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Day: May 4, 2017

What is the schwa in linguistics and where can I find it in Ancient Greek?

By: | Post date: 2017-05-04 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Ancient Greek, Linguistics

For what is a schwa, I refer you to What is the schwa in linguistics?, and Schwa – Wikipedia. It is the “neutral”, mid central vowel. You’ll find the schwa in lots and lots of languages, including English (uh…. ; about; and in fact most unstressed vowels of English). You won’t find it in Ancient […]

If Mandarin has a lot of homophones, how are the different meanings understood while speaking?

By: | Post date: 2017-05-04 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Linguistics, Other Languages

There’s no shortage of Chinese speakers here, and they’ll give better informed answers than me. But: Mandarin Chinese is not Classical Chinese. Classical Chinese was a bit of a scholarly game, and writers relished the ambiguity of the homophones and the overall oracularity of it all. People in real life don’t, and Mandarin has dealt […]

How do you translate “It is what it is” into Latin?

By: | Post date: 2017-05-04 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Latin, Linguistics

A non-trivial one. The meaning needs to be captured, and the meaning is that “it is no more than what it already is; we are stuck with it.” Which means I’d rather render the second is as ‘become’, ‘end up’. Est sicut factum est “it is as it has become” is a start. Ut fit […]