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Day: December 20, 2016
Who is best English speaking people whose mother tongue is different?
The cliche I’ve heard is the Dutch. As in, the Dutch speak English better than most English people do. But the English of most Western Europeans is exquisite. Brian Collins, didn’t you just post somewhere that Norwegians speak English like Canadians with funny consonants? Ah yes: Brian Collins’ answer to Do you think Norway is […]
What is your favourite word in Turkish?
Hello, komşu [neighbour] here. It’s a risky question to ask a Greek, because the Turkish that has ended up in Greek is not quite the Turkish of Turkey (let alone the Azeri of Iran and Azerbaijan). Superficially because it’s Balkan Turkish and not Anatolian Turkish; that’s why every Greek ever will say kardaş for ‘brother’ […]
What are some really nice songs, music, from your country?
I am unable to shut up about the songs I love from Greece. There was a while last month when that was all I could write about. Nick Nicholas’ answer to What’s the most recent song you’ve cried to? Nick Nicholas’ answer to What are your favourite lyrics? Nick Nicholas’ answer to What is that […]
Did anything practically useful ever come out from the field of pragmatics so far?
Practically useful? How… gauche. I mean, I love the fact that Implicature explains so much about language change and information transmission; Speech Acts are a great framework for making sense of how language is used to influence people; and Gricean maxims undergird so much of how humour works. But practical? The closest I can think […]