Yes, the vocabulary is completely different—except for the large number of Greek loanwords in Albanian, which is substantial, and the rather smaller number of Albanian loanwords in Greek. OTOH: Balkan sprachbund. The syntax and inflections are remarkably similar: you can often translate Albanian into Greek and vice versa, word for word. I’m reminded of what […]
It’s kinda true; I’ve certainly seen the number cited multiple times—it was the guess around 1900, for scholars saying there was no point even attempting a dictionary of all of Greek, to rival the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae. I work at the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, although it is not a dictionary per se, but an online […]
Whenever a Greek wants to nod sagely about the mess that is and ever has been the Balkans (and to admit that they too are stuck in the mess), they’ll mutter Εδώ είναι Βαλκάνια δεν είναι παίξε–γέλασε. “This is no Fun and Games, this is the Balkans!” I was going to cite the bon mot, […]
The following poster for tram safety in Melbourne includes a suite of languages. I had nothing to do with the entry on the second column, third row. … which is Klingon: qIm. Answered 2016-05-12 [Originally posted on http://quora.com/How-is-attention-said-in-different-languages/answer/Nick-Nicholas-5]
As others have said, Australian regional variation is nowhere near as great as even the US, let alone Britain. (You mean Canada has regional accents?) The main variation in Australia historically has been class-based (Cultivated, General, Broad), with less well-studied variation between rural and urban, and with an interesting in-group variant among 2nd generation immigrants […]
Curiosity piqued by books about language, which mentioned it in passing. Starting with the three-paragraph article on Esperanto in World Book Encyclopedia. Then finding a couple of textbooks in my local public library, at the age of 13. The same reason I went on to learn Lojban and Klingon, I have to say. Updated 2016-05-09 […]
I don’t know. I’ll build on Sid Kemp’s answer, and to use what online resources tell me. Nemesos is used by Sophronius of Jerusalem (7th century), Anna Komnene (11th century), and the Byzantine lists of bishops. Lemesos is used by Leontios Machairas (15th century), and the vernacular Byzantine chronicles (15th century). The Turkish forms are […]
Question comes from my contrasting the attitude to religiosity among Greek-Australians and Greek-Americans. In the 1990s, Greeks were only coming up to second generation in Australia. The attitude to religion was akin to what it was in the home country: more about group identity and tradition than about a (how do Evangelicals put it?) personal […]
In traditional Modern Greek society, there was a stigmatised group of gay men: poustides. In traditional Ancient Greek society, there was a stigmatised group of gay men: kinaidoi. The stigma in antiquity was more about being a bottom (i.e. about power) than about having sex with males per se. What was not stigmatised was homosexual […]
I really don’t like this kind of question. As many on Quora and outside Quora have said, optimal design is not how a language prevails; language typology is not about better and worse but different; and the defensive Esperanto assertion that Esperanto has an internal cohesion is quite true. *sigh* That said, if there is […]