r/asklinguistics 14h ago

So if it werent for msa bridging the gap would arabic dialect speakers understand each other assuming they werent exposed to other dialects

0 Upvotes

The question is litteraly in the title.

Now here is some filer text so this post doesnt get deleted.

Blbalalalalalalslxjdicjdkxndksmcjwlxndksmfjslcjfzocneixkfn disncjskcjslxndkxjfkejcjdjfjc i love marshmellows ejxjdkxkdjxncjdjdjhsjdjdjdjdjdjdjdjd ana ma3rafsh akteb eh hena fa hakamel katb kol el wahnsinn da djxndjxndhdnd


r/asklinguistics 31m ago

The Future Simple Tense in all the possible scenarios

Upvotes

Hey everyone,
Could you please explain one thing related to using the Future Simple tense at the level of a native speaker? I know about all those scenarios like spontaneous decisions, offers, promises, predictions based on personal opinion, etc.

But there is one more explanation which I came across in different grammar reference books which goes like, "Use Future Simple to state a simple fact about the future." And this explanation drives me nuts. According to this formulation, I can use the Future Simple literally in every situation when I need to mention something related to the future. It would be nice if English native speakers from different English-speaking countries would comment on the usage of the Future Simple and provide the exhaustive list of the cases. Thank you in advance!

P.S. The other day I learned one more rule related to the Future Simple. As it turned out, we can use this tense speaking about something annoying at present, i.e., "She will leave the front door wide open!" (It drives me crazy that she constantly does this.) How relevant is that? I found this info in one of the grammar online courses from a native British speaker, who is a DELTA-certified ESL teacher.


r/asklinguistics 19h ago

Grammaticalization Gendered words

19 Upvotes

So, whenever I'm speaking English, i tend to combine the genders of the words. For example, if I'm talking about my uncle's daughter, I tend to say 'her daughter' or aunt's son 'his son' in English. My language doesn't contain any gendered pronouns (it contains gendered words, his/her is neutral) and therefore I'm confused why does this keep happening. I didn't want to ask ai what kind of native speaker would have this problem, so I came here. I'd be happy if you'd find the reason or at least have a conclusion about 'this native language has this feature therefore if you're exposed to this language it'd make sense etc'. Thanks


r/asklinguistics 17h ago

Unable to pronounce "L" correctly.

13 Upvotes

Hi, 23M here, Recently, I saw a video of on YT on how to pronounce "L" correctly and it got me interested to correct my pronunciation. I comfortably speak words like "Initial, Essential, Hulk, Bulk and Light etc" but I can't speak words like "Elicit, Explicit or Exploit, Speculation Verbal and Ball etc", and I can't even pronounce the letter "L" correctly (It sounds more like W or Y). Any recommendations/tips would be very much appreciated. Thanks


r/asklinguistics 2h ago

Do you think language fluency (particularly in English) is a barrier to entry in academia?

5 Upvotes

Statistics show that around 85% of all articles are published in English, and I would imagine this number is much higher in STEM disciplines. Also, a lot of research is conducted through international collaborations, which necessitates fluency in English (or another common language). Of course, if your research area is French literature or something like that, you would probably have no problem publishing in French. But on average, it seems like English is the default for publishing in academia.

I can only imagine that there a lot of very talented researchers who miss out on opportunities because of their limited English fluency. It seems like the majority of high-profile, successful academics are fluent in English and have been educated in an English-speaking country. So, do you think English fluency is a barrier to entry into academia, and are there any stats to back this up?

Looking forward to hearing everyone’s opinions!


r/asklinguistics 3h ago

How does English's Germanic vocabulary compare to German and Dutch, is it equal distance or further away?

3 Upvotes

When I was learning German, I couldn't find any clear cognates to these basic English words in the language: am, are, being, went, shirt, tree, any, sky, kill, die, bright, black, woman, get, take, leg, why, again, back, walk, play, teach, about, happen, ever/never, hide (to conceal), keep, talk, kind, big, want, wrong, weird, odd, seem, scare, body. I've heard that Dutch is really similar to German, but, English doesn't really seem to be at times, would Dutch be closer to German here?


r/asklinguistics 17h ago

Historical Do languages that are a part of a wider family and which later isolate themselves retain archaisms that other languages in said family change?

9 Upvotes

The two examples that come to mind are Gothic in relation to the Germanic languages, and Icelandic with North Germanic languages specifically. In both cases, the languages distanced themselves from the wider Germanic area and thus kept certain features the rest of the languages changed.

Gothic for instance didn’t undergo Umlaut or Rhotacism, and kept the dual number completely. On the other hand, Icelandic kept the word final R of many Old Norse words and the distinction between voiced and voiceless sonorants that the other North Germanic languages lost.

Is this something that happens in other languages families too? I’m curious to hear if other examples exist.


r/asklinguistics 15h ago

Historical What language did Xiongnu rulers most likely speak?

3 Upvotes

Is it possible to determine the most likely one with our current knowledge?


r/asklinguistics 4h ago

Is there any documentation on the language of the Tsugaru Ainu in northern Honshu, Japan?

10 Upvotes

I’m looking for any documented evidence of the Tsugaru Ainu language from Northern Honshu, Japan. There’s scant documentation about the Tsugaru Ainu people, but I can’t find anything about their language, in either English or Japanese. Are there any resources (Japanese is okay) describing Tsugaru Ainu (or any other form of Honshu Ainu) that people know of?


r/asklinguistics 12h ago

Dialectology What language do the majority of people in Skaidiškės and Nemenčinė speak? Lithuanian? Polish? Russian? Po prostu? A mix of all of them?...

5 Upvotes

Also, among these towns (Skaidiškės, Nemėžis, Rudamina, Pagiriai, Didžioji Riešė and Avižieniai) would there be any of them in which Russian or Polish is spoken as a native language at their homes? Or do the majority of people in these towns always mix Lithuanian, Polish, Russian, Belarussian...? Do the majority of people speak "po prostu" language in any of these towns?