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Month: November 2016
What are the most probable changes in grammar and vocabulary of English in the 21th century?
OK, here’s one. ’ve after modals has already been reanalysed to of; not just as a written form, but in spoken English: would of, could of, should of. Prediction: this gets expanded further by analogy, to link other modals and auxiliaries, now that the of is no longer analysed as a verb. can of, had […]
Is the English “cuz” (because) becoming a clitic?
Not yet in my speech, but you’re pointing out something interesting. If you pronounce them as a single word, cuzall, cuzawesome, yeah, that’s a proclitic, and that’s grammaticalisation. I don’t. I do pronounce ’cause as a single syllable often, many do. That’s a reduction, but I think it’s still independently stressed for me, and it’s […]
How often did scribes have to copy an ancient text before the invention of printing in order for that text to survive throughout the centuries?
At an absolute minimum in Europe, four times. Each time there was a technological advance in book production, the superseded tech books were copied and discarded. Tech advances included: The introduction of papyrus The introduction of the codex The introduction of parchment The introduction of lowercase Answered 2016-11-18 [Originally posted on http://quora.com/How-often-did-scribes-have-to-copy-an-ancient-text-before-the-invention-of-printing-in-order-for-that-text-to-survive-throughout-the-centuries/answer/Nick-Nicholas-5]
Do creole languages have one “base language” or two “parent languages”?
It’s a very good question. Normally, creoles and pidgins are put in the too hard basket of linguistic family trees for precisely that reason. It’s very hard to argue for a single parent language, as pidgins, and the creoles that arise from them, really are mixed languages, with grammar from the one, vocabulary from the […]
Will we one day communicate with pictures instead of words?
If i ever met someone from the Unicode technical committee again, I’m showing them this question, and yelling THIS! YOU MADE THIS HAPPEN! Rebuses do not make an international language. This is not the first attempt at an international symbolic language. Not by a very long shot. For a look at this kind of thing […]
Can linguists differentiate between all the sounds of the IPA?
Thanks, Khateeb! When I was in second year phonetics in university, our exam was to do just that. Our lecturer would say some sounds, we had to write them down in IPA. With some provisos. Most diacritics would count, but some of them, such as the forward/backward, raised/lowered diacritics for vowels, would not: too subtle. […]
Is there any function of swearing?
Terry Casalou has the answer here I like the most. (Vote #1: Terry Casalou’s answer to Is there any function of swearing?) Swearing is a form of communication that includes our passion level. I’d like to dig a little deeper. Why does swearing do that? Breaking taboos is one mechanism of indicating passion. Not the […]
What is a concise Latin translation of “Just because someone does bad things doesn’t mean bad things should happen to them”?
Etsi quis mala facit, mala ei ne fiant. Before you get a tat with it, stay tuned for Alberto Yagos to say Yea or Nay. Updated 2016-11-15 [Originally posted on http://quora.com/What-is-a-concise-Latin-translation-of-“Just-because-someone-does-bad-things-doesn’t-mean-bad-things-should-happen-to-them”/answer/Nick-Nicholas-5]
What do you know about Nikos Skalkottas?
OP, making Michael Masiello PM question to me a public message. Because Sharing and Growing the World’s Knowledge. Well of course, Nikos Skalkottas – Wikipedia. But let me not look up questions. Greek composer. Disciple and in fact pupil of Schönberg. Had a measly gig as a second violin in an Athens orchestra, and did […]
Is it possible to have a Greek-Turkish Confederation in the future?
You know how people put A2A at the top of their answers, because they like the asker, but are ambivalent about the question? Sofia, if we ever meet up for coffee in Oakleigh (you’re a Greek in Melbourne, you probably live inside an Eaton Mall patisserie), I will be asking you: WHY YOU ASK ME […]