Tell me something interesting about your native language.
Linguists and linguistic hobbyists welcome.
>>1133994
Slovene has somewhere between 7 and 50 dialects (depends on who you ask) but there are a lot of smaller variations (there is a reason we have a saying "Every village has its voice."). The first records of a Slovene dialect come from around the year 1000, from our ealiest recorded text, the Freising manuscript, with the modern dialects mostly emerging after the 16th century; partly because of duchy borders, partly because of natural obstacles (first hills and valleys, later due to a swamp which cut off the Carniolan dialects). There are also several interesting dialects which emerged due to ethnic peculiarities: the Rovte dialects which are a result of German settlement and later assimilation; the White Carniolan dialect, which is a result of Uskok (Serbian) settlement during the times of the Turkish raids, as well as the Kočevje mixed dialect, which is a result of Slovenes from all over the country moving in a region which was depopulated after the Germans were deported after WW2.
English is the only Indo-European language to preserve the Proto-Indo-European *w phoneme.
>>1134888
>*w phoneme
The star means the pronunciation is closest to w, right? Isn't that this, then: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labio-velar_approximant?
>>1134905
The star means it's reconstructed, but yes, it is thought to be a labio-velar approximant.
>>1134917
Reconstructed, right. I put it in a wrong term.
Well, that means English isn't the only Indo-European language to preserve it because there are many examples on the site.
>>1134930
Yes, other Indo-Europeans have it, but those are new developments, none reflect the original *w phoneme.
>>1134987
Forgot pic
>>1134162
Is there a prestige dialect? If so, how did it get that status?
>>1135269
Not really. In official matters, on television and anywhere else in public matters, standard Slovene is used - the language that was first created by a Protestant author Primož Trubar in 1550 and was worked on through the centuries. It was created so all Slovenes could understand each other, since dialects are so diverse. Dialects were often seen as something for the common folk. These days, the standard Slovene on television is more and more being influenced by the Central Slovene koine, the mixed speech of what used to be Carniola (there's also a mixed speech of the Littoral and of Styria; the formation was based on historical borders, interestingly enough).
>>1133994
There are many words to say "bean" in spanish. Beaners use just one of them.
Slavic literacy started from my language.
>>1135602
bulgaria?
>>1135628
Ye
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Church_Slavonic#First_Bulgarian_Empire
>>1133994
SomalI is one of the three remaining Hamitic tongues, and is mutually intelligible with Ancient Egyptian due to the conservatism of these tongues.
>>1133994
Literally no other language can be traced to it on the family tree. Finnish is a stretch and both Khanty & Mansi are essentially dead languages.
>>1133994
>Tell me something interesting about your native language.
Unlike most romance languages, venetian doesn't show any sign of a weakening of the subjunctive mood in colloquial speech. Apparently the whole language is remarkably conservative and unchanged by the centuries.
Is that interesting? I don't know jack about linguistics.
>>1135676
>is mutually intelligible with Ancient Egyptian due to the conservatism of these tongues.
O rly? So Somali has not changed in the last, what, three millenia? I find this hard to believe. Please sauce on this anon.
Also long live glorious nation of Somaliland
>>1135760
>Hellas Verona
>serie b
Vaffanculo
>>1135776
Fuck you, you still have Chievo. My city's team is still in Lega Pro.
>>1135768
>Somaliland
I'm a loyalist boy. Don't bring those traitors up to me.
>http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/22/uncovering-the-origins-of-ancient-egypt/
>http://sayidka.blogspot.com/2006/01/land-of-gods-brief-study-of-somali.html?m=1
>>1135781
>still in Lega Pro
Lol
>>1135787
>loyalist
Loyal to what? Your country is a fiction. And it has been for 25 years. More than enough time to realize that it is useless to pretend to unify it. Give independence plis.
Thanks for the links anon
>>1135842
>Somalia is a fiction
>Says the somalilander
More real than the """""Republic""""" of Hargaisa.
>>1135852
>somalilander
LOL
From the outside, Somaliland looks like a state, which Somalia has not been for the last quarter of a century. I might be wrong about the former but i'm certainly right about the latter. Shit trolling aside, hope your country can become a country again anon.
How many kanguages do you speak, btw?
>somalia is brought up
>nationalistic shitflinging ensues
Every fucking time on every fucking board. You'd think the whole country is on 4chan 24/7.
>>1134162
Which dialect does the Marxist Memelord speak?
>>1135994
From what I've heard of it, Somalia is basically real-world 4chan.
>>1135676
>mutually intelligible with ancient egyptian
HOL UP
>>1136111
I don't know for sure, but considering he is from the capital, he probably speaks the form of urban speech spoken there.
It requires a dummy auxiliary verb to form negations and questions.
>>1135269
>prestige dialect
I don't think this is a thing outside of Anglo countries.
>>1136385
>I don't think this is a thing outside of Anglo countries.
It kinda is when you consider that most recently standardized languages have adopted the prestige dialect as standard. Tho you could argue that since they've been standardized such dialect is not dialect anymore.
>>1136424
Standard is not prestige.
Can someone tell me about the Georgian language? Why is it the only language in it's area to have it's own language family? What's with the cool ayy lmao script?
Pidgin languages were developed by Basque whalers and their trading partners during the Early Modern Era, and some of their vocabulary has survived:
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algonquian%E2%80%93Basque_pidgin
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque%E2%80%93Icelandic_pidgin
>>1136424
The Slovene official (literary) language was created as a mix of dialects that would serve as a language for all Slovenes to communicate in. The basis for the language were the Upper Carniolan and Lower Carniolan dialects since Carniola was (and, truth be told, still is) the centre of the nation.
Pic related: the first book in (early) standard Slovene.
>>1135686
Sami?
>>1133994
Albanian has a lot of cognates for an isolated language
>>1134888
Irish has the exact same sound
>>1137510
PIE *w is /f/ in Irish. e.g. Irish 'fear', 'man' vs the first part of English 'werewolf'
>>1133994
Literally the shittiest graphology to morphology ever
"Dress" is a masculine noun for some reason.
>>1135686
incorrect, it is very related to hungarian/magyar.
>>1137811
English doesn't have genders, though.
>>1133994
Words without vowels
>>1133994
Yaktabushi language from the DMT realm is purely visual. I execute it on a daily basis with my magical elves.
jabba jabba mohammed jihad
Ten gorillion dialects despite a tiny population and area.
>>1139151
That is Slovenia. I think you wanted post Slovakia.
>>1139246
What
Considered one of the two most archaic Indo-European languages, while also being among the last to be attested.
Believed to retain features not found anywhere else apart from PTE.
Has some dubious similarities with Sanskrit. If you cherry-pick the vocabulary enough.
The language has seven cases.
We used to have another letter in the alphabet, Ŗ, which was eradicated by the Soviets because they found its use as impending to their nefarious purposes. Somehow.
>>1136385
>what is classical latin as opposed to vulgar latin?
it is a flective language, but not actually in the nouns. it outsourced the flection to articles which are the only way to tell the cases for most verbs.
>>1139252
Lithuanian?
My dialect conjugates Yes and No, I never really heard about other languages/dialects doing this. It seems really weird tho.
>>1133994
There is no word for yes or no in the language, to answer a question in a positive or negative manner, you must reply with the positive or negative affirmation
an bhfuil tú go maith inniu? are you well today?
Tá me. I am
Níl me. I am not
>>1139371
how does it feel to be a light in the dark, to carry the torch of a minority/ regional language?
people like you are the reason i manage to get out of bed. it probably wasnt your choice but fighting language death is fighting cultural entropy. keep rocking your gaelic, son.
>>1139380
go raibh maith agat
The sad truth is every Irish person in the country learns the language for 14 years of their life at the very least, no matter what part of the country they're in and takes two state examinations in it, it is compulsory to learn the Irish language and it is has been since the states inception. Yet, few can speak it for a variety of factors, it's taught very poorly in schools.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA0a62wmd1A
I'll never stop, in a world faced with globalization and things like TTIP where national identity is being destroyed for profit, it's more important to hold on to your history and cultural identity than ever
>>1139281
>My dialect conjugates Yes and No
Uhh.. our word order is essentially nonexistant?
>>1139281
Nedersaksies or Limburgs?
>>1139418
That's because there's a huge difference between learning a language as a mother tongue at an early age and learning it in school (at an age when knowledge and learning are dismissed as negative).
English has one word that is gendered, blond when refering to a man, and blonde for when refering to a man
>>1139461
>English has one word that is gendered, blond when refering to a man, and blonde for when refering to a man
>>1139447
cheeki breeki
>>1139467
tl;dr anglos are gay
In our language, double negations are the norm in written form, but people have the habit to drop the first one when they speak.
>>1139472
french
We use some words(church, for example) that were outdated in latin even by the time Nicaea happened.
>>1139483
Correct, anon.
>>1133994
English is the only language to have a distinction between "a/an" and "the". Other language have to use "one" instead (which is ofc where "a/an" evolved from).
>>1139499
>an is a retarded way to pronouce one
Nice, I never realised this
Hebrew has a weird word that I think only exists in it that I don't know how to explain without just quoting wikipedia.
>In Hebrew there is a specific preposition (את et) for direct objects that would not have a preposition marker in English. The English phrase "he ate the cake" would in Hebrew be הוא אכל את העוגה hu akhal et ha'ugah (literally, "He ate את the cake").
>>1139499
Or not use such a word at all
>>1139472
>>1139483
funnily enough, the sign of negation that is most used today, "pas", was just part of a phrase that originally meant "not one bit more/not one step further" but the language evolved to the point where the original sign of negation, "ne", has almost disappeared in informal speech. "Pas" is an absurdity etymologically speaking
Language evolution is really interesting.
>>1139499
I know what you mean but most languages that have articles do make the distinction between definite and indefinite articles (The/A). It's also worthy of noting that "the" and "this" come from the same old english word. (and "a" has become the norm when, as you pointed it out, it used to be *ân)
>>1139447
Hebrew?
אין סדר-מילים בעברית
אין בעברית סדר-מילים
בעברית אין סדר-מילים
בעברית סדר-מילים אין
סדר-מילים אין בעברית
סדר-מילים בעברית אין
>>1139569
>tfw "Je suis pas blond" (I'm not blonde) is litteraly "I am step blonde"
>>1139580
>Hi, I'm your new step-blonde, you can call me mom if you want
>>1133994
my language is the most widely-spoken non-indo-european language in Europe.
>people write about their language but don't actually mention what language it is
You're all communicating in my native language :(
However, I'm learning Old English, which has an interesting 3rd grammatical number, which is dual.
Dual pronouns (wit & git (pronounced yit)) refer to 'we two' and 'you two'. Alas, I can't remember the case conjugations for them yet.
Also, Old English - like most Germanic languages - placed hundred at 120, due to being dozenal; however, during the mid-late Anglecynn period, the hundred was changed from 120 to 80, similar to developments in Denmark. However again, hundred can also be found to be placed at 70, 90, and 100 in the same period. Mathematics were twatted.
If you can't translate an English phrase you can literally just bullshit and people will interpret it pretty correctly.
An example:
"Ait bhradach" would literally translate to "Pirate place", but because of the bullshitting rule it's always interpreted in the poem it's used in as "A place that only takes and gives nothing"
t. Irishman
The use of regional languages in France was severely curtailed during the WW1 period and they were nearly destroyed. There's an apocryphal account that several Corsican soldiers were executed for not understanding orders in standard French.
>>1139675
Could you explain this in a bit more detail?
>>1139648
Magyar?
>>1139730
5 points to Gryffindor
>>1138952
Spanish?
It has it's own handwriting isn't really similar to many languages(only four actually, from which three are dialects), and is one of those languages which didn't alter much over the years and it's people sticked to it quite well...
ნიუფეგებო.
>>1133994
Tagalog and other Filipino Languages are autistic about rice.
>Rice plant
Palay
>Harvested Rice/Rice Grain
Bigas
>Rice being washed & cooked in a pot
Saing
>Rice that's done cooking and ready to be eaten.
Kanin.
>>1139934
You didn't write Spanish in the original post.
>>1139978
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8a3gjt_Ar0
>>1135686
basque?
Persian has no gender when referring to others. I can't explain it (never studied grammar or linguistics) but we don't say he or she, it simply doesn't exist in the language.
It/they/them.
Nouns and pronouns do not have grammatical gender, but nouns and adjectives decline in fourteen cases: nominative, genitive, partitive, illative, inessive, elative, allative, adessive, ablative, translative, terminative, essive, abessive, and comitative, with the case and number of the adjective(s) always agreeing with that of the noun (except in the terminative, essive, abessive and comitative, where there is agreement only for the number, the adjective being in the genitive form).
Meh.
can any Spanish speakers help me with something? My spanish totally sucks as you will see from the questions.
I get that nouns are gendered like they are in all the romance languages; masculine ends in O, feminine in A. it seems ridiculous, but w/e
my question is, the Spanish word for "penis" or "dick" (not sure if it's considered vulgar) is "verga." There could not possibly be a more masculine noun. 1) why does it end in A, and 2) is it an exception or is it actually feminine gendered i.e. do I say "la verga" or "el verga"?
if "la verga" is correct, I guess 3) would be why the fuck did this state of affairs come to pass?
the use of "mariposa" (butterfly) to mean "faggot" is similarly confusing. I get that it's derisively calling the dude a woman, but should i say "el mariposa" or "la mariposa"? like, is a fag totally feminized? would I say the Spanish equivalent of "she went to her house" when speaking of a mariposa or is it OK for all the other words not to agree with the A-ending of the noun since it's understood he's actually a dude?
>>1140686
Not Spanish speaker but I can tell you there's no logic behind it. Dick is feminine in French, while vagina is masculine.There's no logic, no rules, only suffering. You simply have to learn them.
If you really want to know why, you'd have to go back to the roots of each words.
>>1139978
Really fellow Juanon, not this tidbit:
>Q: Bababa ba?
(Going down?)
>A: Bababa.
(Going down.)
This is an acceptable, common and grammatically correct exchange in Tagalog.
>>1140686
Masculine genitallia is pene, el pene.
Verga is a slang, it etymologically just means "rod".
About your second question, you are asking about slangs, there is no real correct answer for that, its a slang, how to refer to homosexuals when calling them faggots is not the kind of question that is studied by scholars.
And, in Spanish you dont need to specify the subject, the verb already gives you that info, and the possesive would not change eve if male or female, so you could just say "se fue a su casa" without having to wonder about the gender.
>>1140686
"Verga" in Spanish is an extremely vulgar word. The common and most decent word for dick or penis is "pene".
It is indeed: "La verga". I suspect that "Verga" is feminine because it descends ultimately from latin "Verpa", which is a feminine noun.
>>1133994
Questions, in Sardinian, are made with the inversion of the auxiliary verb, and you can answer in the same way. That makes us sound like Yoda.
>Andende ses?
>Eja, Andende, so.
>Going, are you?
>Yes. Going, I am.
Also, pretty much every town has his own dialect with different pronunciations and even some particular words, and that made us develop common written standards during the centuries. Norwegian has a similar situation, from that point of view, as much as I remember.
>>1134888
Elfdalian too
It has double negative and I hate it because of that.
the word 'enjoy' doesn't exist in my language
>>1139281
>conjugating nouns
This is not how it works, dipshit, the flexion of nouns is could declension.
>>1141200
Finn detected
>>1139489
Hungarian (templom = church)?
>>1139252
Either Ukrainian or Lithuanian.
>>1135676
>Hamitic tongues
This is an antiquated term no longer in use. Using that term made me question the validity of your statement. A quick fact check shows that Arabic is estimated to constitute about 20% of the language's vocabulary.
And in fact, the language closest to Ancient Egyptian is it's successor Coptic which is used only for Coptic religious purposes like Latin is to Catholicism.
