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#linguistics

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Søren Sandager Sørensen<p>"There is a poorer breeding ground in England and Norway for taboos and swearing connected with 'whore mother'." </p><p>- Drange et al. 2014: “Your mum!” Teenagers’ swearing by mother in English, Spanish and Norwegian (I may have laughed too much at that metaphor in this context...) <a href="https://lingo.lol/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguistics</span></a></p>
Vzvzvz!<p>The sound of "belching" in Danish!<br><a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/language" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>language</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguistics</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/onomatopoeia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>onomatopoeia</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/maps" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>maps</span></a></p>
Bob the Traveler<p>Russian linguist, epigrapher, and ethnographer Yuri Knorozov, who died OTD in 1999, played a pivotal role in the decipherment of the Maya script used in Mesoamerica <a href="https://toilet-guru.com/blog/18.html?s=mb" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">toilet-guru.com/blog/18.html?s</span><span class="invisible">=mb</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/Maya" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Maya</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguistics</span></a></p>
JordiGH<p>Is French grammatical number dying? I often hear native speakers from all around the world inflect both numbers in singular, even for words that supposedly have a different pronunciation in the plural inflexion.</p><p><a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguistics</span></a> <a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/tags/French" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>French</span></a></p>
Augier (fr & en) 🏴☭<p>Was german really "awful"? — RobWords</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcekIrFjwe0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">youtube.com/watch?v=VcekIrFjwe</span><span class="invisible">0</span></a></p><p><a href="https://diaspodon.fr/tags/vulgarisation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>vulgarisation</span></a> <a href="https://diaspodon.fr/tags/%C3%A9ducPop" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>éducPop</span></a> <a href="https://diaspodon.fr/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguistics</span></a></p>
Vzvzvz!<p>The sound of "shriek" in Portuguese!<br><a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/language" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>language</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguistics</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/onomatopoeia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>onomatopoeia</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/maps" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>maps</span></a></p>
Lianna (on Mastodon)<p>I entered the <a href="https://mastodon.gamedev.place/tags/ComputationalLinguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ComputationalLinguistics</span></a> field in 2018 by enrolling for a Bachelor's degree.</p><p>Since then, a lot has changed. Almost all the things we learned about, programmed in practice and did research on are now nearly irrelevant in our day-to-day.</p><p>Everything is <a href="https://mastodon.gamedev.place/tags/LLMs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LLMs</span></a> now. Every paper, every course, every student project.</p><p>And the newly enrolled students changed, too. They're no longer language nerds, they're <a href="https://mastodon.gamedev.place/tags/AI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AI</span></a> bros.</p><p>I miss <a href="https://mastodon.gamedev.place/tags/CompLing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CompLing</span></a> before ChatGPT.</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.gamedev.place/tags/academia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>academia</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.gamedev.place/tags/science" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>science</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.gamedev.place/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguistics</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.gamedev.place/tags/llm" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>llm</span></a></p>
Dianora (Diane Bruce)<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx3c4AjAO58" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">youtube.com/watch?v=Wx3c4AjAO5</span><span class="invisible">8</span></a></p><p>I blame <br><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.social/@DEWLine" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>DEWLine</span></a></span> </p><p>The weird thing is, my old H.S. Latin is still capable of understanding most of this!</p><p><a href="https://ottawa.place/tags/Music" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Music</span></a> <a href="https://ottawa.place/tags/Latin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Latin</span></a> <a href="https://ottawa.place/tags/Linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Linguistics</span></a></p>
Leshem Choshen<p>Models have preferences like giving inanimate 📦 stuff to animate 👳<br>Is it that they just saw a lot of such examples in pretraining or is it generalization and deeper understanding?<br><a href="https://alphaxiv.org/pdf/2503.20850" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">alphaxiv.org/pdf/2503.20850</span><span class="invisible"></span></a><br><a href="https://sigmoid.social/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguistics</span></a> <a href="https://sigmoid.social/tags/language" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>language</span></a> <a href="https://sigmoid.social/tags/LLM" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LLM</span></a> <a href="https://sigmoid.social/tags/AI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AI</span></a></p>
Valannō Lyore<p>Ilōre Nelwa Gālwýs! <br>Today New Moonyear!</p><p>Zodiac: Cālas Celbeä Cīrwamāre<br>Year of the Donkey, temperament: fire-spirited</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/conlang" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>conlang</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/conlangs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>conlangs</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/language" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>language</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/languages" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>languages</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguistics</span></a> <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/conlang" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>conlang</span></a></span></p>
Vzvzvz!<p>The sound of "laughter" in German!<br><a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/language" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>language</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguistics</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/onomatopoeia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>onomatopoeia</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/maps" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>maps</span></a></p>
Daniil Baturin<p>I have a fan theory about the Irish imperative mood. I wonder if actual linguists know of relevant papers on that subject.</p><p>The theory is that there once was a particle for the positive imperative mood, in addition to the negative particle "ná" (as in "Ná habair é!").</p><p>The particle was later forgotten, similar to how the past tense used to be marked with "do" (as in "do bhí mé ann") but is now marked just by lenition that "do" used to cause.<br>The positive particle didn't cause any mutation, or caused gemination/aspiration, like the negative one.</p><p>Here's the reasoning.</p><p>Old Irish had absolute and conjunct forms for all verbs (conjunct = for use with particles).<br>"Berthae libru" — "you all carry books" (absolute, 2nd pl).<br>"Ní beirid libru" — "you all do not carry books" (conjunct, 2nd pl).</p><p>"You all, don't carry books!" would be "Ná beirid libru" — "ná" is a particle and requires a conjunct form.<br>But the positive imperative "you all, carry books!" was "Beirid libru!" — the form looks like a conjunct form, even though there's no particle.</p><p>An alternative hypothesis is that conjunct forms evolved from imperative forms.<br>However, there's an argument against that in the imperative forms of compound verbs.<br>Old Irish compound verbs are kinda like English phrase verbs: "as-berid" is probably a combination of "as" ("from", "out of") and the verb "to carry" but the real meaning of "as-berid" is "you all speak". Their prefixes act like pseudo-particles: they require conjunct forms of the original verb, and remain unstressed, which is why those forms are called "deuterotonic" (second-[syllable]-stressed).<br>When used with a normal particle, the stress shifts to the pseudo-particle and that mangles the original verb really hard: "you (all) do not speak" is not "ní as-berid" but "ní eprid". That "twice-conjunct" form is called "prototonic".</p><p>"You all, speak!" is "Eprid!" — the form is prototonic, and we know it evolved from "as-beirid", which disproves the alternative hypothesis. It's more likely that people used to say something like "*Só eprid!" (random guess).</p><p>But whether there's enough data anywhere to prove that a positive imperative conjunct particle ever existed is a different story.</p><p><a href="https://functional.cafe/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguistics</span></a> <a href="https://functional.cafe/tags/Gaeilge" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Gaeilge</span></a> <a href="https://functional.cafe/tags/MastoDaoine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>MastoDaoine</span></a></p>
Valannō Lyore<p>Week 13</p><p>yūgethein [ 'ju:.ge.θeɪ̯n ] - to count, to calculate (intransitive verb)<br>root: *jógh2</p><p>aorist: eyũxathe<br>perfect: yeyūgetha</p><p>related (same root):<br>yunthes [ 'jun.θes ] - calculation, reasoning (noun, PART sg case: yuntheda)</p><p>yūx [ 'ju:ks ] - 1. pebble, small rock; 2. number (noun, PART sg case: yūga)</p><p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/conlang" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>conlang</span></a></span> <a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/conlang" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>conlang</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/conlangs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>conlangs</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/language" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>language</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/languages" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>languages</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguistics</span></a></p>
𝔸𝕟𝕔𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕊𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕤 🔉<p><a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/GeoffreyChaucer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>GeoffreyChaucer</span></a> fans, <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/medievalists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>medievalists</span></a> , <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/EnglishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EnglishLanguage</span></a> and <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/linguists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguists</span></a></p><p>Around 10 years ago, a Geoffrey Chaucer parody account on ye olde Twitter (Chaucer Doth Tweet) promoted “Whan That Aprille Day” on April 1st (but it perhaps should be 17th?)</p><p>“On the first daye of Aprille, lat us make tyme to take joye yn alle langages that are yclept ‘old,’ or ‘middel,’ or ‘auncient,’ or ‘archaic,’ or, alas, even ‘dead.’ ...</p><p>Yn thys celebracioun we shal reade of oold bokes yn sondrye oold tonges. We shal singe olde songes. We shal playe olde playes. Eny oold tonge will do, and eny maner of readinge. All are welcome. We shal make merrye yn the magical dreamscape of 'social media,' and eke, yf ye kan do yt, yn the 'real worlde' too. ... ”</p><p><a href="https://houseoffame.blogspot.com/2015/03/maken-melodye-on-whan-that-aprille-day.html?m=1" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">houseoffame.blogspot.com/2015/</span><span class="invisible">03/maken-melodye-on-whan-that-aprille-day.html?m=1</span></a></p><p><a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/WhanThatAprilleDay" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WhanThatAprilleDay</span></a> 2025 anyone?</p><p><a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguistics</span></a> <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/medieval" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>medieval</span></a> <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/language" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>language</span></a> <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/classics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>classics</span></a></p>
Vzvzvz!<p>The sound of "wet strike" in Dutch!<br><a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/language" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>language</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguistics</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/onomatopoeia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>onomatopoeia</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/maps" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>maps</span></a></p>
doboprobodyne<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://libranet.de/profile/clacke" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>clacke</span></a></span> </p><p>Re. Not anthropomorphizing LLMs</p><p>I'm a sucker for this. Thankyou for writing about it. I'll apologise to an inanimate object if I walk into it.</p><p>I find useful practical tips for myself in following this to be:<br>1. Use the verb "I prompted" rather than I told or I asked.<br>2. State that the program "output" rather than it replied.<br>3. I don't discuss "confabulation" because it's an anthropomorphization (the reality is that the computer program is doing exactly what it is instructed to do by the user), but if I was compelled to anthropomorphize, I would use "confabulation" rather than hallucination.</p><p>I would be curious to know if you or any other readers had any more tips!</p><p>The following cartoon is from: <br><a href="https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/precise" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="">smbc-comics.com/comic/precise</span><span class="invisible"></span></a></p><p><a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/tags/LLM" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LLM</span></a> <a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/tags/AI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AI</span></a> <a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/tags/GAN" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>GAN</span></a> <a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/tags/programming" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>programming</span></a> <a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/tags/language" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>language</span></a> <a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguistics</span></a> <a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/tags/metacognition" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>metacognition</span></a> <a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/tags/philosophy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>philosophy</span></a> <a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/tags/computers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>computers</span></a> <a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/tags/anthropomorphization" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>anthropomorphization</span></a> <a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/tags/maths" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>maths</span></a> <a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/tags/mathematics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>mathematics</span></a> <a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/tags/math" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>math</span></a></p>
Vzvzvz!<p>The sound of "falling strike" in Albanian!<br><a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/language" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>language</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguistics</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/onomatopoeia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>onomatopoeia</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/maps" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>maps</span></a></p>
Vzvzvz!<p>The sound of "biting" in Nepali!<br><a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/language" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>language</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguistics</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/onomatopoeia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>onomatopoeia</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/maps" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>maps</span></a></p>
Vzvzvz!<p>The sound of "snoring" in Indonesian!<br><a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/language" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>language</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguistics</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/onomatopoeia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>onomatopoeia</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/maps" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>maps</span></a></p>
Tatjana Scheffler<p>Back story: I know exactly when I started because I only *really* started working on emojis after <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.online/@halukamb" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>halukamb</span></a></span> interviewed me about them in 2015 2/2 <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/emojis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>emojis</span></a> <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linguistics</span></a> <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/sciComm" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sciComm</span></a></p>
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