Are grammatical genders, as a rule, consistent across the Indo-European languages which use them?
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posted by obloquy
on Dec 4, 2012 -
30 answers
Why is it so hard to quickly count from 1 to 100 alternating between 2 different languages on each digit? Any cognitive scientists want to explain this?
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posted by querty
on Jun 25, 2012 -
13 answers
What are some recommended books for the general reader on why languages are so
different. How come languages such as Thai, Mandarin, Hebrew or the Indo-European langauges have such hugely different alphabets, let alone such vast differences in pronunciation? Given that human societies share many common characteristics, how come we ended up speaking so differently from each other. As I say, I'd prefer books aimed at the general reader, rather than, say, linguistics specialists.
posted by vac2003
on Apr 22, 2012 -
8 answers
Is it possible to learn college-level phonetics and phonology on one's own? Bonus: online?
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posted by jweed
on Mar 8, 2012 -
7 answers
Balto-Slavic, Germanic, Italic: help me select which Indo-European language(s) I should learn next!
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posted by vkxmai
on Feb 28, 2011 -
19 answers
Do we know anything about
why different languages sound fundamentally different? What started the people who would eventually become French going "zhoh" in the first place?
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posted by marginaliana
on Nov 8, 2010 -
29 answers
My grandmother's first language is nearly extinct. I'd like to record an interview with her for archival purposes; how should I go about it?
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posted by decagon
on Feb 26, 2010 -
22 answers
I'm very seriously considering the foreign service, but I've never been any good at languages. Will I likely be able to learn a language, with the intense training the Foreign Service provides, without a natural apptitude for languages?
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posted by anonymous
on Nov 18, 2009 -
7 answers
Looking to purchase some awesome linguistics-related posters. I've searched for hours on the internet and I can't seem to find any family tree posters, IPA posters, or even anything remotely related to linguistics that is interesting and somewhat academic.
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posted by iamkimiam
on May 28, 2009 -
8 answers
Generally speaking, how long does it take for a root language to evolve into mutually incomprehensible offshoot languages? Or, conversely, how long would languages with a common root be understandable to one another's native speakers?
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posted by CKmtl
on Aug 27, 2008 -
9 answers
What are your favorite online resources for learning, practicing or getting exposure to the languages you speak? I'm looking for things that go beyond a textbook and a couple of CDs: things like interactive tools and study materials, well-written blogs written in / about the language, and especially audio, video or reading materials that people learning the language might not be able to find easily.
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posted by shirobara
on Jun 4, 2008 -
8 answers
LinguisticsFilter: Why are the many Indo-European languages considered to have a common ancestor, whereas Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and other gramatically and lexically similar languages are grouped into separate language families? How did so many different language families arise in the Americas and Australia given that they were populated by the same groups of people? Much more inside.
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posted by pravit
on Mar 18, 2008 -
46 answers
Hawaiian has only eight consonants. Pirahã purportedly has even fewer phonemes and no numerals. What other languages have properties which would be considered unusual by Indo-European language speakers?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane
on Nov 16, 2006 -
33 answers
LinguisticsFilter: There are a lot of resources explaining how to transcribe a language into IPA, but I don't have any that get into the nitty gritty of how one language pronounces a given consonant compared to another. Are there good resources on this front? Are there resources on how to speak in various foreign accents?
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posted by sirion
on Apr 27, 2006 -
8 answers
Is it more difficult to learn two or more foreign languages at once than it is to learn one? Can the experience gained learning one foreign language be used to benefit the learning of the other? And on the subject of accents, those of you who can turn accents on and off at will, how did you achieve this talent?
posted by arimathea
on Nov 24, 2004 -
15 answers
I've heard it mentioned, as recently as
this thread that when you learn a foreign language as an adult , you never lose your accent. Kissinger is always brought up as an example. Is this true or is this an urban myth? Also, what if you were brought up bilingual and speak two (or more) languages flawlessly. If you learned a third language, what determines which accent you will have?
posted by vacapinta
on Aug 6, 2004 -
23 answers
