Most Popular
1500 questions
9
votes
1 answer
How can you test whether a word is being used as a conjunction?
It's been a couple years since I've taken a syntax class, and I've forgotten - what tests can you use to check whether a speaker uses a word as a conjunction? I seem to remember something about testing where the speaker can attach different clauses…
A.S.
- 93
- 3
9
votes
3 answers
What is the function of "-ter" in words "laughter" and "daughter"?
The word "laugh" exists in English, but not "*daugh", even though both have a -ter word and their forms are similar.
I can't find the function of the morpheme "-ter" here, which may be irrelevant to the "-ter" in "enter" or "utter", which are a…
archenoo
- 1,717
- 11
- 21
9
votes
2 answers
How often are dictionary etymologies wrong?
How often are the etymologies in dictionaries incorect?
Sometimes when reading a dictionary I see a derivation of a word which contradicts my intuition. For example I read that "ball" comes from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- "to inflate", cognate with…
Metamorphic
- 426
- 3
- 10
9
votes
3 answers
Are any of the 'interslavic' constructed languages actually intelligible with any natural slavic languages?
Long ago, I thought about learning Slovianski (one of a family of auxlangs meant for speakers of Slavic languages), purely because I thought it may give me the ability to understand (to some extent) multiple Slavic languages. I never did so, though.…
user19661
9
votes
4 answers
Does English language stand special in terms of phonology?
I am a native Russian speaker.
When I am listening to songs and music in other languages, which I do not know, such as Italian, Romanian, Greek, Bulgarian, and even Japanese, Finnish, Kyrgyz and Hebrew, I usually can write what I hear with Russian…
Anixx
- 6,643
- 1
- 26
- 38
9
votes
3 answers
Can modern Icelanders really read the Prose Edda?
I've heard that Icelandic has changed so little in the past 1,000 years that even millennium-old texts (such as the prose Edda) are still intelligible to modern people who speak Icelandic.
Is this actually true? I admit, I believe I've also heard…
user19661
9
votes
6 answers
Argot vs Jargon
I'm stuck understanding the difference between argot and jargon.
According to many sources, e.g. Wikipedia:
Argot is a secret language used by various groups—including, but not limited to, thieves and other criminals—to prevent outsiders from…
Be Brave Be Like Ukraine
- 8,629
- 9
- 38
- 66
9
votes
2 answers
Are there any languages with a case system like Esperanto's?
Thinking about Esperanto's case system, if I saw that in a natural language, I would think it was rather odd.
Esperanto only has two cases: accusative and non-accusative. The non-accusative, on is own, is a subject form, while the accusative is a…
user19661
9
votes
2 answers
Are there languages featuring "reversed affricates" as phonological segments?
This question is inspired by the comments to my answer on this question.
Are there reversed affricates, i.e., fricatives ending in a homorganic stop, attested in any language of the world? What is the usual term for such kind of a sound?
Sir Cornflakes
- 30,154
- 3
- 65
- 128
9
votes
4 answers
Is there a term for the phenomenon of linking the end of a word to the beginning of the next word?
Is there a word to describe the phenomenon where a final sound of a word is linked to the starting sound of the next word?
A couple of examples:
"hold on" sounds like "whole Don"
"this guy" sounds like "the sky"
The Wikipedia article of "liaison"…
pamplemousse
- 193
- 4
9
votes
2 answers
Is there a standard ISO language code for ”other”?
I’m making a website, and using ISO standard two letter language codes for tagging user-submitted content. I’m not intending on adding every single language, but would like an other category. It’s not a huge problem, but it got me wondering, is…
Aidan F
- 93
- 5
9
votes
3 answers
Context-free grammars
What is a 'context-free grammar' in relation to natural languages? This Wikipedia article, gives a broad description, but it isn't clear exactly what features of a language would result in it not being considered context free, or being considered…
Araucaria - him
- 4,002
- 1
- 15
- 39
9
votes
2 answers
IDE for context free grammars for natural languages?
Is there any such thing as a Integrated Development Environment for context free grammars (or any variant on a formal, machine parsable grammar) that target natural languages? The ones for BNF grammars seem to be overwhelmingly aimed at turning…
MatthewMartin
- 2,914
- 19
- 33
9
votes
2 answers
In what way is Japanese related to Sanskrit?
The Wikipedia says that Japanese katakana vowels “The gojūon inherits its vowel and consonant order from Sanskrit practice. “. Could expert explains this in easy language?
Ying Xiong
- 247
- 3
- 6
9
votes
1 answer
Is there a word-list for child English?
Are there any publications which list words of English that one might reasonably expect a child to know? I assume that "father" would be on the list, and "allophone; metallurgy" would not be. As for age of this ideal child, between 6 and 12 is in…
user6726
- 83,066
- 4
- 63
- 181