Author: Nick Nicholas

Website:
http://www.opoudjis.net
About this author:
Data analyst, Greek linguist

Why do some Greek surnames end with “oğlu” which means “son of” in Turkish?

By: | Post date: 2017-04-04 | Comments: 2 Comments
Posted in categories: Linguistics, Modern Greek

The proper answer is Kutluk Ozguven’s: Kutluk Ozguven’s answer to Why do some Greek surnames end with “oğlu” which means “son of” in Turkish? Turkish Republic did not enforce surnames to its population before 1934. Turks had patronymous names like in Arabic countries or Iceland. However Greeks and Armenians used family surnames of their choice. […]

What does Genie’s case illustrate about first language acquisition?

By: | Post date: 2017-04-04 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: General Language, Linguistics

The linguistics textbooks will tell you that the unfortunate case of Genie (feral child) demonstrates that puberty delimits a window of opportunity for language acquisition, past which full language acquisition is not possible. Genie learnt enough English for the first time at 13 to communicate, but her English was never grammatical. There are plenty of […]

Is there such a thing as “taking things too literally”?

By: | Post date: 2017-04-04 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: General Language, Linguistics

Yes, and there’s a linguistic pragmatics set of principles at work there, over and above the inherent limitations of language pointed out by Daniel Bamberger : see Daniel Bamberger’s answer to Is there such a thing as “taking things too literally”? The Cooperative principles defined by Grice are a way of making sense of how […]

Is Khalisi a weird name for a baby?

By: | Post date: 2017-04-04 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Culture, English, Linguistics

For starters, the proper Dothraki pronunciation is [ˈxaleːsi], not [kʰaˈliːsiː]. That’s not canon from GRRR Martin, because GRRR Martin is a language dolt, but Peterson’s Dothraki is not mere funny-looking English. Of course, it only matters what you heard the actors say on the TV anyway. I agree with what Lara l Lord said: Lara […]

Can the U0001f4a6 emoji be used to represent semen?

By: | Post date: 2017-04-04 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: General Language, Writing Systems

Yes; see Why is the splashing sweat emoji associated with semen? For evidence that this is happening: Definitions offered by the public under: U0001f4a6 Sweat Droplets Emoji Urban Dictionary: U0001f4a6 A boy sends this emoji when he is horny. ” Hey send nudes?? [math]unicode{x1F4A6}unicode{x1F4A6}[/math]” A girl would send this to her man, basically telling him […]

As a non-Latin script writer, how often do you use Latin script?

By: | Post date: 2017-04-04 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Modern Greek, Writing Systems

It was only when I read Dimitris Almyrantis’ response, that I realised the question refers to the ad hoc use of ASCII romanisations online—such as Greeklish for Greek, Finglish for Persian, Arabic chat alphabet, Informal romanizations of Cyrillic, and so on. So my answer will be along the same lines as his and Alice Tsymbarevich’s: […]

Why is the splashing sweat emoji associated with semen?

By: | Post date: 2017-04-03 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: General Language, Writing Systems

For obvious iconic reasons. It is the Emoji that looks the most like ejaculate. Even if it takes some imagination. And food dye. [math]unicode{x1F4A6}[/math] What I find amusing, and of course semiotically inevitable, is how thoroughly this secondary meaning has become conventionalized. You’ll see the Emoji used to refer to ejaculate, without it being disambiguated […]

Which are the centers of Hellenism in USA, Canada or Australia. Do they have TV stations in Greek language?

By: | Post date: 2017-04-03 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Culture, Modern Greek

There are Greek Communities in all capital cities of Australia, but the largest communities by a wide margin are in Sydney and Melbourne, and Melbourne is renowned as the main Greek Community. SBS, the national multicultural broadcaster, has been putting out Greek programming on tv and radio for decades. Radio station 3XY, a rock music […]

What is the neutral word order in Modern Greek?

By: | Post date: 2017-04-03 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Linguistics, Modern Greek

SVO in Standard Greek. The linguist Erma Vasiliou has argued in her PhD that it’s VSO in Cypriot. http://arrow.latrobe.edu.au:8080…“ Answered 2017-04-03 [Originally posted on http://quora.com/What-is-the-neutral-word-order-in-Modern-Greek/answer/Nick-Nicholas-5]

How much of the Klingon language being spoken today was actually used on the series?

By: | Post date: 2017-04-03 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Artificial Languages

Marc Okrand, who invented the language, was a consultant on all the TOS Star Trek movies. He made sure all the Klingon spoken was canonical, and if the actors flubbed their lines, he retconned them. Okrand was not involved with the Klingon used on the TV series. As a result, the TV series featured words […]

  • Subscribe to Blog via Email

    Join 329 other subscribers
  • August 2026
    M T W T F S S
     12
    3456789
    10111213141516
    17181920212223
    24252627282930
    31