June 2012
58 posts
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Bii'nda'a'néhé
navajowotd:
Here’s a fun word for you: bii’nda’a’néhé refers to a gym, or more literally a place within which you play.
Take the first part of the word, bii’. This is the part of the word that means within, or inside.
Remember the word from a few days ago, daané’é. Notice that the rest of the word, nda’a’néhé is, more or less, a form of of daané’é. But in this case, it functions more as an...
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Linguismstics: /lɪŋˈgwɪzm̩stɪks/: The Status of... →
linguismstics:
The idea of Universal Grammar (UG) has been around in linguistics for some time. The idea is that there are characteristics of grammar which are found in all human languages, i.e. they are universal. A major assumption of generative theories is that this UG is innate, i.e. we humans are born…
May 2012
330 posts
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laholio hoʻopaʻa huila - a vehicle tire
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What is Linguistics? What it isn't, and why I love...
lesserjoke:
musingsofanamerican20something:
I thought I’d start this blog with this topic because it plays an important role in my life and actually shapes my opinions about seemingly unrelated topics.
I often get this question when I tell people what I study. Often, it’s followed up with, “So, what can you do with that?” - an important question I think more college students should ask....
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it is possible to teach standard written English and also to question the peeves...
– Language Log » The New Yorker vs. the descriptivist specter (via nouswork)
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The Navajo Alphabet
navajowotd:
Good Tuesday to you! We hope you had a good weekend.
Today, we’re going to take some time to explain the Navajo alphabet, as well as the various marks you see on Navajo WOTD. The Navajo language uses short vowels, long vowels, dipthongs, extended clusters of vowels, consonants, high tones, nasal tones and glottal marks (glottal stops).
Here are the ‘letters’ of the Navajo...
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Hardship
This hotel internet is so slow that I can neither browse language/linguistics blogs nor stream internet porn.
What am I to do?
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The writer of a dictionary is a historian, not a law-giver.
– S. I. Hayakawa (via tarrinj)
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You all know the joke right? If you can speak three languages you’re trilingual,...
– Professor Irving (via algophobia)
Logophobia →
Logophobia
1. fear of words; hence, hellenologophobia = fear of Greek words or difficult-sounding terms.
2. fear of language itself (Bruce L. Edwards, W. H. Mittins)
3. fear of the Word (in the Christian sense) (Bruce Edwards)
4. fear of the spoken word (because it is slippery and prone to err) (Foucault)
5. fear of abstractions (Peter Farb)
6. fear of truth, order, or any transcendent...
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I am interested in language because it wounds or seduces me.
– Roland Barthes (via starlover11)
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Believe That You Believe: 115 ways to say i love... →
meggienoodle:
Afrikaans - Ek het jou lief
Albanian - Te dua
Arabic - Ana behibak (to male)
Arabic - Ana behibek (to female)
Armenian - Yes kez sirumen
Bambara - M’bi fe
Bangla - Aamee tuma ke bhalo baashi
Belarusian - Ya tabe kahayu
Bisaya - Nahigugma ako kanimo
Bulgarian - Obicham te
Cambodian…
The human language, as precise as it is with its thousands of words, can still...
– Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain (via alonebanana)
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OContents: Language games: Now that's what I'm... →
ocontents:
I do apologise. This one got away from me a little bit.
But I love doing these ‘language games’ posts, and it makes me feel like my blog is somewhat more interesting and worthwhile then my usual endless cycle of reblogging. You’re allowed to leave if you want to, but I imagine if you’ve got this…
I speak three languages, write in two
and I dream in one..
The language...
– Kamala Das (via murilocello)
A person’s tongue is a twisty thing, there are plenty of words there of...
– Homer, The Iliad, 20
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Words rarely used in the positive sense.
punkkimono:
implacable - placable (easily calmed or pacified; tolerant)
innocuous - nocuous (harmful; poisonous; noxious)
impeccable - peccable (liable to sin; susceptible to temptation)
inevitable - evitable (capable of being avoided or warded off)
Miami police shoot naked man chewing on another...
iheartchaos:
When the zombies started attacking, you knew it would happen in Florida. Saturday afternoon, Miami police fatally shot a man on a highway on ramp who was naked and chewing someone’s face off.
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Shit, it’s starting…
The Shimmering Hexagon: Little headaches of many... →
odinspike:
This is why multilingual people usually can’t stand it when someone asks them to say something in whatever mysterious language it is they speak.
What you hear: “Say something in [language].”
What they hear: “Please sift through all of the possible, usable combinations of words; all of the…
Don't Insist on English →
chrilliams:
“Ideas in all Languages, not just English.”
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