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Car
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Re: Discussion Group

Postby Car » 2020-07-25, 2:13

linguoboy wrote:
Car wrote:
linguoboy wrote:Trying to translate a sentence from Catalan into English and I can't decide between two slightly different versions.

Original: La salsa pebrada devia ser una de les salses més emblemàtiques de la cuina medieval catalana.
Version 1: Pepper sauce must be one of the most emblematic sauces of mediaeval Catalan cuisine.
Version 2: Pepper sauce must be one of the sauces most emblematic of mediaeval Catalan cuisine.

I suppose "...one of mediaeval Catalan cuisine's most emblematic sauces" is in the running as well.

Definitely 1 or 3. Does 2 really sound natural to you?

Yup. It's not that unusual for English-speakers to displace heavy noun modifiers like this. (At least as common as it is for German-speakers to use heavy pre-noun inserts.) For instance, this always happens with the adjective likely when qualified by an adverb and governing an infinitive:

"It's reserved for the person least likely to try to kill me today."
"Tinder also edged out OKCupid as the app most likely to solicit online harassment from suitors."

Unqualified and governing a prepositional phrase, it precedes the noun while the phrase follows:

"Your volunteering might help us see you as a likely person for that role?

Emblematic is generally qualified with a prepositional phrase which follows the noun. The adjective can remain before the noun or it can follow as well, which is more likely when it's further qualified. (For instance, if the modifying adverb of degree were "extremely" instead of "most", there would be no question about displacing the adjective.)

Thanks, you two! For some reason your example sentences sound perfectly normal to me, but version 2 still sounds odd.
Please correct my mistakes!

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Re: Discussion Group

Postby Gormur » 2020-08-05, 13:15

Talking about US English dialects, I wonder why in some areas britches refers to pants. Whereas I'd call these knee-highs or knickers for females

Is there a historical reason for this? I know breeches is the same word but I still think of knee-high pants or knickers and not something like silk pants or jeans

It seems like trousers was used by early settlers. Any idea why that fell out of use?

Cheers :)
Eigi gegnir þat at segja at bók nøkkur er hreinferðug eðr ønnur spelluð því at vandliga ok dáliga eru bœkr ritnar ok annat kunnum vér eigi um þœr at dœma

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Re: Discussion Group

Postby languagepotato » 2020-08-08, 10:20

this is something I'm not even sure of in my native languages, but I'm also not sure in English.

Who exactly are my brothers-in-law/sisters-in-law?

My significant other's sibling?
My sibling's significant other?
My sibling's significant other's sibling?
native: (ar-MA) (nl)
very comfortable: (en-US)
somewhat comfortable: (de) (es) (af)
forgetting: (fr) (ar-arb)
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someday hopefully: (ja) (sq) (cs) (tr) and many others

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Re: Discussion Group

Postby schnaz » 2020-11-01, 17:07

Language potato asked :
Who exactly are my brothers-in-law/sisters-in-law?

My significant other's sibling?
My sibling's significant other?
My sibling's significant other's sibling?


I think that the significant term here is " in law".
So unless there is a binding relationship between the significant others (marriage). I don't think there are any "in-laws".
If we are speaking of a siituation where a marriage exists then I would consider the siblings of my spouse to be my sisters and brothers in -law. Best Regards
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Re: Discussion Group

Postby schnaz » 2020-11-01, 17:15

This link may be of interest to you particularly if your native language is Spanish.It discusses the differing rates of speech between Spanish and English.

https://qr.ae/pNbOMW
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Re: Discussion Group

Postby linguoboy » 2020-11-01, 21:09

schnaz wrote:I think that the significant term here is " in law". So unless there is a binding relationship between the significant others (marriage). I don't think there are any "in-laws".

Not necessarily. I've heard "in-law" used by folks who are not married or don't even have any kind of legally recognised relationship. (I've also heard "out-laws" used jokingly for the relatives of one's significant other when there is no legally sanctioned relationship, but that's pretty clearly facetious.)
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Re: Discussion Group

Postby schnaz » 2020-11-02, 1:03

Linguoboy says:
I've heard "in-law" used by folks who are not married or don't even have any kind of legally recognised relationship.


I find that curious, hailing as you do from the heartland, I would have expected more conservatism.😁
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Re: Discussion Group

Postby linguoboy » 2020-11-02, 4:09

schnaz wrote:I find that curious, hailing as you do from the heartland, I would have expected more conservatism.😁

I find it curious that you expect Chicago—a city of 2.5 million with a Black lesbian mayor in a metropolitan area of more than 11 million where more than 150 different languages are spoken natively at home—to be “conservative”.
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

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Re: Discussion Group

Postby schnaz » 2020-11-02, 13:32

Linguoboy says:
I find it curious that you expect Chicago—a city of 2.5 million with a Black lesbian mayor in a metropolitan area of more than 11 million where more than 150 different languages are spoken natively at home—to be “conservative”


Thanks for the tour ,now I know better.
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Re: Discussion Group

Postby Osias » 2020-11-11, 3:19

My brother's wife used to call "cunhado" before they were married and I was always correcting her "I'm nit your in-law yet". I'm probably the only Brazilian to do that these days.
2017 est l'année du (fr) et de l'(de) pour moi. Parle avec moi en eux, s'il te plait.

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Re: Discussion Group

Postby Morehod » 2021-03-20, 13:04

Hello. I heard natives said "it is warm from June to August". Can I say "...from June till August"?
Last edited by Morehod on 2021-03-22, 19:54, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Discussion Group

Postby linguoboy » 2021-03-20, 15:04

Morehod wrote:Hello. I heard natives say "it is warm from June to August". Can I say "...from June till August"?

You can. Depending on your pronunciation, I might not even perceive a difference.
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Re: Discussion Group

Postby Morehod » 2021-04-30, 16:39

Hello. Are both sentences correct?
1) Why is not he here?
2) Why is he not here?

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Re: Discussion Group

Postby Linguaphile » 2021-04-30, 17:00

Morehod wrote:Hello. Are both sentences correct?
1) Why is not he here?
2) Why is he not here?


With #1 we tend to use the contract (isn't). "Why is not he here?" sounds quite odd.
These are fine:
1) Why isn't he here?
2) Why is he not here?

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Re: Discussion Group

Postby linguoboy » 2021-04-30, 19:22

Linguaphile wrote:
Morehod wrote:Hello. Are both sentences correct?
1) Why is not he here?
2) Why is he not here?

With #1 we tend to use the contract (isn't). "Why is not he here?" sounds quite odd.

This isn't so much a tendency as a rule. I would mark "Why is not he here?" as ungrammatical IMD.

There's been a lot of work done on the role of n't in English. One thing that's obvious about it is that it can't simply be considered a contraction of not. It appears in environments where not simply can't and vice versa. In their seminal work on clitics, linguists Zwicky and Pullum determined that it does not show the behaviour of a clitic at all but rather acts like an inflection.

Linguaphile wrote:These are fine:
1) Why isn't he here?
2) Why is he not here?

Note, for instance, that you can say "Why's he not here?" but not *" Why is hen't here?" In contrast to n't, the contraction of is to 's does function as a true clitic.
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Re: Discussion Group

Postby azhong » 2022-01-07, 7:29

How polite is it here in UnilLang when one inquires by saying "what would you say" ?

Let's sclcore ten points to "thank you very much in advance for your help", and score "answer me" zero points. How will you score that phrasing then, please?

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Re: Discussion Group

Postby linguoboy » 2022-01-07, 17:29

azhong wrote:How polite is it here in UnilLang when one inquires by saying "what would you say" ?

Let's sclcore ten points to "thank you very much in advance for your help", and score "answer me" zero points. How will you score that phrasing then, please?

It'll depend somewhat on the context. It can sound challenging, but generally it's pretty neutral. I'd give it a six, possibly a seven.
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Re: Discussion Group

Postby nijk » 2022-02-03, 13:25

There are a few words that have two forms, one with the suffix -ce and one with the suffix -cy, e.g:

  • dependence / dependency
  • constance / constancy
  • competence / competency
  • consistence / consistency

Is there a semantic difference between the two forms that I'm ignoring, or is it just dialectal variation, or maybe not even that and it's simply free alternation between the two forms?

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Re: Discussion Group

Postby Rí.na.dTeangacha » 2022-02-03, 14:33

All of the below is only true for my dialect (or possibly even idiolect).

nijk wrote:
  • dependence / dependency


To me, "dependence" is the act or situation of depending on someone or something in general, e.g. "Dependence on others' approval is holding you back in life". "dependency" is a technical term in programming describing a third-party piece of software that you are using in your application and upon which your application "depends".

nijk wrote:
  • constance / constancy


  • Only "constancy" is correct.

    nijk wrote:
  • competence / competency


  • "competence" is the general ability to do something well, general aptitude. A "competency" is a specific ability in a certain field. Basically, "competence" is uncountable, "competency" is countable.

    nijk wrote:
  • consistence / consistency


  • Only "consistency" is correct.
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    Re: Discussion Group

    Postby linguoboy » 2022-02-03, 15:34

    Rí.na.dTeangacha wrote:
    nijk wrote:[*]constance / constancy

    Only "constancy" is correct.

    The OED labels constance "obsolete". I only recall encountering it as a feminine given name.

    Rí.na.dTeangacha wrote:
    nijk wrote:[*]consistence / consistency[/list]

    Only "consistency" is correct.

    "Consistence" is much less common but I still accept it as an synonym of "consistency" in certain contexts.

    Otherwise I agree with Rí's judgments.
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