#linguistic examples

[littlemizzlinguistics]

Studying linguistics is actually so wonderful because when you explain youth slang to older professors, instead of complaining about how "your generation can't speak right/ you're butchering the language" they light up and go “really? That’s so wonderful! What an innovative construction! Isn't language wonderful?"

#linguistics #gen z slang #english #as people in the reblog pointed out! #most gen z slang comes from (or was appropriated from) aave #honestly I was just excited to talk about how people in my field actually get excited about non standard uses of English #instead of ridiculing speakers #and I tagged incorrectly and didn’t point out the very real issues of language and power and appropriation inherent in modern slang #in that much of it was appropriated #and even that which experiences language change in the wider culture still originated in aave #aave is just as linguistically valid as any other English dialect because it is a proper language #and the grammar is incredible!!! #habitual be is fantastic and an excellent example of how a richer case system or a certain case can render an adverb unnecessary #and the phonology is just beautiful #anyway I’m very sorry #I fucked up

[scribefindegil]

As much as I adore conlangs, I really like how the Imperial Radch books handle language. The book is entirely in English but you're constantly aware that you're reading a "translation," both of the Radchaai language Breq speaks as default, and also the various other languages she encounters. We don't hear the words but we hear her fretting about terms of address (the beloathed gendering on Nilt) and concepts that do or don't translate (Awn switching out of Radchaai when she needs a language where "citizen," "civilized," and "Radchaai person" aren't all the same word) and noting people's registers and accents. The snatches of lyrics we hear don't scan or rhyme--even, and this is what sells it to me, the real-world songs with English lyrics, which get the same "literal translation" style as everything else--because we aren't hearing the actual words, we're hearing Breq's understanding of what they mean. I think it's a cool way to acknowledge linguistic complexity and some of the difficulties of multilingual/multicultural communication, which of course becomes a larger theme when we get to the plot with the Presgar Translators.

#imperial radch #also a great example of the 'you don't have to be Tolkien' phenomenon #if you want to think about linguistic differences by building all the languages in your setting #and being able to explain what those differences are through actual texts in the language in question #that's AWESOME #but it's not the only way to do it #it's also interesting because of course this style only works in book form #everyone's speaking different languages but in a written account they're all 'translated' for you #but of course if it was a TV series they would all have to be speaking a language the audience understands #(or you *would* have to go wild with conlangs) #and i think that's really cool as well-- #how for a series where song is so central we don't actually hear any of the actual in-universe words or any of the music #it's all been filtered #and again you know this is happening but seeing the examples of how real songs--the shape hymns and 'L'homme Arme'--are presented #makes you a lot more viscerally aware of how limited your perspective is #it's good #ann leckie i love you

[vocalfriespod]

John Mary Bill Sue

John Mary Bill Sue

Two images Hadas had us look at during the episode: Proportion of men vs women as arguments: Proportion of women as arguments over time (look at barely creep up!): Proportion of women as objects over time (ack!):

View On WordPress

#gender #linguistic examples #semantics #syntax

[safije]

The more you study history, the more you realize that most ethnicities are based off of self-identification and culture rather than blood quantum or "science".

#Linguistics #I'd give examples but i'll probably offend people #anthropology #Race is a social construct

[canisalbus]

what part of italy are machete and vasco from? not their birthplace since from what i've seen you're still workshopping that. where do they live? i assume rome?

In the 1500's setting Vasco lives and was born in Florence, his family has lived there for centuries. Machete was born in Sicily, was taken to Naples to serve as an apprentice and ended up living and working in Rome (and more specifically today's Vatican city, which as you may know has been an independent country since 1929 but wasn't back then). They first met when they were both studying in Venice in their late teens/early twenties.

I think in the modern au they live together somewhere in Florence.

#characters travelling this extensively at the time #from one end of the country to another #may not be very realistic but it's more fun to include a variety of interesting historical locations #let me be greedy and self indulgent for a moment #(not to mention that Italy wasn't unified until late 1800's and was instead made of various states kingdoms and duchies #that didn't always get along with each other that well and were culturally and linguistically diverse #and some of them were actually ruled Spain and Austria for example) #I say this as lovingly as possible but the history of Italian peninsula as a whole is just a real clusterfuck #I feel like I still haven't wrapped my head around it adequately to be explaining any of this to you #but please be patient with me I promise I'm trying my best #answered #anonymous

[undercat-overdog]

Ok, I said in this post that I wanted to talk about POV and what different characters would use for their species; I've been thinking about it for a while, because it's important to me to portray Elves as thinking of themselves as the default and I like having them think of mortals as different, as a way of worldbuilding and establishing POV. It's the same basic principle as why I think the War of the Elves and Sauron is a Númenórean name, not an Elvish one.

In brief: man and woman can and should be used to refer to Elves when writing from an elven POV.

I think about markedness a lot when I think about writing generally, and one of the concepts is that there are things that are unmarked, the standard, the default, the normal, the unexceptional. To an elf, the default species is elf, not human or dwarf or ent. I want to write from that POV - to an elf, humans are different, even alien. They're other. Elves are us, humans are them.

I, meanwhile, am writing in English, and man and woman are common words, the most "unmarked" words for the concepts; they're standard (e.g., woman sounds more normal than female human). Something like elf woman or female elf is more marked. Why would an elf use a more marked term to refer to their own race? Using she-elf or whatever for Elves but woman for humans uses more marked words (more uncommon, more specific, etc) for elves than it does for humans - but for elves, it should be the opposite! Elves are unmarked! Elves are default! Humans are different. If an elf is talking about someone, the default assumption would be that the someone is an elf, so if they're not an elf, it would be specified.

So when writing from the POV of an elven character, I would use woman for a female elf and mortal woman for a female human (if necessary to disambiguate). Man, meanwhile, means "Human" when it's capitalized and male when it's not. (Now, if I were writing from a human or dwarven pov, I would use elven woman, if necessary to specify that she's an elf.)

But, you say, what about using Elvish words? Well, first of all, I hate it. We're not writing in Quenya. English is great, and so are the other human languages people use to write fanfic. But that is a subjective matter of taste and you may disagree! Nothing wrong with that, de gustibus, etc.

More objectively, nér and nis are not words specific to Elves; nér means all males, so using it for specifically elf men and not human and dwarven men is incorrect (to quote Elfdict, "Nér can be used regardless of species and so is equally applicable to male Elves, Men, or Dwarves, but is unlikely to be used of male animals, for which the word [ᴹQ.] hanu is more applicable."") (Sindarin is a little more complicated, given the more complex out-of-universe changes, but it too has race-neutral terms for man and woman.)

Lastly, Tolkien himself uses man and woman to refer to non-human species. He calls Galadriel and Finduilas women, and Aredhel is "taller than a woman's wont." Earendil is a man (though he is not a Man) and Curufin is a horseman and there are lots and lots of kinsmen and kinswomen. Hobbits meanwhile, in Appendix F, have "women" and "man-children" (Tolkien is talking about how Hobbits name babies, thus the children part, but I like to think he's getting one more dig in at Pippin).

#meta #linguistics #writing #imo it's breaking pov to use 'man and woman' only for humans when writing from an elven or dwarven pov #the only time Man/Men means human is when it's capitalized #thanks to polu and aipi for examples of tolkien using 'man' and 'woman' to refer to non-humans #also man and women are great! i'm not going to abandon such useful words

[volumina-vetustiora]

#polls my beloved #latin #languages #tagamemnon #linguistics #(i added examples in case people who don't know what i'm talking about wanna vote on vibes or whatever)

[nostalgia-tblr]

I feel like anyone who's about to embark on attempting to type out a character's accent phoentically (at least as well as one can with English) should probably stop for a moment before they get going and ask themselves, "How would I, myself, feel about a fic where the one character who sounds like me had their speech written out like this and every other character just got their dialogue left in standard spelling?" I feel like a lot of people would tone it down a bit, at least, if they'd done that thought experiment first.

(Anyone who answered "but I don't have an accent!" isn't allowed to write out anyone else's accent, ever. This rule may seem harsh but you need it. Really, you do. Because you've never had anyone treat your accent as abnormal or comical or wrong, so you really don't know what you're inflicting on others here.)

#writing stuff #have you read that fic where the socially prestige accent is the one being carefully typed out “like it sounds”? no? neither have i :( #the obvious note-for-Americans on typing out UK accents is that most of them carry some connotation of class and/or 'education' #within the uk: ask yourself why a Geordie gets typed out but not some dude from the Home Counties #typing out an accent is - usually - a roundabout way of saying “this person talks WRONG! they're not NORMAL!” #you may also find 'Scottish Twitter' informative for the distinction between in-group and out-group 'transcriptions' of accent/dialect #(i use that example only cos I'm Scottish btw) #(oh yes EVERYONE thinks I have an accent! and many of them attempt to replicate it badly in text!) #fun story: one time i had to learn the [IPA] for a linguistics class and the examples were 'standard' English pronunciations #and I went in the next day BAFFLED by why the book insisted that 'boot' and 'foot' don't contain the same vowel sound #(cos they fuckin do don't they?!) #the tutor explained and was v interested in the fact that to me they're the same. i was then asked to demonstrate again for the class. #but i - alas - was not offered repeated examples of however the fuck people say boot and foot in RP :( #(this was IN SCOTLAND btw) #anyway mibbe jist dinnae dae it? mibbe? #and if you do you have use the actual IPA. there now i've made it more trouble than it's worth for most people.

[xiexiecaptain]

Fun fact: in Anishinaabemowin, the term for a cat purring is "nagamo gaazhagehns" / "nagamo biizhehns" / " nagamo boozhehns" (different dialects have varying words/spellings for a house cat)

But the main thing is that "nagamo" is the verb for "he/she/that one sings"

Cat purring in Anishinaabemowin is essentially called "cat singing"

#anishinaabemowin #ojibwemowin #ojibwe #anishinaabe #indigenous languages #the words for cat also are fun #gaazhagehns comes from the verb 'gaazhage' which means 'he/she/that one eats greedily or is gluttonous #so gaazhagehns translates roughly to 'little greedy eating one' #and boozhehns/biizhehns are the diminutive versions of the the word for a lynx (bizhiw) because #--that was the example of a feline that existed in our language/world when domestic cats were introduced to us #so we just called them 'tiny/baby lynxes' #i love anishinaabemowins maliability and ability to just create words to address new things #nish tag #linguistics #original posts #indigenous tag

[corfisers]

two weird things that happen to me more often than i'd like and feel like they are on the opposite ends of the same spectrum: forgetting that i do actually speak two languages and forgetting that some people who post here in english speak only english

#the latter is usually when there's some post on linguistics or just like?? a thing with eng being passed as universal??? #don't have any examples off the top of my head unfortunately #but sometimes you read a post and get this “oh you never had to grapple with concepts that are not applicable to your first language” feel #this isn't me trying to shame anyone who speaks one language btw you're fine as long as you're not being an asshole #to people who's eng isn't perfect or have some weirdly strong opinions on translation or languages in general #while not having any actual knowledge you know? #whatever idk how much sense i'm making #forgetting that i speak rus has more to do with how used i am to using eng. to the point that i mostly think in it #kinda sucks if i'm being honest? i'm rereading idiot and went to look up eng translation for a chapter because i wanted to post something #and augh it's not the same! it's not the same. might be just not the best translation fuck if i know but still #but yeah i barely use rus outside of talking to someone irl (rarely happens) or reading a book. it's weird #benvey tag

[solipseismic]

DOES ANYONE HERE KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT FINITE VS NON-FINITE VERBS IN WELSH

#optimally i would like a CHART but all anyone is giving me so far is ‘well sometimes the non-finite verbs are nouns but most generally #agree that they’re verbs’ can i get an EXAMPLE #either the non-finite or the finite is more restricted but i don’t KNOW ENOUGH WELSH to know WHICH FORMS #if non-finite the tense goes on the auxiliary preceding it??????????? or is that just in literary welsh?????????????? #croidhe #linguistics #welsh #for the love of god #cymraeg #ON THE OFF CHANCE.

[hanzajesthanza]

the rest of the hanza addressing or speaking of angoulême: “girl,” “brat”

regis addressing or speaking of angoulême: “my dear child,” “our darling angoulême”

#perhaps he was being politely disapproving in the first and a little sarcastic in the second #but i think about that… he didn’t have to throw in ‘our beloved’ when bringing her up but he did… #he gives her such dignity when he speaks of her even if he doesn’t understand or disagrees ❤️ #plus he said that when she was sitting right at the table with them like. :) #regis being amused by her ‘colorful expressions’ and this being brought up not one not two but three times… #if nothing else to him she is a fascinating example of linguistic microevolution and niche LMAO #txt #f: i’m not your uncle dear child #c: angouleme #c: regis

[adhd-languages]

Duolingo just described “つ” as “tsu, like in catsuit” and as much as I hate to admit it they’re 100% right.

#it’s the only pronunciation of tsu example I’ve seen that might actually help people #because most English speakers pronounce tsunami as SuNaMi #langblr #language #linguistics #language learning #japanese langblr #japanese #learning japanese #languages #language tips #duolingo #japanese language #Quinn posts

[sinni-ok-sessi]

in an effort to remind myself that I did in fact used to be fairly good at Icelandic, I've woken my vpn from its long slumber to watch things on RÚV, but unfortunately my first pick was 'a perfect planet' with Icelandic narration and so I am being rapidly humbled by how few birds/fish/etc I can actually identify by sight

'and the súlur accompany them'. me, nodding, 'ah yes, the súlur, of course' *squinting desperately at the beak shape as though this will help me*

#took me a linguistically dizzying minute or so to figure out that Kyrrahaf is the Pacific (kyrr=quiet/peaceful) #i have a really good vocab of Weird Verbs of Motion but not a good one for anything that rímur poets don't care about #such as for example the fish of the pacific ocean #so that one visit to the whale museum in reykjavik is really paying off let me tell you

[tragedykery]

monolinguals will be the most fanatically prescriptivist people you’ll ever meet it’s wild 😭 why don’t you butcher a language to make it fit your own needs and maybe you’ll calm down

#this is not always true of course. not all prescriptivists are monolinguals and not all monolinguals are prescriptivists #for example my mother who is conversational in at least 5 languages is one of the worst prescriptivists I’ve ever met #elli rambles #language #languageposting #linguistics #I think it might have sth to do with how speaking more than one language makes one more aware of the gaps in said languages #say with words that don’t have translations or grammatical structures that don’t exist in one language but do in the other #which in turn might make one realise that creating strict rules and definitions is a fruitless and often harmful endeavour. etc etc

[creacherkeeper]

i think someone should do a linguistics study of "ass" as synecdoche but specifically "ass" as in something or someone that embodies a concept like "acts of service ass" as someone who embodies the acts of service love language or another example from my recent messages "gargoyle ass" because my friends cat looks like a gargoyle. is this anything. linguists please get on this i need you

#thing i would be genuinely interested in reading about #because im just like this now i guess grad school has ruined me #linguistics #the cat in question was lele obviously she looks like she was painted by a historical painter who had never seen a real cat #witch's familiar ass #so many ghosts stuck in an antique doll ass #just further examples for the dear linguist who takes me up on this to use