Linguistics

For further info, if anyone is interested, Stephen Bax claimed a decade ago to partially decode the manuscript; here's a video with his reasoning, as well as the paper he released. Sadly Bax passed away in 2017 (may he rest in peace), so the work was left incomplete.

Image A shows Bosnian Cyrillic as used in stone inscriptions.

The columns go: Latin (BCMS) alphabet - Greek - Cyrillic "church letters" - Cyrillic "civil letters" (Peter the Great's reform) - Bosnian letters: 14th, early 15th and late 15th century, typical forms

For context, the BCMS alphabet mostly corresponds to the same IPA symbol, with only these exceptions: Gj /d͡ʐ/, Ž /ʒ/, Lj /ʎ/, Nj /ɲ/, Ć /t͡ʂ/, Č /t͡ʃ/, Dž /d͡ʒ/, Š /ʃ/.

Image B shows various examples of handwritten cursive Bosnian Cyrillic.

This variant of Cyrillic was used in modern-day Bosnia and parts of Croatia (Dalmatia and Dubrovnik), mainly from 14th to 17th century. It used the letter "djerv" <Ꙉ> for /t͡ʂ/, which eventually became a part of the modern Serbian Cyrillic alphabet as <ћ>.

Images from Frane Vuletić's Gramatika bosanskoga jezika (1890).

Just published "West meets East: Papers in historical lexicography and lexicology from across the globe" edited by Geoffrey Williams, Mathilde Le Meur & Andrés Echavarría Peláez

https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/458

Lexicography, in its many forms, is a very old, practical discipline solving practical problems concerning word usage. The term “word” seems more appropriate than “language” in this context, as lexicography addresses more questions relating to what we now call lexicology. As with all areas of human endeavour, what developed gradually through trial and error has eventually been subjected to a theoretical framework. The role of historical lexicography is to look back on the development of these highly varied word lists to understand how we arrived at the tremendous variety that characterises practice throughout the world.

This volume is both a selection of expanded papers from one conference on historical lexicography and lexicology, held under the aegis of the International Society for Historical Lexicography and Lexicology (ISHLL) in Lorient, France, in May 2022, and also the first in a new book series dedicated to the field. The new series represents a collaboration between two sister associations, ISHLL and the Helsinki Society for Historical Lexicography (HSHL). The volume contains texts in both English and French that provide insights into dictionaries, their compilers and users using evidence from numerous languages across the globe. It is also diachronic, moving from topics on medieval usage to contemporary issues concerning open access and digital publishing in historical lexicography. The title reflects the global scope of its authors and content, encompassing Japan to the United States, Eastern Europe to the United Kingdom, and Portugal.

This book is the first one in our new series "World Histories of Lexicography and Lexicology" https://langsci-press.org/catalog/series/whll

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/45444769

The Public Domain Review's article about it, with embedded Internet Archive viewer of the book

• https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/conjectural-observations/

Directly on Archive.org

• https://archive.org/details/conjecturalobser00davy

About the Public Domain Review:

Founded in 2011, The Public Domain Review is an online journal and not-for-profit project dedicated to the exploration of curious and compelling works from the history of art, literature, and ideas.

The articles are usually (but not always) about things available on the Internet Archive.

hello guys! recently i discovered this interesting concept which says that in german theres one dominant dialect which is the german standard german out of germany that dominates and discriminates all other dialects of german, such as austrian german and swiss german. im no linguist so i thought i ask some here about your opinion on this topic.

Discussion at Language Log: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=69311

(I should note I'm ESL and I've noticed my pronunciation is a hodgepodge of British vs. American and older vs. younger pronunciation variants.)

As I was watching Geoff Lindsey's YT videos, I noticed the way he pronounces "transláte", particularly in "Google Transláte" where I heavily prefer the accent "tránslate" - although in the verb (i.e. outside the website name) I would be fine both with tránslate or transláte (but probably with mild preference for the former).

So I looked it up and it turns out this is a widespread case of variant British vs. American stress pattern, also affecting other "-ate" verbs: donate, locate, migrate... The polarisation doesn't appear to be absolute, e.g. to take representatives of US and UK pronunciation: Webster 1913 (=1890) has dónate, lócate, mígrate, but still transláte, Jones (Pronouncing Dict.) 1944 has final stress in all four, but the Concise Oxford Dict. of Current Eng. (1964) mentions the variant mígrate. Today the influence of US on UK is probably even stronger. But already in 1909 Jespersen mentions the variant pronunciation of dictate, narrate, and vacate (Mod. Eng. Gramm. vol. 1, §5.57), so surely it hasn't appeared in UK only due to US influence?

Is there some dialectological or formal explanation of this change, or a study of where and how it spread?

(Cross posting from !stupid_questions@lemmings.world https://lemmings.world/post/25535229)

A brand new sentence is a sentence which we consider to have never been spoken or written, or thought of (at least the ones which are not recorded). And just swapping a noun with another noun (for example a name of a place or person) while may techinically be considered new sentence, it is not really matching the spirit of brand new sentence.

for the linguists, can you try to come up with a better estimate (better than just coming up (all the words)^(to the power average sentence length)). Maybe by using the description of using different forms of verbs (like we consider in NLP) (verbs which take DP, CP), then adding standard adjectives and finish with remaining grammar (sorry if I am getting it all wrong, it has been a while since I took my intro to linguistics class). Also, consider a morpheme less form. This exercise is for a more realistic guess.

https://goodbearcomics.com/2021/09/23/chickens/

Use this thread to ask questions or share trivia, if you don't want to create a new thread for that.

[Note: the purpose of this thread is to promote activity, not to concentrate it. So if you'd still rather post a new thread, by all means - go for it!]

Crossposted from https://sopuli.xyz/post/25634723

I wonder how native English speakers do it, but here’s how I approach this problem.

My trick involves using a consistent spelling system for encoding a random letter sequence into a sound which I can memorize. When writing, you just pull those auditory memories, decode the sounds back to the original alphabet salad, and you’re done! Needlessly complicated, but that’s a common theme in English anyway, so it should fit right in.

To make this method work, you need a consistent spelling system, so you could make one up or modify one previously invented for another language. Basically anything more consistent than English should do, so it’s a pretty low bar to clear.

Here are some example words to test this idea with:

• carburetor
• carburettor
• carburetter

Pronounce those letter sequences using that alternate spelling system. It won’t sound like English, but it’s consistent and that’s all we care about at this stage. The end of each word could sound like this:

• [retor]
• [retːor]
• [reter]

In my system, each letter corresponds to a specific sound like e=[e], a=[ɑ] etc. I’ve been thinking of including the Italian c=[tʃ], but you could use other languages too. Feel free to mix and match, as long as you make it consistent.

The idea is that it’s easier to memorize sounds rather than whimsical letter sequences. Once you have those funny sounds in your head, it’s easy to use that same consistent spelling system to convert the sound back to letters.

Once you know that trick, it suddenly becomes a lot easier to spell common words like “island”, “salmon”, “subtle”, or “wednesday. For example “cache” could be stored as [tʃatʃe] in my head. Still haven’t settled on a good way to store the letter c, so I’m open to suggestions.

Feel free to use this thread to ask small questions or share random language / linguistics trivia, if you don't feel like creating a new thread just for that.

(Just to be clear: yes, if you want to create a new thread for your question/trivia, you can. I'm only trying to stimulate discussion in the comm.)

A team of archaeologists has discovered in Knossos, on the Greek island of Crete, the longest Linear A inscription found to date. The script appears on a circular ivory object with an attached handle, discovered in a context of clear religious significance within a Neopalatial building. Besides providing the longest inscription in this yet-to-be-deciphered system, the find offers new perspectives on the use of Minoan writing in ceremonial contexts.

Just published "Negation in English and other languages" by Otto Jespersen, edited by Brett Reynolds & Peter Evans

https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/501

Otto Jespersen's landmark study of negation provides a wide-ranging analysis of how languages express negative meaning. Drawing on an impressive array of historical texts and comparative examples, primarily from Germanic and Romance languages, Jespersen examines the forms, functions, and historical development of negative expressions. The work traces the evolution of negative markers, analyzes how negative prefixes modify word meanings, and reveals coherent patterns in how languages structure negative expressions.

Through meticulous analysis of authentic examples, Jespersen documents both common patterns and language-specific variations in negative expressions. His treatment of topics such as double negation, the distinction between special and nexal negation, and the various forms of negative particles provides a methodical account of negation's complexity. The work's enduring importance stems not only from its analysis of the cyclical renewal of negative markers (later termed “Jespersen's Cycle”) but from its comprehensive scope and detailed examination of negative expressions across multiple languages and historical periods.

This new critical edition makes this classic work accessible to modern readers while preserving its scholarly depth. The text has been completely re-typeset, with examples presented in contemporary numbered format and non-English examples given Leipzig-style glosses. A new introduction contextualizes Jespersen's achievement and demonstrates its continued significance for current linguistic research.

Skip to 11:18 for the actual linguistics content. The earlier part includes analogy to film/video editing styles. The ad read is also in that earlier section.

An interesting bit of etymology that I learnt recently.

The English word "fencing" (as in sword fighting) comes from English "defence", from Old French "defens", from Latin "defendere", meaning "to ward off, defend".

The French word for fencing is "escrime". The Italian and Spanish words are also close cognates with French. "Escrime" comes from Old French "escremir", from Frankish "*skirmjan".

That means English, a Germanic language, gets its word from Latin, a Romance language.

And the Romance languages of French, Spanish, and Italian get their word from Frankish, a Germanic language.

Essentially, the Romance and Germanic language families did a trade.

I think having a thread for small questions ("What's the IPA for this sound?", "How do you write an affricate tie?", etc.) that's pinned and replaced every week or two would be good.

Just looking at new posts here in this community, i mostly see links to news articles and i don't know if it would be appropriate to make a post for a small question with a simple but hard to find answer.