Search found 23 matches
- Thu Nov 23, 2023 8:45 am
- Forum: Conlangery
- Topic: Conlang Random Thread
- Replies: 3024
- Views: 2853258
Re: Conlang Random Thread
French isn't (quite) Germanic, and it distinguishes e.g. mon "my" from le mien "mine". But the other language I'm familiar with, Mandarin Chinese, uses the same construction for both: 我的 "my, mine".
- Tue Aug 29, 2023 7:11 am
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: Linguistic Miscellany Thread
- Replies: 4708
- Views: 2065438
Re: Linguistic Miscellany Thread
It exists, but generally calligraphy is always in traditional characters. If I remember correctly, Mao himself produced some works after the introduction of simplified characters.
- Fri May 12, 2023 11:50 am
- Forum: Almea
- Topic: My Present Project
- Replies: 50
- Views: 21814
- Sat May 06, 2023 5:47 pm
- Forum: Almea
- Topic: My Present Project
- Replies: 50
- Views: 21814
Re: My Present Project
Oh, well. I'll try out making one, then. The one posted above looks a little distorted in Jagai and Šočya.
- Sat May 06, 2023 11:09 am
- Forum: Almea
- Topic: My Present Project
- Replies: 50
- Views: 21814
Re: My Present Project
Is there still interest in this? I missed it when it was originally being discussed, unfortunately, but I recently got onto Zompist's Patreon, and that has made me want to make an attempt at a Victory II mod. Also, I was wondering whether Zompist had already existing Mercator projection maps of Alme...
- Sun Dec 11, 2022 7:00 pm
- Forum: Almea
- Topic: Sarroc grammar notes
- Replies: 12
- Views: 4869
Re: Sarroc grammar notes
I enjoyed reading about Sarroc quite a bit. I've noticed a few things too, though. In the reflexives section, there is an instance of “reflective” that I think should be “reflexive”. In the section on subordinate clauses, the first two example sentences are in different orders but have identical glo...
- Sun Oct 23, 2022 1:10 am
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: English questions
- Replies: 1406
- Views: 451087
Re: English questions
Unfortunately, I have no idea what the etymology of the surname Whelchel would be. As for pronunciation, I would guess /wɛltʃəl/. There is a rule somewhat commonly observed in the US (and, as the German commented, not in Britain, if I recall correctly) that "which" should only be used in n...
- Sat Oct 01, 2022 11:45 pm
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: English questions
- Replies: 1406
- Views: 451087
Re: English questions
Sentences 1, 2.1, and 2.2.1 are all fine for me (well, sentence 1 should have "started" instead of "start", but I don't think that's what you're asking about), but 2.2.2 doesn't work. You could say "It was only last month that I became available, picked one out, and started ...
- Sat Oct 01, 2022 12:27 am
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: Dream sharing thread
- Replies: 218
- Views: 291266
Re: Dream sharing thread
Oh, yes, platform is right. "The fact that" is pretty semantically empty, and to the extent it has meaning, it means something more like "situation". If I were translating the sentence into Chinese, I think I'd drop the "fact" entirely (something like 這場夢讓我聯想到在網上學習語言). ...
- Thu Sep 29, 2022 11:23 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: Dream sharing thread
- Replies: 218
- Views: 291266
Re: Dream sharing thread
(I'd like to narrate the dream I had last night as a writing exercise. Thank you in advance for any language corrections.) At the beginning that I can recall, in the dream I was walking in a city I had never come been to . Having gotten off a bus earlier, I seemingly was going to the place where I'...
- Sun Sep 18, 2022 7:50 pm
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: English questions
- Replies: 1406
- Views: 451087
Re: English questions
"Can't" is equivalent to "cannot". "Must" works differently. "Mustn't" and "must not" are equivalent, and they both mean that something is forbidden. If you want to say that something is not necessary, you can use (from most to least formal) "ne...
- Sun Sep 18, 2022 3:53 pm
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: English questions
- Replies: 1406
- Views: 451087
Re: English questions
To put it another way, "cannot" is 不能 and "can not" is 能不, but "may not" is ambiguous between 不可以 (and maybe 不可能, if you force it, though it's not very natural) and 可以不/可能不 (both of which meanings are very natural). "Mayn't" is only 不可以/不可能 (but it doesn't exi...
- Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:32 am
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: Linguistic Miscellany Thread
- Replies: 4708
- Views: 2065438
Re: Linguistic Miscellany Thread
Do you find compound words easier than single characters too? I do, and sometimes I work back from a compound (or phrase) to remember the tone(s) of a character. ... Yeah, compounds do tend to be easier because even if it's still short, I still have a "melody" to copy. I'll probably start...
- Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:32 pm
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: Linguistic Miscellany Thread
- Replies: 4708
- Views: 2065438
Re: Linguistic Miscellany Thread
I'm trying to learn some basic Mandarin right now. I've been making better progress than in past attempts, especially with tones (I tried in middle school and then again on my own after college), but I've found I tend to remember phrases instead of single words, especially when it comes to tones. I...
- Sat Feb 20, 2021 11:51 am
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: English questions
- Replies: 1406
- Views: 451087
Re: English questions
I'm not sure I understand what ∅ means in this context. From looking it up, it looks as though it means it's not pronounced, which wouldn't be true for "furry". Oh, I (mis)interpreted that as /ø/, which sounds rather like /ɜ/ and is easier to type. I didn't notice that it was capitalized,...
- Sat Feb 20, 2021 10:16 am
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: English questions
- Replies: 1406
- Views: 451087
Re: English questions
The canonical example is "furry", which is reasonably common. I merge /ʌr/ and /ɜːr/, so I can't easily think of another example.
- Fri Feb 05, 2021 12:50 am
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: Ergativity for Novices
- Replies: 126
- Views: 117335
Re: Ergativity for Novices
Your explanation makes a lot of sense, including the ambiguity. I appreciate your taking the time to answer!
- Thu Feb 04, 2021 4:12 pm
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: Ergativity for Novices
- Replies: 126
- Views: 117335
Re: Ergativity for Novices
Huh, interesting question! I don’t know the answer to this, and I don’t really have time to research this properly just at the moment, but here’s a couple of pertinent observations in the meantime: Adpositional complements tend to be marked; the more marked case in an ergative–absolutive system is ...
- Thu Feb 04, 2021 11:32 am
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: Ergativity for Novices
- Replies: 126
- Views: 117335
Re: Ergativity for Novices
I’m sorry if this has already been addressed in this thread, but I couldn’t find mention of it. Does anyone know if the objects of adpositions in ergative-absolutive languages tend to be in the ergative case or the absolutive case? I would expect the absolutive to be used, since it is the default an...
- Tue Feb 02, 2021 3:57 pm
- Forum: Conlangery
- Topic: Word assimilation survey *FINISHED*
- Replies: 27
- Views: 17146
Re: Word assimilation survey
I’m personally fond of <c> for /tʃ/, but it may indeed not be ideal for an IAL. Aesthetically, the orthography seems fine to me. 1. SETRANTE strand 2. TERIK trick 3. URETU Urdu 4. SEPRUS surplus 5. EPLAGKE plank 6. KERAFTE craft 7. ESKERUTRAIWE screwdriver 8. MULSIYA emulsion 9. SETREGFE strength 10...