic usage? If…
Ci3
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How would Slavs call a bear if they didn't use euphemism?
Unlike Latin "ursus" or English "bear", the Slavic word "medved" is not cognate to the reconstructed PIE "*Hrtkos". It is believed that this word is a Slavic euphemism meaning "honey-eater". I am interested, however, what would happen if Slavs…
zefciu
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Where to find frequency list of English words from newspapers, books and magazines?
I'd like to download a frequency list of English words that are most common in newspapers, books and magazines. It should contain at least 50.000 words.
Is it possible to download such a list from the web? Could you help me start to have better…
xralf
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Massive Open Online Courses on linguistics
I am a programmer who loves to learn online. Unfortunately, linguistics related materials are pretty scarce on the web.
Thus, could anyone point me to some good MOOCs or other free materials on (Computational) Linguistics?
These are great MOOCs that…
GA1
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What language, if any, do deaf people think in?
If a person is partially deaf, I think they would be able to acquire the language, and actually I've seen partially deaf people speak in addition to the use of a sign language. I suppose this means they can use that language when they think, is this…
Alenanno
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Besides logics, what mathematical tools are used in the study of linguistics?
I learned of connections between linguistics and category theory when I'm learning the application of category theory in quantum field theory. Being aware that axiomatic set theory (logics) is utilized in linguistic research, I want to know more…
David Sun
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