Search found 1057 matches
- Wed Oct 23, 2019 6:17 am
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: What do you call...
- Replies: 19
- Views: 16848
Re: What do you call...
Those examples don't seem to me to be the opposite of factitive verbs. In English grammar, factitive verbs take two objects and transform the first object so that it has the second object as a property. The classic example is "elect" for some weird reason, but more natural/common examples...
- Mon Oct 21, 2019 6:52 am
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: Shortest words for complex concepts
- Replies: 51
- Views: 47052
Re: Shortest words for complex concepts
Relatedly, of course, glebe , "parcel(s) of land a portion of the revenue of which is reserved by law for the maintenance of the holder of an ecclesiastical post". And on a religious theme, rood , "barrier within a church preventing the laity from seeing the altar and tabernacle"...
- Sat Oct 19, 2019 3:51 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: British Politics Guide
- Replies: 1936
- Views: 1019519
Re: British Politics Guide
In fact, the line seems to be that he won't even ask - rather, he will merely send the letter in which Parliament asks. He's referring to it as 'Parliament's letter', rather than his own - although I think in reality he'll have to sign it. Raphael's not alone, though - not only a bunch of news peopl...
- Fri Oct 18, 2019 12:59 pm
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: If natlangs were conlangs
- Replies: 584
- Views: 505047
Re: If natlangs were conlangs
Dear creator of Japanese, what the heck's going one with your vowel devoicing process? Everyone else just uses it on all vowels regardless of quality, but you've linked it to height of all things! What on earth is it about high vowels that makes them more prone to voicelessness than other vowels I ...
- Fri Oct 18, 2019 8:25 am
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: Linguistic Miscellany Thread
- Replies: 4692
- Views: 2063845
Re: Linguistic Miscellany Thread
syn- is the result of Cowgill's law in Greek, a sound change that raised *o to u adjacent to a resonant and a labial consonant (which could be the same consonant): *som- > *sum-. sam- is the regular zero-grade. Yes, but he's asking why it's syn- and not hyn-, given that s>h normally. Apparently the...
- Thu Oct 17, 2019 6:18 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: British Politics Guide
- Replies: 1936
- Views: 1019519
Re: British Politics Guide
I realise, however, that I forgot to mention a major landmark: two days ago, after three months, the government won a vote! Yes, it succesfully passed the "Environment (Legislative Functions from Directives)" regulations of 2019 - an administrative law that returns legislative and administ...
- Thu Oct 17, 2019 5:59 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: British Politics Guide
- Replies: 1936
- Views: 1019519
Re: British Politics Guide
MEANWHILE! Over in Northern Ireland, there's actually another deadline coming up: October 21st. That's the day when armageddon happens, gay marriage is allowed and the abortion ban is massively relaxed.... unless the DUP is able to restore devolved power by then. This crisis has finally kickstarted ...
- Thu Oct 17, 2019 5:53 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: British Politics Guide
- Replies: 1936
- Views: 1019519
Re: British Politics Guide
Yes. Anyway, some more complications: Corbyn's now reportedly backed down, and there'll be no penalty at all for any Labour MPs who want to vote for the Deal. However, reportedly, the National Executive are now saying that even if Corbyn doesn't withdraw the whip, they'll exclude any rebel MPs from ...
- Thu Oct 17, 2019 10:40 am
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: British Politics Guide
- Replies: 1936
- Views: 1019519
Re: British Politics Guide
This may come as a shock, but meanwhile in Britain, Brexit continues to be a knife-edge meltdown. A new deal has been agreed with the EU. This basically leaves northern ireland in the EU and establishes a hard border down the irish sea... but says it doesn't (NI will legally be declared to 'remain i...
- Tue Oct 15, 2019 4:16 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: Confusing headlines
- Replies: 701
- Views: 552582
Re: Confusing headlines
A site is showing me a headline from Fox News: "Swedish princess shares snap after children lose royal titles".
I didn't know you could invest in royalty.
I didn't know you could invest in royalty.
- Tue Oct 15, 2019 1:58 pm
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: If natlangs were conlangs
- Replies: 584
- Views: 505047
Re: If natlangs were conlangs
I'm not sure what "Atlantic-Congo" is, but I'd note that given adam's summary, Güldemann's classification is quite different from Greenberg's! Summary version: Atlantic-Congo is everything with noun classes that doesn't look like it recently borrowed its noun classes. Or in other words, i...
- Mon Oct 14, 2019 12:56 pm
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: If natlangs were conlangs
- Replies: 584
- Views: 505047
Re: If natlangs were conlangs
Although I'm not sure that's a universal thought as yet; it's also possible that some of these languages are related and others aren't (I've seen someone argue that Mande is part of the family, but that Dogon isn't). Note, though, that 'Kordofanian' is an areal term. Specifically, the Talodi-Heiban ...
- Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:46 am
- Forum: Conlangery
- Topic: Grammaticalization Quickie Thread
- Replies: 151
- Views: 99445
Re: Grammaticalization Quickie Thread
I'm not sure what relative clauses have to do with this anyway. There is no relative clause in "I made that"! As for marking... is there marking normally? North sea west germanic languages (as this clearly seems to be, despite being called 'crimean') aren't noted for their super-strong mor...
- Sat Oct 12, 2019 7:43 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: Confusing headlines
- Replies: 701
- Views: 552582
Re: Confusing headlines
Yes that's... the joke. That's how this thread works.
(that was a particularly good one)
(that was a particularly good one)
- Fri Oct 11, 2019 5:36 pm
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: If natlangs were conlangs
- Replies: 584
- Views: 505047
Re: If natlangs were conlangs
...please note that I explicitly said the volcano "in part" destroyed them but that the job was "finished off" by invaders and/or immigrants. In so far as I understand the situation, the consensus is that the ash and tsunami devastated the civilisation; many settlements show exte...
- Fri Oct 11, 2019 5:15 pm
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: Linguistic Miscellany Thread
- Replies: 4692
- Views: 2063845
Re: Linguistic Miscellany Thread
Do you not have the weak vowel merger anyway?
- Fri Oct 11, 2019 1:48 pm
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: Axes of inflection classes
- Replies: 13
- Views: 11489
Re: Axes of inflection classes
Icelandic has 15 declensions, each with several minor categories, resulting in a total of 96 paradigms :shock: :? :shock: [...] And conjugation is not much better. Germanic is a nightmare in this respect in general. In my Germanic conlang, Old Wenthish, I intentionally tried to simplify things - lo...
- Wed Oct 09, 2019 3:45 pm
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: If natlangs were conlangs
- Replies: 584
- Views: 505047
Re: If natlangs were conlangs
Let's see how Tambora language is extinct: A volcano erupts and kills every Tambora speakers. You must be kidding me. Well, actually volcanos are famously good at killing people. After Krakatoa, for example, the only lifeform explorers were able to find in the Krakatoa achipelago was a single spide...
- Tue Oct 08, 2019 7:36 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: British Politics Guide
- Replies: 1936
- Views: 1019519
Re: British Politics Guide
Back on our main theme: Parliament's officially prorogued now.
- Tue Oct 08, 2019 6:39 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: British Politics Guide
- Replies: 1936
- Views: 1019519
Re: British Politics Guide
I wouldn't have thought so - does ER even HAVE a presence in northern ireland?