Hello! I am conducting linguistic research on a very interesting topic and comparing English and German speakers. I'd disclose the exact aim, however, this might alter the results. Therefore, if you're interested in the actual aim and the results, contact me after taking the survey!
I need Germans with knowledge of English, however, if you speak both languages fluently, you are also very welcome to take the survey :) Thanks a lot in advance!
Basically,
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I'm starting an M.A. in linguistics
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I only have basic notions of linguistics at this point
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I come from a math/cs background
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I will be taking a lot of intro classes to different branches of linguistics this year
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I've noticed that a lot of my teachers that specialize in, say, syntax or phonology, also have extensive knowledge in one particular language, like sanskrit or german
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I understand how knowing the basic grammar or basic phonetic facts of different languages could be interesting, but is it necessary to become fluent?
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I already know english, french, and a bit of italian and german; should I start looking for another language to learn?
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If so, would you recommend something close to the languages I already know, or something very different like mandarin.
Thank you!
I've been playing around with various databases, MOBI is the biggest one, and with parsing Wiktionary for semantic information (parts of speech primarily, though I'm trying to build an all-around linguistics library - dictionary with word probability for text suggestions, pos tagging, thesaurus, semantic footprinting/searching, phonetic signatures, linking between singular and plural of words - different word types with the same base [er, ing, ed, etc], translations, definitions of specific phrases and single word definitions and a few other features).
I'm curious if anyone knows of a good source for all this data that already exists in one place?
If not, if I need to go through the trouble of compiling it from multiple sources - any ideas what the reception would be - with a proper user interface would linguists opt for such strictly typed solution over something like Wiktionary?
I know programatically it would be a very useful library for working with text and speech, but I'm trying to determine whether it would be wiser to do it quickly and compile it from multiple sources + open source data file generators, or to build it into a site that displays this information and allows editing akin to Wiktionary.
He said elision for euphonic effect. I assume he's talkin about the 'who' instead of 'whom.'. Or elision of 'are.' that might make more sense. I don't know that has to be euphonic--I can see a casual glide from who into r "who-er-ya" for speed purposes then eliding the 'r' all together. But honestly he asked the wrong guy cause I aint done this shit in four years
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They are both santa clauses.
recently, i have been taking course in systemic functional grammar and discourse analysis. They disappointed me as the research methodology and their theories seem rather arbitrary. Often no substantial evidence is presented to support the necessity of a framework proposed by famous scholars in the circle. The delineation of concepts and definitions is rather... murky.
do you have the same feeling and why?
Hey everyone,
First off: obligatory apologies if this is the wrong subreddit for this. For my final linguistics class of undergrad, I had to write a final paper about anything within descriptive linguistics. I studied French for 2.5 years for my degree. I'd be the first to admit I'm not the best with it, but I've had a lot of fun for sure.
For my final paper, I wrote about the French liaison! It's not perfect, beautiful, or groundbreaking, but I've already submitted it to my professor and I really enjoyed the research and writing it. Therefore, I now ask all of you kind folks to tear it to shreds. It's all done from me now, so comment about how wrong and awful it is! Or, if I got something right, those comments are fun too.
Thanks folks.
The Terran fleet that arrived in the Weaver system was relatively small; consisting of one dreadnaught, four battlecruisers, two missile frigates, and eight corvettes, along with several support vessels and troop transports.
They had spent a week in transit, with the voyage having been mostly quiet. With the exception of the pack of Void Wolves that had been trailing the fleet for the last three days.
The fleet had dropped out of FTL for about an hour earlier that day to "discourage" them from following any further. It would be unfortunate if the creatures were to bother the Weaver colony later, or decide to harass the fleet in the middle of combat.
"Discouraging them", had consisted of first locating the biggest, meanest looking one of the critters, and shooting it in the face with a kinetic round from the spinal gun of a battlecruiser; a lesson to the others that ships were not prey.
The creature did not survive the lesson.
However the creatures were either slow learners, or determined, and continued their approach. Since the point had not yet been made, the admiral had ordered the ship to target "the next biggest one".
It too, did not survive the lesson.
The lessons continued until the void wolf pack had taken approximately 50% casualties; at which point the remaining creatures fled, while emitting electromagnetic "howls" of various frequency.
Now however, the fleet was finally at the edge of the system and within communication range.
"Alright Silver, send a greeting and link us in to the Weaver's Battlenet, lets see how things are going" said the admiral.
"You got it boss" replied the AI.
The tactical display lit up with the words "ESTABLISHING BATTLEFIELD CONTROL, STANDBY".
A minute or so passed before he began to wonder what was taking so long. "Silver?"
"Keep your panties on, these spiders are weird. Even with the translation index Hool gave us, it's still hard to parse what they are sending" replied the AI.
"Yes. We've been in contact with them for over a century, and STILL haven't entirely perfected our understanding of the Weaver's language. Their spoken language is highly contextual, information dense, multi-banded, and, well, sort of "sung" to each other." said Ambassador Hool.
"Th
... keep reading on reddit ➡I'm curious. I know writing a grammar of a language is a monumental task, particularly of a poorly-attested language for which the writer is also the primary collector of data in field work. I was reading recently about a particular author's experience in writing a grammar for a small Canadian language over the course of a little under 20 years, for example.
It got me thinking, are there any linguists out there who are particularly good at doing this sort of thing in a speedy manner? Is anyone well known for covering more than one or two languages in a lifetime? I'm just curious.
Thanks.
I am writing a short essay discussing the main challenges of the prevailing societal prescriptivist view. I was going to write a section about how English has evolved and is still evolving with outside input. Then another about how English is no longer dominated by English countries and there are more ESOL speakers. Then a section on how the people that champion prescriptivism tend not to be linguists. It's 1000 words and I'm a dumb first year. Is this going to actually answer the question, or am I missing the mark?
A flurry of new videos has recently been dropped by notorious YouTube pop historian Whatifalthist (henceforth WIAH). One of the videos is an "explanation" of Classical Civilization. The video has bad history ranging from small(ish) factual mistakes/speculations to wild overgeneralizations of historical trends. This post will focus on some of the simpler errors, especially regarding the history of the early Greeks. In fact, most of the arguments will be linguistic in nature (this could have been a post on r/badlinguistics, probably), yet the linguistic information nevertheless serves to illuminate historical cultural characteristics, interactions, and migrations which are of relevance to the video. Moreover, this post will serve as part 1 of an analysis of the video in question, with the sequel to be posted by u/UpperLowerEastSide.
Edit: Here's the link to part 2
The Video
We see at the 4-minute mark the following list:
>Influences upon Greek Civilization: > >1. Pre-Indo European > >2. Minoan > >3. Myecenaean [sic] > >4. Dorian > >5. Phoenician
This list already seems a bit strange; why are Minoans singled out from the other Pre-Indo-Europeans? Why are the Mycenaeans and Dorians (which are both "kinds" of Greeks) listed as if they were "external" influences exerted upon the Greeks?
Minoans
WIAH elaborates on the Minoan Civilization: >For the briefest rundown, the Minoans were an Indo-European kingdom on the island of Crete
Aha - our first question is answered: WIAH considers the Minoans to have been Indo-European. However, this is not generally accepted, for several reasons. Primarily, the linguistic information we have regarding the Minoans' language is too scant for a reliable classification, and moreover, our limited information does not point solidly to a relationship with any known language family. Hence, it is presumed to be a pre-Indo-European language (note that there are languages with fragmentary preservation which nevertheless can be reasonably classified as Indo-European; e.g., Phrygian, Thracian, Illyrian) [Fo10]. A few words on the extant data on the "Minoan language": inscriptions in several different scripts dating to the "Middle Minoan" period (2100-1600 BC) have been uncovered. Notably, a script known as Linear A seems to have been later adapted and for
... keep reading on reddit ➡I'm not well-versed in this topic at all, but my intuition says that language would be descriptive. What I mean is that the usage of certain words or syntax will inform other people of how to use the words, instead of the idea that there are certain "rules" of language that people agree to follow.
Are there any papers or theories in linguistics that talk about this? What are the prevailing views on the topic? Thanks in advance.
we’re forced to work within the rules that we’ve setup. anything outside of that you couldn’t tpossubly understand. it’s just not of importance. the fabric could come undone and no one would k ow the difference.
