A study of the relationships or correspondences between the languages that have a common origin. Formerly known as Comparative Grammar, Comparative Philology.
Questions tagged [comparative-linguistics]
219 questions
26
votes
4 answers
Worldwide map or data for linguistic distance?
I came upon an excellent graphical representation of the linguistic distance between a number of European languages. I'm looking for a similar worldwide map of currently spoken languages. Or at least the raw data. Even if it's not truly worldwide,…
Fiksdal
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10
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Is it obvious that the difference between French/German is much larger than between Mandarin/Cantonese?
In another Linguistics.SE question, an answer makes this claim:
The difference between French and German is so much larger than between Mandarin/Cantonese that one would be hard pressed to say they are of similar distance.
This however contradicts…
user3222
4
votes
2 answers
Conflation of "sense of touch" with "emotional well-being"?
I vaguely remember reading something years ago on this subject --an article in a magazine or something, I don't even remember-- but what I do remember is the theme that it's supposedly common for languages to conflate "sense of touch" with…
Owen_AR
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4
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Why is the word for I know in Spanish "yo sé" and not "yo sabo"?
When I was learning Spanish last year (I didn't feel forced), I found a peculiar irregularity: the word for I know. It was yo sé, which made no sense to me. I want to know why it is yo sé and not yo sabo. Is there a Latin root?
My comparative…
Number File
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4
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Calculating conceptual similarity of distinct languages
I'm new to linguistics (fresh off the boat) and am curious if there is some type of equation/field/sub-field that tries to quantify the conceptual similarity between distinct languages. Not just the difference between the syntax itself, but how much…
Cdn_Dev
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3
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3 answers
Why is the concept of double articulation (André Martinet) so important in the study of linguistics?
I'm just having a hard time understanding in which context can double articulation be important and useful.
I understood that the first articulation means morphemes and second one means phonemes, and that the definition is therefore : property of…
anonymous
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3
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1 answer
Is the Indo-Austronesian Hypothesis an example of a pseudoscientific language comparison?
So, is this an example of a pseudoscientific language comparison:
Indo-Austronesian
In short, the webpage on the link claims that there are a few regular sound correspondences between Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Austronesian, such as that PIE *s…
FlatAssembler
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2
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1 answer
Is it scientific to throw all previous work on language families and instead take two random languages and apply the historical comparative method?
Does it make any sense or rather is it scientific to take random languages that have no prior evidence of kinship and apply the historical comparative method?
C7A0I6N
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2
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Similar demonstrative pronouns in several different East Asian language families
Looking at a list of synonyms in several different East Asian language families, I found that many languages have a similar-sounding word for "this":
English: This
Khmer: នេះ (nih)
Korean: 이 (i)
Burmese: ဤ (i)
Indonesian: Ini
Thai: นี้ (Nī̂)
Is…
Anderson Green
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1
vote
1 answer
Are any languages objectively simpler to learn than others as a native speaker?
Are there any languages which are objectively easier to learn from birth than others?
This might be broken into two parts - the spoken form, and the written form
For example, are African "click" languages simpler or harder than fully pulmonic…
warren
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1
vote
1 answer
Correspondences between Mandarin and Spanish: coincidences or limitations?
I’m studying mandarin and know a little spanish. One of the things that stuck out to me in particular is that both languages sometimes draw semantic lines in very similar ways. In particular:
A) Both languages have a verb to be indicating some level…
Breaking Bioinformatics
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1
vote
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To be vs to have describing state
In English, when describing a personal state, the verb be is used often. For example in English, using be: "I am scared," compared to the German, using have: "Ich habe Angst." Is there any functional difference? German has a word for scared,…
Corsair64
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1
vote
2 answers
When was Proto-Indo-Uralic spoken?
You have seen that I asked a question about Proto-Indo-Uralic and whether or not it could be reconstructed using Proto-Indo-European, Proto-Uralic, and internal reconstruction in those branches. One person said kind of, and the other one said no.…
Number File
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1
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European loans in Bantu
This question is inspired by this answer. I wondered whether bod in the Beti language translates human and/or being just because it's reminiscent of body like everybody. Then I remembered Bantu means people; Portuguese bunda "butt, ass" is related…
vectory
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0
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All things equal, does the number of words affect comprehension time?
The English sentence 'He runs' comprises two syllables. The Spanish sentence 'Corre' comprises two syllables. Both sentences mean the same thing, both sentences take about the same amount of time to say. (For the sake of the question, suppose they…
Hal
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