#Language Contact

[dedalvs]

In a future where people will meet other forms of life, how will that impact language? Because the words we use to describe people (human, person, individual) basically mean "conscious creature I can understand"

Even in some of pieces of media where there are conscious beings other than people, like aliens or talking animals for example, the characters might refer to them as people, unintentionally, just because in actualily people are the only beings we can meaningfully talk to

I could imagine some words taking on additional meaning - maybe human would solely mean homo sapiens, while person would become a word for any conscious being, but I am very interested to hear your perspective as someone who knows a lot about linguistics

Sorry if the message isn't too understandable, English isn't my first language

It'll change language in the same way it's changed every time new cultures encounter one another. This has happened countless times throughout the centuries. And, yes, words change meanings, new words are borrowed, new expression are calqued, etc. It will be the new, but the process itself will be quite old. It won't radically change our understanding of language nor how language works.

[possessivesuffix]

Crossposting from Twxttxr: some interesting news about ongoing research by colleagues, from a workshop "Diversification of Uralic" just this Thursday and Friday

Do the Permic languages have loanwords from Old Norse? e.g. ONo. ár ~ Komi & Udmurt ar 'year'. This would've been sensible during the brief time when Norsemen originally from Sweden were in charge of trade along the Volga and settling in inner Russia, forming the Rus' (later Slavicized, but as we know from Byzantine sources they remained Norse for centuries) — and also the Norwegians too were known to conduct exploration + trade along the Barents Sea at the time, our oldest written reports of "Bjarmia" come from them after all.

Do the Finnic languages have loanwords already from Pre-Proto-Germanic into Pre-Proto-Finnic? My first reply would've been "yes surely", this has been discussed for half a century and there's dozens of etymologies out by now. Turns out though that there's still a lot of room for skepticism if we try to assemble a big picture. Most of these could be (and have been proposed by other analyses) to be proper Germanic after all, or from some non-Germanic kind of Indo-European, or even incorrect. There is unambiguous evidence I think at least of loans lacking *ā > *ō, but that's already though to be one of the latest common Germanic innovations, perhaps barely post-PG. [Follow-up question: do we even know where Pre-Proto-Germanic was spoken? might not have been anywhere convenient for contacts with Pre-Proto-Finnic.] — A few similar problems also in the less discussed supposed layer of Proto-Balto-Slavic or pre-BSl. loans, but by areal considerations it seems obvious to me there must've been Uralic/IE contact somewhere in the Russian forest belt for ages already, even if it might not have left enough evidence to clearly distinguish from things like pre-Indo-Iranian loans.

Do the Samic languages have loanwords that are not from any historically attested branch of Scandinavian, but some sort of a lost variety entirely? This could be an explanation for an unexpected sound correspondence *j → *ć in many loans; it might also explain some loans that look surprizingly archaic, e.g. lacking any reflection of Siever's Law. One example showing both is indeed *Tāńćə 'Norse', from some sort of a *Danji- variant of Proto-Germanic *Daniz.

Several new hypotheses on the history of of sibilants in Ugric, adding to the growing tally of evidence that traditionally reconstructed *s > *θ and *ś > *s "in Proto-Ugric" are actually later developments. A paper supposed to be coming out soon!

No linguistic evidence so far, but a 1670 travelogue by de La Martinière appears to still report seemingly pre-Uralic populations along the Barents Sea coast — and even on Novaya Zemlya, traditionally thought to have been uninhabited (as reported by other early modern explorers) before some Tundra Nenets briefly settled there in mid 19th century. Apparently there's been no real archeological investigation, but also at least two stone labyrinths are known as signs that humans still must've at least visited there sometime in the past. [By current knowledge, labyrinths from Sweden and Finland have mostly been built in late medieval and early modern times though, so they don't suggest especial antiquity either. Could the ones on NZ in fact have been left behind by some of these historical Northwest European expeditions?]

Various discussion also on the development of Samoyedic. Nothing particularly all-new (maybe on Nganasan, more on that in a PhD thesis to appear later this year though), but a few main results include 1. clear recognition that there is no "North Samoyedic" group (as has been suspected for several years now), 2. confirmation that there is regardless a narrower Nenets–Enets group, and 3. some development of a model where all three of Nenets, Enets and Nganasan may have moved to the tundra zone independently from further down south (as is certainly the case for Northern Selkup, the most recent northern expansion of Samoyedic speakers).

[littlemizzlinguistics]

Sorry not sorry that I won’t shut up about this, but people who speak English from the global south aren’t always/often aren’t ESL speakers!!! Many of these people have been using/hearing English from birth or very early childhood, had their schooling in English, and for whom English is one of or even their only native language! Just because they have an accent that isn’t American or British does NOT mean that they’re second language speakers! Yes, they have different accents and YES, they use different expressions, but they’re still native speakers. The English language changes as it spreads to other parts of the world and makes contact with other languages in the new area. This means that new native English dialects pop up! and speakers use it as a language of business and commerce, especially with people whose other native language is different from theirs (in South Indian states, for example, Indian English is often used as a lengua franca with people from other states where the local languages are different, as many prefer it to Hindi).

If you want everyone to “speak English”, that means that even native speakers of English from other places are going to speak English differently than you, and looking at a brown or black person who speaks English differently, automatically assuming that it can’t be their native language, or treating them like their English is “worse” than yours without even asking if English is their native language is racist as fuck.

[linguisticalities]

[joshisanonymous]

LAVIS5 / SECOL91

I had a good time at LAVIS5 / SECOL91 this weekend, a linguistics conference about the southern United States. Louisiana was well represented. Here’s my contribution.

[liesandnights]

My version of flirting is looking at someone I find attractive multiple times and hoping they're braver than me.

[deloveusion]

forced eye contact will always make me weak as fuck. like grab my neck and force me to look at you while you fuck me

[drlinguo]

Zweite Folge des Podcasts zu „Register“

In dieser Folge geht es um Kreolsprachen.

„Kreolsprachen sind ein Wunder der Linguistik. Innerhalb weniger Generationen entstehen diese Sprachen dort, wo Menschen ohne gemeinsame Sprache miteinander kommunizieren müssen. Das Projekt A02 "Speaker's choices in a creole context: Bislama and Morisien" untersucht zwei Kreolsprachen aus Melanesien und Mauritius. Wir sprechen mit Manfred Krifka und Tonjes Veenstra.“

[howdoesone]

How does one explore the role of morphology in the evolution of a language?

Language is a dynamic system that is constantly evolving. One of the factors that contributes to the evolution of a language is its morphology. Morphology refers to the study of the internal structure of words and the rules that govern their formation. It encompasses the study of morphemes, which are the smallest units of meaning in a language. Understanding the role of morphology in language…

[linkeduniverse]

Dawn pt. 4

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[dukeofthomas]

Here's my controversial opinion; if you're trying to write Bruce as a non-abusive, good parent, you should also write him respecting his kids' privacy, boundaries, and not stalking&surveying them.

[inmyperfectworld]

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘺𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘥𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦/𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘴. ♥️

[squeakyducky]

A sneaky glance or shameless eye contact, whether at the dinner table or passing in the hallway—wherever you are, Lucifer’s gaze follows, locking onto yours. And when your eyes meet, he doesn’t look away. Instead, he smirks, staring at you with an intensity that feels as if he’s devouring you with his eyes, silently challenging you, waiting with anticipation to see what you’ll do next. Will you meet his boldness and escalate the moment? Or will you shyly look away? Either way, Lucifer makes sure to savor both reactions.

Based on this post lol

[thebananadiplomat]

Shhh they are on their first date

Also:

[labelledamesansraisondetre]

Leaving it all in the tags, baby