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Evaluate World Peace

avatar A room for linguists and others who would like to share and discuss nature, structure, and variation of language, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, and pragmatics.
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maitani to maitani's feed, Linguistics
Positive lexicography http://www.drtimlomas.com... https://static.wixstatic....
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"Welcome to the positive lexicography, an evolving index of 'untranslatable' words related to wellbeing from across the world's languages." - maitani - - (Edit | Remove)
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Thank you! :-) - maitani - - (Edit | Remove)
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maitani to maitani's feed, Linguistics
Interaction during reading is key to language development http://www.sciencedaily.c...
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"A new study finds babies make more speech-like sounds during reading than when playing with puppets or toys -- and mothers are more responsive to these types of sounds while reading to their child than during the other activities." - maitani - - (Edit | Remove)

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maitani to maitani's feed, Linguistics
Concordance to the Homeric Poems http://www.scholarsonline...
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"This is a minimal concordance without any morphological analysis, providing each form of each word in the context of its line. The text is taken from that at the WikiSource site, which is in the public domain; it has been modified to normalize orthography in a few places. I prepared it because a fairly cursory search online showed nothing like it that was complete, and I wanted to have this information available for my own research. If it duplicates someone else’s efforts, I apologize." - maitani - - (Edit | Remove)
"The concordance was generated by mechanical means (who would do it by hand nowadays?) using a sequence of grep functions with Bare Bones’ BBEdit program. There are a few peculiarities in consequence. There may be an occasional bit that got by indexed oddly, due (almost certainly) to deficiencies in my own regular expression formation, though I tried to eliminate them by scrutinizing the resultant files by hand. The sorting routines, moreover, do not distinguish accents, so various similar but non-identical forms may be interleaved. In very few cases will that result in any material confusion, however." - maitani - - (Edit | Remove)
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JustDuckie to Linguistics, JustDuckie's feed
A Sampling of the Xibe Language - Video - NYTimes.com (http://www.nytimes.com/vi... )
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"He Wenjun, a teacher and Xibe language translator, sings a popular folk song, “Xiao Qiao Cried for Zhou Yu,” based on a tale from the Ming dynasty novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms.”" - JustDuckie from Bookmarklet - - (Edit | Remove)
"The female bird is busy brooding / And she can’t find the male bird in her sight. / What I hate about you, my beloved, is that / We had been happy together like the dragon and phoenix / And we didn’t expect we would part. / What I hate about you, my beloved, is that / Without you, gold, silver and gems do not matter anymore. / What I really hate about you, my beloved, is that / The ships on Yangtze river are now in ruins / And the earth under my feet starts to collapse while the lightning flashes above me. / What I really hate about you, my beloved, is that / When you were here you would make an army with just one horse and shield." - JustDuckie - - (Edit | Remove)
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maitani to maitani's feed, Linguistics
Correlated lexicometrical decay http://languagelog.ldc.up...
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"This is a brief progress report on "The case of the disappearing determiners", which I've continue to poke at in my spare time." - maitani - - (Edit | Remove)
"As the red line in the plot below shows, the proportion of nouns immediately preceded by THE decreased over the course of the 20th century, from an average of 18.9% for books published in 1900-1910 to 13.5% for books published in 1990-2000. The blue line shows that the proportion of adjective+noun sequences immediately preceded by THE was higher, overall, but followed a remarkably similar falling trajectory, from 29.1% in 1900-1910 to 21.2% in 1990-2000:" - maitani - - (Edit | Remove)
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Halil to History, Linguistics, Halil's feed
crusignatus - apparently this is the root word for crusade and crusaders, but I can't find any info/links to verify this. http://www.etymonline.com...
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Do I have the correct spelling? - Halil from Android - - (Edit | Remove)
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maybe you mean crucisignatus? http://medieval_terms.ena... - astridula - - (Edit | Remove)
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Halil to Linguistics, Halil's feed
Manchu, Former Empire’s Language, Hangs On at China’s Edge http://mobile.nytimes.com...
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QAPQAL XIBE AUTONOMOUS COUNTY, China — Loyal to the core and prized for their horsemanship, several thousand Manchu soldiers heeded the emperor’s call and, with families and livestock in tow, embarked in 1764 on a trek that took them from northeastern China to the most distant fringes of the Qing dynasty empire, the Central Asian lands now known as Xinjiang. It was an arduous, 18-month journey, but there was one consolation: After completing their mission of pacifying the western frontier, the troops would be allowed to take their families home. “They were terribly homesick here and dreamed of one day going back east,” said Tong Hao, 56, a descendant of the settlers, from the Xibe branch of the Manchus, who arrived here emaciated and exhausted. “But sadly, it was not to be.” - Halil from Android - - (Edit | Remove)
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The Xibe, sent to garrison the area by the Qing Dynasty, were divided into eight niru (companies); each niru established a settlement. https://en.m.wikipedia.or... - Halil from Android - - (Edit | Remove)
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maitani to maitani's feed, Linguistics
Mother Tongue One Never Forgets http://www.languagesofthe... http://www.languagesofthe...
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"A new study, conducted by Lara J. Pierce, Jen-Kai Chen, Audrey Delcenserie, Fred Genesee & Denise Klein of McGill University and reported in Nature Communications, suggests that one’s first language is never lost completely, even when a person completely shifts to a different language early in life. Traces of one’s mother tongue lurk somewhere in the brain, affecting how one perceives sounds of one’s dominant language." - maitani - - (Edit | Remove)
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Frankly speaking, my notions of neural processes underlying our language are absolutely inadequate, so I don't feel qualified to form a judgment on this subject. - maitani - - (Edit | Remove)
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Halil to Linguistics, Halil's feed
Why We Don’t Call the Oregon Militia Members ‘Terrorists’ - Linguistic xenophobia is in the eye of the beholder http://time.com/4167857/w...
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In the wake of the standoff between the white armed protesters in Oregon and the authorities there, many have complained that these men are not being called terrorists. The idea is that we seem to apply the terrorist label more readily to Muslims. And let’s face it, this is true. Sure, we call Timothy McVeigh a terrorist, too—but we have to remind one another to do so—like mentioning that tomatoes are actually a fruit. - Halil - - (Edit | Remove)
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thanks; I take back my comment, then. - naltro - - (Edit | Remove)
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maitani to maitani's feed, Linguistics
How to Stammer Grammatically: Reduplication http://langevo.blogspot.d... https://upload.wikimedia....
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"In English, word repetition is a syntactic phenomenon; in Malay, it is used as a word-formation mechanism. Note, by the way, that many Malay nouns obligatorily consist of a double occurrence of the same sequence and have no simplex counterpart, e.g. biri-biri ‘sheep’ (singular and plural), while others change their meaning if doubled (mata ‘eye’ : mata-mata ‘spy, detective, police officer’). Root-doubling can also be used with adjectives to indicate intensity (her wild, wild eyes could serve as an English analogue), and with verbs to indicate repetitive or prolonged action. In those cases the doubling is definitely iconic. But duplicated verbs may also refer to a sloppy or leisurely execution of an action, e.g. makan ‘eat’ : makan-makan ‘peck at the food’ (showing lack of interest or appetite). Here the iconicity is less self-evident." - maitani - - (Edit | Remove)
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Halil to Linguistics, Halil's feed
grok (v.) "to understand empathically," 1961, arbitrary formation by U.S. science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) in his book "Stranger in a Strange Land." In popular use 1960s; perhaps obsolete now except in internet technology circles. http://www.etymonline.com...
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I think this is a great word although it conjures images of Tolkien monsters, maybe time for a revival of this word? - Halil from Android - - (Edit | Remove)
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I see it, but mostly in context with technology (or spaces popular with people who are involved in that industry in some way.) I do like it though, especially when you're trying to explain the depth at which you understand something. - Jennifer D. - - (Edit | Remove)
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maitani to maitani's feed, History, Linguistics
A note on the early expansions of the Indo-Europeans https://manasataramgini.w...
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The reference to this has been added to the original article by Razib Khan: http://www.unz.com/gnxp/t... - maitani - - (Edit | Remove)
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never saw the term Leukosphere actually being used, before this one. - Haukr - - (Edit | Remove)
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maitani to maitani's feed, History, Linguistics
The Dravidian Migration Theory Vindicated! http://www.unz.com/gnxp/t... http://www.unzcloud.com/w...
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"In this post I will hazard a prediction of results which are going to come out of remains from Indus valley sites in South Asia, which will confirm that there were two major demographic pulses which entered the subcontinent from the Northwest over the past 10,000 year." - maitani - - (Edit | Remove)
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yups, this is just predictions (which may or may not prove true), the hard facts (which are yet to come, as well) are from The Guardian :) - Haukr - - (Edit | Remove)
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maitani to maitani's feed, History, Linguistics
Rakhigarhi: Indian town could unlock mystery of Indus civilisation http://www.theguardian.co... https://i.guim.co.uk/img/...
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"Archaeologists hope DNA from four skeletons will shed light on bronze age settlement as locals see chance to develop more than just site’s ancient heritage." - maitani - - (Edit | Remove)
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and of course, while I do love the Rig Veda, you cannot reasonably pretend it's "reliable as an historical record" - Haukr - - (Edit | Remove)
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maitani to maitani's feed, History, Linguistics
Irish DNA and Indo-European origins http://languagelog.ldc.up... http://languagelog.ldc.up...
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"Thus, it is clear that the great wave of genomic change which swept from above the Black Sea into Europe around 3000 BC washed all of the way to the northeast shore of its most westerly island. At present, the Beaker culture is the most probable archaeological vector of this Steppe ancestry into Ireland from the continent, although further sampling from Beaker burials across western Europe will be necessary to confirm this. The extent of this change, which we estimate at roughly a third of Irish Bronze Age ancestry, opens the possibility of accompanying language change, perhaps the first introduction of Indo-European language ancestral to Irish. This assertion gains some support by the relative lack of affinity of non-Indo-European speakers, Basques, to the ancient Bronze Age genomes." - maitani - - (Edit | Remove)
Scientists sequence first ancient Irish human genomes http://www.eurekalert.org... - maitani - - (Edit | Remove)
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strega ☆ to Linguistics, strega ☆'s feed
I have a question. yesterday, watching the movie "Bridget Jones's Diary", toward the end of the movie I noticed that she opens the diary, delete the phrase "Bridget Jones's Diary" and rewrites "Diary of Bridget Jones." what is the difference? why she eliminated the possessive case?
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furthermore: why she wrotes "jones's"? I learned that words ending in "s", after the apostrophe lose the other "s" - strega ☆ - - (Edit | Remove)
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(fcufa, non ho refiftito) - fewdaysPremium - - (Edit | Remove)
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naltro to Linguistics
I would like to read something about swear words. In particular, I would like to read some research on their role in different cultures (especially cultures of the past), and on how they evolve over time. What makes a word a swear word? What gives them their power? Do you have anything to suggest on this topic?
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up? - naltro - - (Edit | Remove)
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thanks kirsten, that looks really interesting - naltro - - (Edit | Remove)
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maitani to maitani's feed, Linguistics
How to say ‘thank you’ in 28 languages http://blog.oxforddiction... http://cdn.oxwordsblog.wp...
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"Is your language not represented in our map? Let us know how you say thanks in the comments!" - maitani - - (Edit | Remove)
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That's part of what confuses me! - Andrew C - - (Edit | Remove)
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maitani to maitani's feed, Linguistics
The Axis of Awesome: The Language of Love https://www.youtube.com/w...
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maitani to maitani's feed, Linguistics
Treasure Language http://languagelog.ldc.up... http://languagelog.ldc.up...
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"After researching some alternatives, I'm trying to get "treasure language" adopted as a way of talking about disappearing or threatened or dying languages. I'm creating a new kind of storytelling event that brings immigrant/diaspora and indigenous communities together." - maitani - - (Edit | Remove)
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I don't like admitting it but my language is all but dead, Turkish mainland language has dominated and taken over Turkish Cypriot language. - Halil from Android - - (Edit | Remove)
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Clark Kent to Linguistics, maitani
Il fine giustifica i mezzi ? http://www.independent.co...
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.mau. to .mau.'s feed, Linguistics
Teach Yourself Italian - http://www.newyorker.com/...
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For Maitani: my own relationship with German is more or less what Jhumpa Lahiri explains near the middle of the article. I can speak a broken German, but I cannot understand a newspaper. - .mau. from Android - - (Edit | Remove)
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tra l'altro è scritto in un italiano perfetto, non ci si rende conto che sia stato scritto da un non madrelingua. - mattiaq - - (Edit | Remove)
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Halil to Linguistics, Halil's feed
When researching the development of a phrase it is usually the origin that is difficult to determine; the spelling and the meaning are generally pretty well established. With 'for (or to) all intents and purposes' it is the other way about. The origin is unambiguous, as the first recorded use was in an Act of Parliament under Henry VIII, in 1546: "to all intents, constructions, and purposes" http://www.phrases.org.uk...
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Halil to Linguistics, Halil's feed
When words taste like meatballs: What it’s like to have synaesthesia http://metro.co.uk/2015/1...
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maitani to maitani's feed, Linguistics
FLÜCHTLINGE UND GEFLÜCHTETE http://www.sprachlog.de/2...
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Zum "Wort des Jahres" 2015: treffende Analyse der Bedeutung und Verwendung von FLÜCHTLING von Anatol Stefanowitsch (2012). Die Kommentare sind ebenfalls lesenswert.  - maitani - - (Edit | Remove)
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Trying to translate one of my favorite passages into English: "Alongside the word "Geflüchtete", the use of the English loanword "Refugee(s)" can also be observed. It will likely find even less favor than "Geflüchtete", because of the widespread fear directed at foreign loanwords. But "Refugees" shouldn't be rejected outright. In my opinion, it has a distinct advantage over "Geflüchtete". Both "Flüchtlinge" and "Geflüchtete" foreground the idea of escape, whereas the English word places emphasis on people's quest for a SAFE PLACE." - maitani - - (Edit | Remove)
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