Linguistics

20 September 2015

ðə ˈspɛlɪŋ ɒv ˈɪŋglɪʃ

ˈɛvə ˈwʌndəd waɪ ˈɪŋglɪʃ ˈspɛlɪŋ ɪz səʊ keɪˈɒtɪk? wɛl, wiː hæv tuː θæŋk ðə ˈnɔːmənz fɔː ðæt. wɛn ðeɪ ɪnˈveɪdɪd ˈɪŋglənd ɪn 1066, ðeɪ rʊɪnd ˈɛvrɪθɪŋ. bɪˈfɔː ðæt ɪnˈveɪʒən, ˈɪŋglɪʃ wɒz ə ʤɜːˈmænɪk ˈlæŋgwɪʤ, wɪʧ keɪm tuː ˈɪŋglənd wɪð ði ˈæŋglz, ˈsæksnz, ʤuːts ænd ˈfrɪzɪənz ɪn 449. ɪt wɒz ˈvɛri kləʊs tuː ðə ˈlæŋgwɪʤɪz ˈspəʊkən ɪn wɒt ɪz naʊ ˈʤɜːməni. ɪt wɒz ˈɔːlsəʊ ˈriːznəbli kləʊs tuː ðə ˈlæŋgwɪʤɪz ˈspəʊkən ɪn ˌskændɪˈneɪvɪə. səʊ ˈækʧʊəli, ði ˈɜːlɪɪst ˈlæŋgwɪʤ ˈkɒntækt ˈɪŋglɪʃ ɪksˈpɪərɪənst wɒz wɪð ðə ˌskændɪˈneɪvjənz, huː ɪnˈveɪdɪd ˈnɔːðən ˈɪŋglənd ɪn ði eɪt, naɪnθ ænd tɛnθ ˈsɛnʧʊri. bʌt sɪns ðiːz ˈlæŋgwɪʤɪz wɜː ˈvɛri […]

30 July 2013

Two and Forty: How German numerals screw with my head

The German language has a very odd way of expressing numerals higher than 20. Probably not as odd as French, but definitely odd enough to screw up my brain for the rest of my life. In German, we call the number 42 “zweiundvierzig”, which literally means “two and forty”, whereas English uses the much more logical combination “forty-two”. However, if you look at the numerals between 11 and 19, you might notice that English and German use the same system: “thirteen” and “dreizehn” are identical – a result of tradition. But why exactly do Germans not use “vierzig-zwei”? This is […]

17 January 2013

How the Scandinavians shaped England

Exam time is coming up, that means it’s time for another verbose blog entry about the history of English stuff – in this case, the vikings (yes!). English, though rooted in the West Germanic family, has had significant influence from the Old Norse language (part of the North Germanic language family). So much, that a Norwegian professor even claims that English is a Scandinavian language. That’s of course ridiculous, you could just as well claim that English is a Romance language because of its huge amount of French influence. But the language is still very Germanic at heart. As Bill […]

14 December 2012

Excursions into the Chinese language

As a fresh linguist with two and a half semesters of experience, my linguistic curiosity makes me do wild and wacky things. This semester I dumped my Swedish course out of boredom (no offense Swedish, but you’re just not challenging anymore) and signed up for Chinese instead. In my linguistics courses I had heard so much about this language, which is always named as a prime example for analytic languages. But obviously most of my lecturers don’t seem to have ever taken a Chinese course. And you are probably still wondering what an analytic language is, am I right? Here’s […]