Search found 816 matches

by Avo
05 Mar 2017 22:42
Forum: Linguistics & Natlangs
Topic: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here [2010-2019]
Replies: 7086
Views: 1317642

Re: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

So could you say that English (spoken English, at least) is like the French of West Germanic? Agreeing with Salmoneus' post, I think that's a fair comparison. I'm a native speaker of both German and Italian and from my perspective I would say that Continental West Germanic languages are similar to ...
by Avo
08 Feb 2017 03:16
Forum: Linguistics & Natlangs
Topic: Sardinian & African Romance [split]
Replies: 22
Views: 5910

Re: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

Oh boy what have I started. First of all: I never said or meant that Sardinian has nothing particularly interesting going on. Also, Sardinian is in some ways the odd one out (at least in my understanding of that phrase), in that it does have some developments that are different from any other Romanc...
by Avo
07 Feb 2017 22:29
Forum: Linguistics & Natlangs
Topic: Sardinian & African Romance [split]
Replies: 22
Views: 5910

Re: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

I am reading Grandgent's introduction to vulgar latin and have learned from it that apparently African Latin was the most free with its word formation. Now, I've already started my semi agglutinating romlang (I was sure that it would always be South Romance anyway) and committed to this idea, but g...
by Avo
07 Feb 2017 19:58
Forum: Linguistics & Natlangs
Topic: Sardinian & African Romance [split]
Replies: 22
Views: 5910

Re: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

I am reading Grandgent's introduction to vulgar latin and have learned from it that apparently African Latin was the most free with its word formation. Now, I've already started my semi agglutinating romlang (I was sure that it would always be South Romance anyway) and committed to this idea, but g...
by Avo
16 Jan 2017 13:11
Forum: Conlangs
Topic: What did you accomplish today? [2011–2019]
Replies: 11462
Views: 1631471

Re: What did you accomplish today?

I keep going through pretty much all of the conlang material I amassed over the years and it's fun and surprisingly inspirational. I've also undusted Hoavi, my oldest conlang still "in operation" and actually managed to solve some problems that made me stop working on it some time back. In...
by Avo
22 Dec 2016 18:21
Forum: Linguistics & Natlangs
Topic: Linguistic pet peeves
Replies: 338
Views: 88534

Re: Linguistic pet peeves

Why does everyone always seem to forget Central German? That's one of my linguistic pet peeves. Even Germans tend overlook Central German(y) all the time (the fact that in everyday use, mitteldeutsch usually only refers to the states of Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony doesn't help). Modern Stand...
by Avo
05 Oct 2016 11:31
Forum: Linguistics & Natlangs
Topic: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here [2010-2019]
Replies: 7086
Views: 1317642

Re: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

I know some Northeast Caucasian languages that switched consonants in certain roots, like C 1 VC 2 > C 2 VC 1 . I also remember reading about a similar sound change in some Siouan languages, switching vowels: CV 1 CV 2 > CV 2 CV 1 . I'm guessing these sound changes are not unconditional, but I don't...
by Avo
09 Sep 2016 23:01
Forum: Linguistics & Natlangs
Topic: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here [2010-2019]
Replies: 7086
Views: 1317642

Re: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

This is done regularly with foreign names in Latvian: Fransuā Olands, Mišela Obama, Džeimss Bonds.
by Avo
05 Sep 2016 05:43
Forum: Beginners' Corner
Topic: What is the Spezia-Rimini line?
Replies: 6
Views: 2862

Re: What is the Spezia-Rimini line?

The La Spezia-Rimini line is not to be ignored. East of this line, all Romance languages form their plurals by vowel change, because the final -s was dropped very early. West of this line, plurals were formed by adding an -s, as it wasn't dropped there until much later. If you want to ‘completely i...
by Avo
23 May 2016 21:52
Forum: Beginners' Corner
Topic: Let's make a summary of the main language families
Replies: 41
Views: 9881

Re: Let's make a summary of the main language families

These "summaries" have so many problems that I don't even know where to start. /edit: I was in a hurry earlier and felt bad for just leaving this one-liner, so I wanted to get back to it. But I literally don't know where to start. Your summaries ("Language family: Features X, Y and Z&...
by Avo
31 Mar 2016 15:02
Forum: Language Learning & Non-English
Topic: Language practice thread
Replies: 6104
Views: 1004087

Re: Language practice thread

من هیچ سگ دارم
Man hič sag dāram.
I have no dog.
by Avo
11 Mar 2016 15:41
Forum: Teach & Share
Topic: Demystifying the Caucasus
Replies: 22
Views: 7732

Re: Demystifying the Caucasus

Population genetics do point to a Mesopotamian origin of at least some Caucasian people, especially the speakers of Northeast Caucasian, so chances are that there is some relationship between them and some languages of the Ancient Near East, but we'll probably never know for sure. Shared vocabulary...
by Avo
10 Mar 2016 19:10
Forum: Conlangs
Topic: Neo-Akkadian/Kaschdean/A-Leschān A-Labār
Replies: 30
Views: 5374

Re: Neo-Akkadian/Kaschdean/A-Leschān A-Labār

It's a minority language, so the sound changes would probably stay similar to that of the majority language, and a lot of the phonemes that are the same have stayed stable in Aramaic and Arabic. That's not how language change works. And both Aramaic and Arabic are a lot younger and, despite that, s...
by Avo
10 Mar 2016 18:29
Forum: Conlangs
Topic: Neo-Akkadian/Kaschdean/A-Leschān A-Labār
Replies: 30
Views: 5374

Re: Neo-Akkadian/Kaschdean/A-Leschān A-Labār

Don't get this the wrong way, but you do realize that's an awfully low number of sound changes right? I mean, your modern day Akkadian would have changed less in what, 2000-3000 years than English did in a few centuries. Or in other words, it looks like a dialect of Akkadian that hasn't changed at a...
by Avo
10 Mar 2016 17:58
Forum: Teach & Share
Topic: Demystifying the Caucasus
Replies: 22
Views: 7732

Re: Demystifying the Caucasus

Well, thanks a lot for answering my questions [:D] It does seem the Alarodian theory isn't too strong, but would be very interesting if true. And also very interesting about the small number of languages in the Kartvelian and Northwest Caucasian families (4 languages each, I think) compared to the ...
by Avo
09 Mar 2016 16:52
Forum: Teach & Share
Topic: Demystifying the Caucasus
Replies: 22
Views: 7732

Re: Demystifying the Caucasus

This thread is embarassing me. Oh well. I've always been interested in the Caucasian languages as well, especially given that a lot of them have ergative alignment. Why is it that there is such linguistic diversity in the Caucasus? Is it mainly a result of the physical geography? Or is there more to...
by Avo
09 Mar 2016 15:42
Forum: Everything Else
Topic: You
Replies: 946
Views: 262476

Re: You

Es gibt definitiv zu wenig Sprachenbastler in Berlin. Dann mal herzlich wilkommen! And welcome Cenneidi aswell, of course.
by Avo
11 Feb 2016 21:12
Forum: Conlangs
Topic: Romanizing ɑ
Replies: 17
Views: 4724

Re: Romanizing ɑ

Persian-style <a ā> or <a â>.
by Avo
11 Feb 2016 01:20
Forum: Conlangs
Topic: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here [2010-2020]
Replies: 11605
Views: 2043729

Re: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

I'd really like to help you out, but I feel at loss here, and I'm clearly not the only one. You seem to have an overall picture of how you want your conlang to be. Just create that language then. Stop being so damn insecure about it just because someone on the internet said something about it. If yo...
by Avo
31 Jan 2016 22:35
Forum: Conlangs
Topic: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here [2010-2020]
Replies: 11605
Views: 2043729

Re: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

Except Chechen doesn't have 40 vowel and 60 consonant phonemes and you should know that by now