Most Popular
1500 questions
78
votes
3 answers
Why did Old English lose both thorn and eth?
My understanding is that Old English had two letters, thorn and eth, which were used interchangeably to represent the sound th as in thin or father.
Intuitively, one might think that one of these letters would 'win', and replace the other.
Instead,…
K--
- 952
- 1
- 7
- 10
75
votes
12 answers
What characteristics are unique to English (or at least rare among language as a whole)?
After wondering about this today at work, I turned to the Internet.
A short piece that focuses on pronunciation points toward "none". I've scoured ELU and Google (perhaps not as thoroughly or effectively as some others might), but cannot find an…
Zairja
- 1,178
- 1
- 9
- 14
72
votes
9 answers
When should one use slashes or square brackets when transcribing in IPA?
When should one use /fubar/ and when [fubar] when transcribing in IPA? What are the differences?
Louis Rhys
- 8,501
- 6
- 45
- 71
67
votes
11 answers
Is there an online tool to convert IPA symbols into audio sound?
As many amateurs and beginners know, IPA is difficult to memorize and internalize at first. Does software exist where one can paste in IPA text and hear synthesized speech (ideally in the form of a web page converter)?
I realize that such software…
Mike
- 1,004
- 1
- 8
- 10
67
votes
10 answers
Why did early Indo-European languages seem to be morphologically complex?
Apparently there is a general trend that languages lose morphological marking over time. For example, according to this question PIE had 8 noun cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, etc), Latin 5, Romance 2 or even 1. Doesn't this show that less…
Louis Rhys
- 8,501
- 6
- 45
- 71
64
votes
9 answers
Why do we have interest in (dying) language preservation?
When we read the news related to dying languages, normally this is painted as bad news and it's really important to preserve the language, see Language at risk of dying out (Guardian) or Digital tools 'to save languages' (BBC), for example.
Is this…
Louis Rhys
- 8,501
- 6
- 45
- 71
58
votes
7 answers
Is there a linguistics term meaning "it's grammatically correct, but nobody says that"?
This happens a lot when learning a foreign language: You learn some grammar structure, and insert some nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc., in the appropriate places, only to find out that no-one would ever say what you've come up with.
It's not wrong,…
Rebecca J. Stones
- 765
- 1
- 5
- 11
52
votes
13 answers
Do unschooled people use cases correctly, e.g. in Germany and in Russia?
I wonder if the case system is devised/imposed by literates and not really natural: it is said that the vulgar Latin that most people really used didn't have e.g. the cases (or all of them) of the 'classical' Latin, so I wonder if the common…
newinterested
- 639
- 1
- 5
- 4
52
votes
6 answers
What's the difference between syntax and grammar?
From what I've read, both terms have to do with the rules of formation of sentences. I've seen grammar used in mathematical contexts, in computability theory, where it has a precise definition. But from what I've read about syntax, I cannot see the…
a06e
- 631
- 1
- 6
- 6
50
votes
5 answers
Why do most words for "mother", across languages, start with an [m], and for "father" with [p]/[b], but not vice versa?
It has been observed that in general, a word for "mother" tends to be based on a bilabial nasal [m] or similar consonant, and for father it tends to be [b] or [p]. This is found in many language families, so they can't be considered cognates. This…
Louis Rhys
- 8,501
- 6
- 45
- 71
49
votes
2 answers
Could the Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs have been deciphered without the Rosetta Stone with modern tech?
The Rosetta Stone was one of the most important documents in the history of linguistics. Discovered around 1800, it allowed Ancient Egyptian to be deciphered. Let's say that the stone didn't exist, was destroyed like the Library of Alexandria, or…
Number File
- 1,561
- 1
- 8
- 22
48
votes
3 answers
Why do English transliterations of Arabic names have so many Qs in them?
I remember when the Muslim holy book was the Koran when I was in middle school, but now it's the Quran. But it's always been Qatar and Iraq (but still Kuwait.)
Who decided that 'Q' was going to be represent that sound instead of 'K', and why?
John Q. Guest
- 481
- 1
- 4
- 3
48
votes
15 answers
What's the difference between phonetics and phonology?
Having practiced armchair linguistics for some years I should be able to sum up the difference off the top of my head, yet often I don't know which term to use.
And looking them up on Wikipedia doesn't help a lot...
Wikipedia on…
hippietrail
- 14,687
- 7
- 61
- 146
45
votes
3 answers
Is English tonal for some words, like "permit"?
I have heard the difference between tone and intonation described in the following way:
Tone is when the pitch of a word determines its meaning.
Intonation is when the pitch of a word conveys its importance within a sentence, or conveys other…
WillG
- 693
- 2
- 6
- 10
45
votes
9 answers
Is there any language that uses different pronouns for "we" depending on whether the spoken to person is included in the group?
As in "we are going out tonight" using a different word for "we" depending on whether you mean "me and some other people" or "you and me (and potentially other people as well)".
erikkallen
- 561
- 4
- 5