Questions relating to the scientific study of language.
99
votes
9answers
8k views
Is there a word or phrase for the feeling you get after looking at a word for too long?
(Perhaps this only happens to me, but I doubt it.)
Sometimes after looking at a word for a while, I become convinced that it can't possibly be spelled correctly. Even after looking it up, sounding ...
13
votes
4answers
1k views
English questions and negation with *do* in syntax
A former lecturer of mine once explained why, from a syntactic point of view, the English rule that negation and questions are formed with the auxiliary do follows from other syntactic facts about ...
25
votes
3answers
11k views
Meaning of “native speaker of English”
Who is considered a native speaker of English? I am a little confused by the various answers found online.
10
votes
5answers
4k views
Where does “ta!” come from?
Where does the expression "ta" come from?
Wikipedia has only this to say:
"ta!", slang, Exclam. Thank you! {Informal}, an expression of gratitude
but no additional information or links about ...
3
votes
2answers
4k views
Semi-vowels in English [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
When is “Y” a vowel?
Why are 'w' and 'y' called semi-vowels in English?
17
votes
5answers
1k views
Is it true that iambic pentameter is “natural” to English? If so, why?
When I first read Dante's Divine Comedy in high school, I remember once being puzzled at what I thought were strained rhymes in the translation, and mentioned it to my English teacher. In reply, she ...
10
votes
6answers
1k views
Exactly what language do I (we) speak?
As an American, and a particularly myopic one, I am a bit confused to the language that I speak. I understand that we were once a colony of England, where English was/is spoken, but do we in the ...
4
votes
1answer
632 views
Good and bad - suppletive adjectives
In English, there are three suppletive adjectives: good, bad and far. Their comparative and superlative forms derive from different stems, i.e., we have best instead of *goodest, worse instead of ...
4
votes
2answers
730 views
Are any of the t-glottolization, th-fronting, h-dropping, etc. in English a phonological complex?
Wikipedia gives the following, with plenty others ommitted by me, as some of the features of Cockney English:
T-glottalisation: Use of the glottal stop as an allophone of /t/ in various ...
6
votes
2answers
993 views
British upper-class pronunciation of words like “what” and “when”
More from the BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House.
I've noticed in these sort of movies, when some very upper-class speakers talk, like the lawyer in the series, Mr. Tulkinghorn, they have ...
5
votes
3answers
898 views
What makes a non-native English speaker sound foreign? [closed]
I'm not a native speaker. However, I have tried a lot during last 10 years to learn English at a high level of proficiency and to become fluent in conversation.
However, when I talk to some of my ...
2
votes
1answer
518 views
What are the degrees of synonymity?
In several questions and answers on this site I've read phrases that suggest there can be a scale of synonymity between words—something I haven't thought much about before. Some examples I've seen are ...
17
votes
2answers
953 views
What is the origin of the “-th” suffix? What is the linguistic term for the meaning it adds to words?
I was teaching my young nephew some math the other day, and from discussing the typical sort of word problems he's encountering in class, I noticed that the "-th" suffix adds a distinct meaning to ...
13
votes
5answers
349 views
Regarding the “i” in “think” vs “bit”
This is a phonetics question.
I am teaching English as a Second Language. In phonetics, we all know the "i" in "think" is a "short i" sound. Additionally, the "i" in "bit" is a "short i" sound. ...
9
votes
3answers
340 views
Is spell-checking software becoming a linguistic authority?
It seems that‒whether intentionally or not‒spell-checking software in web browsers and productivity suites heavily influence our use of language. For example: in drafting a document, I found that my ...
7
votes
3answers
402 views
Why do we say 'commentator' instead of 'commenter'?
Another thread addresses the Englishness of the words. My question is different and a lot more convoluted: I hope I can make it plain and simple.
I. There are straightforward nouns of action and ...
6
votes
2answers
140 views
Are there names for consonant-shifts when suffixes are added?
I saw a spelling mistake on an SO question: submittion. That got me wondering, is there a name for the shift of ‑mit‑ to ‑miss‑ in submission, permission, admission and so on? Are there other patterns ...
5
votes
2answers
157 views
Modern replacement for checking frequency tables?
What is the most up-to-date, robust, and reliable way to check verb (or other POS) frequencies in current usage?
Is there any hope of an algorithm involving counting Google hits and dividing by some ...
4
votes
4answers
271 views
Alternative Descriptive Statement - Calling something like it really is; both intentionally/unintentionally funny
I'm curious to know if there is a type of speech or name for what I am about to describe... For example, instead of saying "let's go on a night hike," one would say, "let's go stumble around in the ...
3
votes
3answers
434 views
Is there a term for switching syllables of words?
Primary question: A common speaking mistake is to exchange syllables of words, saying "It's trace rhyme!" instead of saying "It's race time!", or pronouncing "kickin' chackatory" instead of "chicken ...
