Unanswered Questions
8,689 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
9
votes
1
answer
231
views
What might the term "B-I-T-sweetie" mean in the context of Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes's play "The Mule-Bone"?
I am currently reading through Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes's 1931 play, The Mule-Bone, and I am rather puzzled by the term "B-I-T-sweetie," which shows up in this exchange in Act ...
CommunityBot
- 1
7
votes
0
answers
684
views
Earlier sources or identity of person who coined the term "neutrois"?
A lot of work I've been doing recently has been around the emergence of various gender identities. "Neutrois" recently came to my attention, with more information about it here:
Nonbinary ...
- 10.2k
6
votes
4
answers
196
views
Does "have experience..." take a preposition?
I often struggle with whether "experience + noun/gerund" should include a preposition — and no matter how much digging I do in style manuals, dictionaries, and web search results, I never ...
CommunityBot
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6
votes
0
answers
259
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Is there an alternative modern approach to the fused-head noun phrase?
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Page 410) defines "Fused-head NPs" as follows:
Fused-head NPs (noun phrases) are those where the head is combined with a dependent function ...
CommunityBot
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5
votes
1
answer
76
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One less thing to worry about
I am not a native English speaker but I usually feel comfortable speaking or writing in English. I also have a linguistic background. But this morning I finished a task, wiped it from my white board, ...
- 1,165
5
votes
0
answers
202
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Is there dialectal variation in the weak form of "on"?
This question is related, but not quite identical, to a previous one and to another similar one.
In a recent video, phonetician Geoff Lindsey claimed that the words "off" and "on" ...
- 13.8k
5
votes
0
answers
103
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American English retroflex 'd' in the word 'guardian'?
In American English fast speech, I have noticed that the 'd' sound in words like 'birdy' and 'guardian' sometimes appears to be pronounced as a voiced retroflex plosive (/ɖ/) instead of the standard ...
AehkGuu
5
votes
0
answers
98
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How are /ɪ/ and /ʌ/ realised in the Nottingham (East Midlands) accent?
I've got a sample of a few words pronounced by a Nottingham accent representative: https://youtu.be/2fCSeDEZeVU
My ear is far from perfect and this is why I'd like to ask for your help in this ...
5
votes
0
answers
150
views
There’s one letter (for you) to sign
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language by H&P says (Page 1394):
(d) Infinitival extensions
[11] i a. A few replies are still to come. b. There are still a few replies to come.
ii a. One ...
- 6,371
5
votes
1
answer
385
views
There seems (to be) a... vs. There seems (to be) little
There seems to be a problem.
There seems a problem.
In this type of construction, the version with to be, such as (1), is much more productive than the one without, such as (2). See this Ngram: ...
CommunityBot
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5
votes
0
answers
208
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Term for/etymology of the opposite of a nosism (using 'we' to mean 'you')
A nosism is the term for using 'we' to refer to oneself. I am looking for a term for/etymology of using 'we' to mean 'you'.
EDIT: Another way of putting it is that I'm looking for the proper term ...
- 2,267
5
votes
2
answers
301
views
Using ‘first’ pre-verbally: ‘When I first wake up, I...’, ‘When we first saw them, we...’
Sorry, I don't have a clear question so much as I'm just looking for info on the use of first pre-verbally in examples like these:
When I first wake up, I […]
When we first saw them, we […]
I just ...
CommunityBot
- 1
4
votes
0
answers
83
views
What does it mean 'to reference' and what are the requirements of 'coreferentiality' in the context of descriptive grammar?
I would like to understand exactly what is meant in a grammar discussion when someone uses the word "coreferential". I understand it to mean that two or more constituents (e.g. a noun and ...
- 2,351
4
votes
0
answers
80
views
current usage of "insightful"?
I frequently see "insightful" used to mean "provides insight", whereas I would agree with the answers to this question that "revealing", "illuminating", etc. ...
- 20k
4
votes
0
answers
150
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Non-standard grammar feature in British dialect?
I moved from Worcestershire in the UK to a non-native English speaking country when I was a child, which has made me very aware of my accent. Unlike my parents, I used to have a regional accent. I ...
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