UsefulNotes / Linguistics

<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head lang="en"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/rss-feed.php?filter=newest_pages" /> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/rss-feed.php?filter=most_popular" /> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/rss-feed.php?filter=updated_content" /> <link rel="preload" href="/images/loading-graphic.png" as="image">  <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-XPPLXMRF6Z"></script> <script> var pbjs = pbjs || {}; // Used for Video players on Tropes var tropes_videos_commands = tropes_videos_commands || []; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-XPPLXMRF6Z'); window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []}; </script> <script> function object(objectId) { if (document.getElementById && document.getElementById(objectId)) { return document.getElementById(objectId); 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if (cookies.read('sticky-header') !== '') document.getElementById('mobile-toggle-stickyheader').classList.add('active'); if (cookies.read('highlight-links') !== '') document.getElementById('mobile-toggle-highlightlinks').classList.add('active'); } function is_mobile() { if(document.body.clientWidth && document.body.clientWidth<=768) return true; else return false; } </script> <script type="text/javascript"> var country_code_list = ['AT','BE','BG','CH','CY','CZ','DE','DK','EE','ES','FI','FR','GB','GF','GP','GR','HR','HU','IC','IE','IS','IT','LI','LT','LU','LV','MF','MQ','MT','NL','NO','PL','PT','RE','RO','SE','SI','SK','SX','YT']; var site_htl_settings = { "adx" : "yes", // yes/no if we should include adx on page "groupname" : "UsefulNotes", // track groupname in htl/gam "has_folders" : "no", // track folder pages in htl/gam "user_type" : "guest", // track member/guest in htl/gam "is_testing" : "no", // yes/no if in testing mode "split_testing" : "1", // 0/1, 0=control, 1=test, for a/b testing "send_reports" : "1", // true/false if reports should be sent for logging in DataBricks "report_url" : "https://analytics.tvtropes.org/analytics-data/tvtropes/", // Endpoint for logging (data stream) "logging_turned_on": "1", // true/false if console logging should be turned on "site_name" : "tvtropes", // Site name for display in logging "sticky_slot_names": ["tvtropes_dt_sticky", "tvtropes_m_sticky"], // Possible slot names for the sticky slot } </script> <script> // Create the ad project var ads_project = (function(sent_in_settings){ //default settings var setting_defaults = { "adx" : "yes", "groupname" : "", "has_folders" : "unknown", "user_type" : "guest", "is_testing" : "no", "split_testing" : "0", "send_reports" : "0", "logging_turned_on": "false", "site_name" : "site_name", "report_url" : "", "page_template" : "", "sticky_slot_names": [] } // Combine defaults with sent in parameters var project_settings = {...setting_defaults, ...sent_in_settings}; 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id="mobile-toggle-stickyheader" class="display-toggle sticky-header"></div></li> <li>Highlight Links <div id="mobile-toggle-highlightlinks" class="display-toggle highlight-links"></div></li> </ul> <script>updateMobilePrefs();</script> </div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <div id="homepage-introBox-mobile" class="mobile-on"> <a href="/"><img src="/images/logo-white-big.png" class="logo-small" /></a> <form class="search" action="/pmwiki/search_result.php" style="margin:10px -5px -6px -5px;"> <input type="text" name="q" class="search-box" placeholder="Search" value="" required> <input type="submit" class="submit-button" value="" /> <input type="hidden" name="search_type" value="article"> <input type="hidden" name="page_type" value="all"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="partner-pub-6610802604051523:amzitfn8e7v"> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:10"> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1"> <input name="siteurl" type="hidden" value=""> <input name="ref" type="hidden" value=""> <input name="ss" type="hidden" value=""> </form> </div> <script> // Get device type function get_device_type(){ var ua = navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase(); var device_type = ""; // This is usually "tablet", but for this case we are going to call it mobile if(/(ipad|tablet|(android(?!.*mobile))|(windows(?!.*phone)(.*touch))|kindle|playbook|silk|(puffin(?!.*(IP|AP|WP))))/.test(ua)) device_type = "mobile"; // This is mobile else if(/(mobi|ipod|phone|blackberry|opera mini|fennec|minimo|symbian|psp|nintendo ds|archos|skyfire|puffin|blazer|bolt|gobrowser|iris|maemo|semc|teashark|uzard)/.test(ua)) device_type = "mobile"; // Otherwise desktop else device_type = "desktop"; return device_type; } var show_modal_loaded = false; //// MOBILE MENU TOGGLE FUNCTIONS //// function show_modal(type, message, confirmation_url, call_back, fb_token, groupname, title, video_id) { console.log("showing modal " + type); const modalBox = document.getElementById('modal-box'); const childDivs = modalBox.querySelectorAll(':scope > div'); // Check if there are more than one child divs in the modal box, indicating a modal is already there if (childDivs.length > 1) { kill_modal(); } // Show the modal and the loading graphic modalBox.classList.add('active'); let alert = ''; if (typeof message === 'object' && message !== null) { Object.keys(message).forEach(function(key) { alert += '&' + key + '=' + encodeURIComponent(message[key]); }); } else { alert = '&message=' + encodeURIComponent(message); } // Construct the URL with parameters const url = '/design/parts/component-modalBox.php?window=' + type + alert + (confirmation_url ? '&curl=' + encodeURIComponent(confirmation_url) : "") + (fb_token ? '&fb_token=' + encodeURIComponent(fb_token) : "") + (groupname ? '&groupname=' + groupname : "") + (video_id ? '&video_id=' + encodeURIComponent(video_id) : ""); fetch(url) .then(response => response.text()) .then(html => { modalBox.innerHTML = html; // Find and execute scripts const scripts = modalBox.querySelectorAll('script'); scripts.forEach(script => { const newScript = document.createElement('script'); newScript.type = 'text/javascript'; if (script.src) { newScript.src = script.src; // Wait for Dropzone.js to load before adding the imguploader.js if(newScript.src.includes('/design/js/dropzone.js')) { newScript.onload = function() { // Now load the imguploader.js script const img_uploader_script = document.createElement('script'); img_uploader_script.type = 'text/javascript'; img_uploader_script.src = "/design/js/imguploader.js"; img_uploader_script.onload = function (){ myAwesomeDropzone = new Dropzone("#myAwesomeDropzone", { url: "/ajax/uploadImg.php" }); } document.body.appendChild(img_uploader_script); } } } else { newScript.textContent = script.textContent; } // Remove the old script and add the new one script.parentNode.removeChild(script); modalBox.appendChild(newScript); }); if(call_back) { call_back(); } }); if(show_modal_loaded == false){ // Kill modal if blackout is clicked modalBox.addEventListener('click', function(e) { if (e.target === e.currentTarget) { kill_modal(); } }); } show_modal_loaded = true; } // Modal kill function function kill_modal() { console.log("killing modal"); const modalBox = document.getElementById('modal-box'); modalBox.classList.remove('active'); // Replace the content directly with the new loading graphic modalBox.innerHTML = '<div class="modal-loading-graphic"></div>'; } // Modal "loading" mode, without killing function pause_modal() { var modal = document.querySelector('#modal-box > div.modal'); if(!modal) modal = document.querySelector('#modal-box'); modal.classList.add('hidden'); const modalBox = document.getElementById('modal-box'); modalBox.classList.add('paused'); const loadingGraphic = document.createElement('div'); loadingGraphic.className = 'modal-loading-graphic'; modalBox.appendChild(loadingGraphic); } function unpause_modal() { const modalBox = document.getElementById('modal-box'); modalBox.classList.remove('paused'); var modal = document.querySelector('#modal-box > div.modal'); if(!modal) modal = document.querySelector('#modal-box'); modal.classList.remove('hidden'); const loadingGraphic = document.querySelector('#modal-box > div.modal-loading-graphic'); if (loadingGraphic) { modalBox.removeChild(loadingGraphic); } } // COMPONENT: LOAD GRAPHIC function show_loader() { console.log("Displaying loading graphic"); kill_modal(); const modalBox = document.getElementById('modal-box'); modalBox.classList.add('active'); const loadingGraphic = document.createElement('div'); loadingGraphic.className = 'modal-loading-graphic'; modalBox.appendChild(loadingGraphic); } // TOGGLE NOTES function togglenote(id){ var ele=object(id); var state = ele.style.display; if(state=='none') ele.style.display='inline'; if(state=='inline')ele.style.display='none'; } // Toggle more menu function toggle_more_menu(position){ var more_menu = document.getElementById(position+"_more_list"); more_menu.classList.toggle("hidden_more_list"); more_menu.classList.toggle("display"); var menu_button = document.getElementById(position+"_more_button"); menu_button.classList.toggle("is-open"); } // scroll to top of page function scroll_to_top(duration) { var start = window.pageYOffset; var start_time = performance.now(); if ('requestAnimationFrame' in window === false) { window.scrollTo(0, 0); return; } function scroll() { var current_time = performance.now(); var elapsed_time = current_time - start_time; var progress = elapsed_time / duration; var ease_in_out_quad = progress < 0.5 ? 2 * progress * progress : -1 + (4 - 2 * progress) * progress; window.scrollTo(0, start * (1 - ease_in_out_quad)); if (elapsed_time < duration) { requestAnimationFrame(scroll); } else { window.scrollTo(0, 0); } } scroll(); } // FOLDER BUTTONS (unused) - declared to prevent console errors. function toggleAllFolders() {} function togglefolder(id) {} var device_type = get_device_type(); const mobile_menu_button = document.querySelector('.mobile-menu-toggle-button'); if (mobile_menu_button) { mobile_menu_button.addEventListener('click', function(e) { e.preventDefault(); const header = document.querySelector('header#main-header-bar'); if (header.classList.contains('mobile-menu-active')) { header.classList.remove('mobile-menu-active'); } else { header.classList.add('mobile-menu-active'); } }); } // tracking height for multiple folders to insert ads var global_pHeight = 0; // MODAL - FOLDER - SPOILER BUTTONS document.body.addEventListener('click', function(e) { // WATCH / FOLLOW BUTTONS const target = e.target.closest('.watch-button'); const loggedInElement = document.getElementById('logged_in'); const loggedIn = loggedInElement ? loggedInElement.value : null; //special code for the desktop-on-mobile-toggle cookie link if (e.target.closest('#desktop-on-mobile-toggle > a')) { e.preventDefault(); var body_class = "desktop-on-mobile"; var userPrefs = document.getElementById('user-prefs'); if (userPrefs.classList.contains(body_class)) { cookies.remove(body_class); } else { cookies.create(body_class, 'true', 300, '/'); } location.reload(); } // Display toggle buttons for user preferences if (e.target.closest('.display-toggles > li')) { var toggle = e.target; if(toggle.tagName.toLowerCase() === 'li') toggle = toggle.children[0]; var body_class = ''; var pref = ''; var val = 0; // SIDEBAR AND MOBILE MENU OPTIONS if (toggle.classList.contains('wide-load')) { body_class = "wide-load"; } else if (toggle.classList.contains('sticky-header')) { body_class = "sticky-header"; } else if (toggle.classList.contains('night-vision')) { body_class = "night-vision"; } else if (toggle.classList.contains('show-spoilers')) { body_class = "show-spoilers"; } else if (toggle.classList.contains('tvtropes-editor-on')) { body_class = "tvtropes-editor-on"; } // PROFILE PAGE OPTIONS else if (toggle.classList.contains('folders-open')) { body_class = "folders-open"; } else if (toggle.classList.contains('wysiwyg-toggle')) { body_class = "wysiwyg-toggle"; } else if (toggle.classList.contains('mono-font')) { body_class = "mono-font"; } else if (toggle.classList.contains('lefthand-sidebar')) { body_class = "lefthand-sidebar"; } else if (toggle.classList.contains('highlight-links')) { body_class = "highlight-links"; } else if (toggle.classList.contains('forum-gingerbread')) { body_class = "forum-gingerbread"; } else if (toggle.classList.contains('shared-avatars')) { body_class = "shared-avatars"; pref = 'accept_share'; val = toggle.classList.contains('active') ? 0 : 1; } else if (toggle.classList.contains('new-search')) { body_class = "new-search"; pref = 'new_search'; val = toggle.classList.contains('active') ? 0 : 1; } else if (toggle.classList.contains('stop-auto-play-video')) { body_class = "stop-auto-play-video"; pref = 'stop_auto_play_video'; val = toggle.classList.contains('active') ? 0 : 1; } else if (toggle.classList.contains('notification-pm')) { body_class = 'notification-pm'; pref = 'toggle_notification_pm'; val = toggle.classList.contains('active') ? 0 : 1; } else if (toggle.classList.contains('notification-video')) { body_class = 'notification-video'; pref = 'toggle_notification_video'; val = toggle.classList.contains('active') ? 0 : 1; } else if (toggle.classList.contains('notification-query')) { body_class = 'notification-query'; pref = 'toggle_notification_query'; val = toggle.classList.contains('active') ? 0 : 1; } if (pref === 'accept_share' || pref === 'new_search' || pref === 'stop_auto_play_video' || pref === 'toggle_notification_query' || pref === 'toggle_notification_pm' || pref === 'toggle_notification_video') { if (pref === 'new_search' && document.querySelector('#new-search-toggle')) show_loader(); fetch('/ajax/toggle_user_prefs.php', { method: 'POST', headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded', }, body: 'pref=' + encodeURIComponent(pref) + '&value=' + encodeURIComponent(val) }) .then(response => response.json()) .then(json => { if (pref === 'new_search') { const newSearchToggle = document.querySelector('#new-search-toggle'); const searchInput = document.getElementById('srch-term').value; const pageType = document.getElementsByName('page_type')[0].value; if (newSearchToggle && newSearchToggle.classList.contains('active')) { kill_modal(); window.location.href = '/pmwiki/elastic_search_result.php?new_search=true&q=' + encodeURIComponent(searchInput) + '&page_type=' + encodeURIComponent(pageType); } else if (newSearchToggle) { kill_modal(); window.location.href = '/pmwiki/search_result.php?new_search=false&q=' + encodeURIComponent(searchInput); } } }) .catch(error => { console.error('Error:', error); }); document.querySelector('form.search').addEventListener('submit', function(e) { if (cookies.read('new-search') === 'true') { e.preventDefault(); this.setAttribute('action', "/pmwiki/elastic_search_result.php"); } }); } // Toggle 'active' class based on body_class var displayToggles = document.querySelectorAll('.display-toggle.' + body_class); displayToggles.forEach(item_to_toggle => { item_to_toggle.classList.toggle('active'); }); var userPrefs = document.getElementById('user-prefs'); userPrefs.classList.toggle(body_class); console.log('BODY CLASS:',body_class); if (userPrefs.classList.contains(body_class)) { cookies.create(body_class, 'true', 300, '/'); } else { cookies.remove(body_class); // Specific logic for 'show-spoilers' class if (body_class === "show-spoilers") { document.querySelectorAll('.spoiler').forEach(spoiler => { spoiler.classList.remove('off'); }); } } } if (target && loggedIn !== null) { e.preventDefault(); if (loggedIn === 'true') { target.classList.add('processing'); } // Article if (target.getAttribute('data-watch-info')) { var data = target.dataset.watchInfo.split(','); if (!data.length) return; var addOrDrop = target.classList.contains('watching') || target.parentElement.classList.contains('watching') ? 'drop' : 'add'; handleWatchItem(addOrDrop, data[0], data[1], target); // Discussion page } else if (target.getAttribute('data-watch-discussion-info')) { var data = target.dataset.watchDiscussionInfo.split(','); if (!data.length) return; var addOrDrop = target.classList.contains('watching') || target.parentElement.classList.contains('watching') ? 'drop' : 'add'; var pageType = 'Discussion'; handleWatchItem(addOrDrop, data[0], data[1], target, pageType); // Forum thread } else if (target.getAttribute('data-watch-thread-id')) { var threadId = target.getAttribute('data-watch-thread-id'); var url = target.classList.contains('watching') || target.parentElement.classList.contains('watching') ? '/pmwiki/thread_watch_drop.php?thread=' : '/pmwiki/setthreadwatch.php?d_id='; url += threadId; handleWatchThread(url, target); } } // Check for kill modal button click if (e.target.classList.contains('kill-modal-button')) { e.preventDefault(); kill_modal(); } // Check for data-click-toggle without data-click-toggle-target const targetWithoutToggleTarget = e.target.closest('*[data-click-toggle]:not([data-click-toggle-target])'); if (targetWithoutToggleTarget) { e.preventDefault(); const toggleClass = targetWithoutToggleTarget.getAttribute('data-click-toggle'); targetWithoutToggleTarget.classList.toggle(toggleClass); } // Check for data-click-toggle with data-click-toggle-target const targetWithToggleTarget = e.target.closest('*[data-click-toggle][data-click-toggle-target]'); if (targetWithToggleTarget) { e.preventDefault(); // Check if the target contains fetch_articles in the onclick attribute const hasFetchArticles = targetWithToggleTarget.getAttribute('onclick') && targetWithToggleTarget.getAttribute('onclick').includes('fetch_articles'); // If fetch_articles is not in the onclick attribute, stop propagation if (!hasFetchArticles) { e.stopPropagation(); } const toggleTarget = targetWithToggleTarget.getAttribute('data-click-toggle-target'); const toggleClass = targetWithToggleTarget.getAttribute('data-click-toggle'); if (toggleTarget.indexOf(',') > -1) { const targets = toggleTarget.split(","); targets.forEach(t => { document.querySelectorAll('#' + t).forEach(el => { el.classList.toggle(toggleClass); }); }); } else { document.querySelectorAll('#' + toggleTarget).forEach(el => { el.classList.toggle(toggleClass); }); } } // initiate all modals const modalTarget = e.target.closest('*[data-modal-target]'); if(modalTarget) { if (!modalTarget) { return; // Skip, if no target found with the specified attribute } // Get modal details let modal = modalTarget.getAttribute('data-modal-target'); let msg = modalTarget.getAttribute('data-modal-vars') ? modalTarget.getAttribute('data-modal-vars') : modalTarget.getAttribute('data-modal-confirmation-message'); let url = modalTarget.getAttribute('data-modal-confirmation-url'); // convert to json if possible try { var obj = JSON.parse(msg); if (obj && typeof obj === "object") { msg = obj; } } catch (e) { } // Skip modal and go straight to the link if (modal === "allow") return; // Don't allow link since we are showing a modal instead e.preventDefault(); // Add support for alert tags if (modal.substring(0, 6) === "alert-") { // Message array const msgArr = { "alert-banned": "Your permissions for this area have been suspended. 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var top_main_list_cln = top_main_list.cloneNode(true); // Clone the more list var top_more_list = document.getElementById('top_more_list'); var top_more_list_cln = top_more_list.cloneNode(true); top_more_list_cln.querySelectorAll("li").forEach(function(child){ top_main_list_cln.appendChild(child); }); document.getElementById("mobile-actions-bar").appendChild(top_main_list_cln); } </script> <nav class="body-options" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/SiteNavigationElement"> <ul class="subpage-links"> <li> <a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/Linguistics" class="subpage-link curr-subpage" title="The UsefulNotes page"> <span class="wrapper">UsefulNotes</span></a> </li> <li class="create-subpage dropdown"> <a href="javascript:void(0);" class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" role="button" aria-expanded="false"> <span class="wrapper">Create Subpage <i class="fa fa-plus-circle"></i></span> </a> <select onchange="this.options[this.selectedIndex].value && (window.location = this.options[this.selectedIndex].value);"> <option value="">- Create New -</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Analysis/Linguistics?action=edit">Analysis</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Archive/Linguistics?action=edit">Archive</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Awesome/Linguistics?action=edit">Awesome</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/Linguistics?action=edit">Characters</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/DerivativeWorks/Linguistics?action=edit">DerivativeWork…</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanWorks/Linguistics?action=edit">FanWorks</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanficRecs/Linguistics?action=edit">FanficRecs</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fridge/Linguistics?action=edit">Fridge</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Funny/Linguistics?action=edit">Funny</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Haiku/Linguistics?action=edit">Haiku</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Headscratchers/Linguistics?action=edit">Headscratchers</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Heartwarming/Linguistics?action=edit">Heartwarming</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ImageLinks/Linguistics?action=edit">ImageLinks</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ImageSource/Linguistics?action=edit">ImageSource</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Laconic/Linguistics?action=edit">Laconic</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/MediaNotes/Linguistics?action=edit">MediaNotes</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Newsletter/Linguistics?action=edit">Newsletter</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Linguistics?action=edit">NightmareFuel</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/PlayingWith/Linguistics?action=edit">PlayingWith</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/QuoteSource/Linguistics?action=edit">QuoteSource</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Quotes/Linguistics?action=edit">Quotes</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/Linguistics?action=edit">Recap</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ReferencedBy/Linguistics?action=edit">ReferencedBy</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Shocking/Linguistics?action=edit">Shocking</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TearJerker/Linguistics?action=edit">TearJerker</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Timeline/Linguistics?action=edit">Timeline</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Trivia/Linguistics?action=edit">Trivia</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WMG/Linguistics?action=edit">WMG</option> <option value="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/Linguistics?action=edit">YMMV</option> </select> </li> </ul> </nav> <div id="main-article" class="article-content retro-folders"> <p>Linguistics is one of the less prominent fields of study, probably because it doesn't sound as exciting as being an <a class='twikilink' href='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AdventurerArchaeologist' title='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AdventurerArchaeologist'>Adventurer Archaeologist</a> and has no chance of rogue robots and mutants like most <a class='twikilink' href='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MadScientist' title='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MadScientist'>mad sciences</a>. Many people probably aren't even aware that formal studies of language exists (beyond studying a specific language), or that you need to study it - aren't people naturally skilled at language? </p><p>Well, not when it comes to <a class='twikilink' href='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ForScience' title='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ForScience'>SCIENCE</a>! Just as the ability to drive to work doesn't make you a car mechanic, the ability to speak a language doesn't mean you have any idea what's going on under the hood. You need to devote quite some time and brain power to learn terms like 'unvoiced dental fricative' or 'close-mid front vowel', what an active-stative language is, how to tell an Exceptional Case Marking verb from an Object Control verb, or any of the myriad of other formal distinctions and categories that describe languages and their various aspects. </p><p><h1> <a class='twikilink' href='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NeverHeardThatOneBefore' title='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NeverHeardThatOneBefore'>The Cunning Linguist</a></h1> </p><p><h2> What does a linguist do?</h2> Basically, a linguist studies the structure of languages and whatever 'meaning' means, and then possibly applies this knowledge in some way. In short, a linguist performs the scientific study of language. Linguistics has a number of sub-disciplines, such as historical linguistics (in which you study the evolution of languages, compare related languages and make deductions as to their mother language), descriptive linguistics (in which you describe the grammar, syntax and phonology of existing languages and document them), theoretical linguistics (in which you invent and use abstract tools to describe how language as a whole works), or applied linguistics (in which you, for example, help move computer-assisted translations beyond the <a class='twikilink' href='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlindIdiotTranslation' title='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlindIdiotTranslation'>"Blind Idiot" Translation</a> or try to make cell phones into better conversationalists). </p><p>Linguists who focus on describing living languages often are a bit closer to the <a class='twikilink' href='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AdventurerArchaeologist' title='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AdventurerArchaeologist'>Adventurer Archaeologist</a> archetype than one might think - areas with many undocumented languages include the Amazon rainforest and New Guinea. Linguists working there often combine language description with ethnography, describing both a language and the population of its native speakers. </p><p><h2> What doesn't a linguist do?</h2> A linguist doesn't necessarily speak <a class='twikilink' href='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Omniglot' title='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Omniglot'>very many languages</a> - they will usually know more languages than your average Westerner, but it's likely they will know the basics for many languages, but speak very few of them fluently. They may, however, know odd combinations, depending on their subfield. Basque and Quechua, maybe, with a cursory knowledge of the commonalities of the indigenous languages of Australia. But don't expect them to be available as your local tour guide. </p><p>A linguist probably also won't tell you how to use your language 'correctly' - there is a distinction between descriptive and prescriptive linguistics, but the former is by far the prevailing attitude today. Sure, a linguist may have their own private pet peeves when it comes to 'proper' speech, but if you use 'ain't' or singular they, they will only note that hey, these terms are used in this and that context, but they wouldn't label this usage as wrong. To most linguists, that would be like an astronomer concluding that some planets were orbiting wrong. </p><p><h1> Languages</h1> </p><p><h2> What is a language?</h2> The <a class='twikilink' href='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StockQuotes' title='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StockQuotes'>stock quote</a> used to answer this question is "A language is a dialect with an army and a navy" - and there is definitely truth in that quote. There has been endless discussion as to how much difference is needed to turn two dialects into two languages - and it's sometimes a strongly politicized question, as some governments want to define a distinct national language for their country in order to distinguish themselves from a neighboring country. Or, in other cases, promote national unity by declaring a number of non-mutually comprehensible languages to be one. Sometimes, this can lead to <a class='twikilink' href='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FlameWar' title='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FlameWar'>flame wars</a>, while in other cases, the situation may be much more relaxed. </p><p>A few examples of this: <ul ><li> The <a class='twikilink' href='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/ChineseLanguage' title='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/ChineseLanguage'>Chinese Language</a> is often promoted as being, indeed, one language, with varieties such as Mandarin and Cantonese being 'dialects'. In fact, most of these dialects are <em>not</em> mutually comprehensible - at all. While they do form one branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family, they aren't related more closely than, say, English and German. </li><li> Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian is spoken in the Balkans. Due to modern <a class='twikilink' href='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BalkanizeMe' title='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BalkanizeMe'>Balkanization</a> of the region, almost every country in the region has given the language a different name. </li><li> Swedish/Norwegian/Danish originated as East Norse, which developed into Swedish and Danish, and West Norse, which developed into Norwegian, Icelandic and Faroese. Due to centuries of Danish rule, however, Standard Norwegian has moved to be closer to Danish than Swedish, and it is relatively easy for the Scandinavians to read each others' language. </li></ul></p><p>Because of the difficulty of drawing a boundary between closely related languages (drawing the border between French and German is easy, drawing the border between where Dutch dialects end and German dialects begin isn't), the term <em>dialect continuum</em> exists. This applies to a region where each village can understand their neighbors perfectly well, but when you compare the extremes, people may no longer be able to do so. Most places lie in one of these. </p><p><h2> Varieties of a Language</h2> Nevertheless, it's useful to be able to find and name varieties of a language (whatever a language is). The most common term is the above-mentioned <em>dialect</em>, which is any variety spoken by a specific speech community. This may be social or regional. But those cunning linguists have come up with more variation: <ul ><li> Idiolect - this is how <em>you</em> speak. All the peculiarities of your speech, and yes, you have those. </li><li> Sociolect - a variety specific to a social group, whether it be an age group or a socioeconomic group or an ethnic group. <ul ><li> Ethnolect - a variety of a language spoken by an ethnic group. African American Vernacular is one example of these. </li></ul></li></ul></p><p>There are also accents - but unlike dialects, they only refer to varieties in pronunciation. And everyone has an accent. Even you. For Americans, a Midwestern accent used by newscasters might sound neutral. Brits will likely disagree, while Americans will disagree with Brits that the Received pronunciation used by BBC newsreaders of old sounds neutral. </p><p><h2> Early Childhood Language Acquisition, or the Million Dollar Question of Linguistics</h2> On a totally objective scale, the single most important thing that you could do in your life is learning to talk and understand language, something most children have accomplished before they've gained complete mastery of their bladder. </p><p>The origin of language has fascinated mankind from the dawn of civilization. For most of antiquity, people believed that language was an innate God-given power. They believed that if you take a bunch of babies, lock them into a room the second after they are born, and only have deaf-mutes take care of them, they will revert to speaking the "tongue of Eden", the original language that God uploaded Adam and Eve with. Wild stories flew around Europe (they actually did this experiment for real a couple of times in the Middle Ages—obviously, don't try this at home), about children who spontaneously started talking in Biblical Hebrew, Babylonian, Egyptian, or Greek. Of course this was all utter bull, in reality, two broad outcomes can result. <ul ><li> Those who grow up in the company of other children in the same situation will develop their own language to communicate, indicating that on some deep level, we have an innate understanding of grammar, words, and logic hardwired into our brain. </li><li> Those who grew up <em>alone</em> with minimal human contact (like <a class='urllink' href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_%28feral_child%29'>Genie<img src="https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/external_link.gif" height="12" width="12" style="border:none;" /></a>); however, tend to go completely mute, and if they are rescued after the age of around puberty, they will never be able to fully master language for the rest of their lives, indicating that there is a <em>critical period</em> in the brain for language development, and that while we may have the <em>ability</em> to use language, we need to have the specifics <em>taught</em> to us by humans. </li></ul></p><p>There are a few theories floating around about about language acquisition, which tend to come and go with a rather high turnover rate. We do know quite a bit about the <em>process</em> of learning, however. Here are some basic facts: <ul ><li> Language acquisition starts quite a bit before birth. A third-trimester fetus can hear the voice of the mother in the womb. A newly-born baby whose mother is monolingual German can distinguish between spoken German and, say, spoken Chinese. </li><li> After birth, the baby almost always starts babbling ("the goo-goo-gaa-gaa phase" <em>6-12 months</em>), where they run through almost every sound, tone, pitch, and timbre that a human can produce. But after a few months, the inventory of sounds shrinks to only those syllables that are found in the language of the parents. </li><li> Following comes The Holophrastic Stage, where the child can speak in one word sentences. Parents love this one as the baby will say "mama, dada" over and over, and baby sitters hate this one as it is impossible to guess what in hell the kid means most of the time. </li><li> Then comes the Telegraph Stage, where the child starts learning vocabulary at supersonic speeds, averaging 50 words <em>per day</em> at 2-years-old. The child can speak in 1-3 word sentence fragments like "me see doggie, doggie gone, big doggie". The child has figured out object/subject relation, and the distinction between nouns and verbs and some adjectives, but will still happily mix things up. The child is intensely curious and <em>must</em> have a name for everything (the constant "daddy, what dat, what dat?" has probably driven a few parents insane over the years). </li><li> Next we have the Combining Stage, where the child figures out word-order, affixes, and those auxiliary words like the possessive 's, negatives, where to use "the", and so on. At this point, kids start to understand more language-specific grammatical rules, and we see kids turning into little grammar nazis. Once the child learns a rule of grammar, they will insist on applying it to everything, exceptions be damned (a experiment to parents of 1.5-year-olds: teach your child that adding "-ed" turns a verb into the past tense, wait a few days for him to practice, then ask him what is the past tense for "go", and your child will of course say "goed"; you will correct them with the correct answer, and they will not believe you, and you two will so bicker for the next hour. And it will be a long while before they learn the exceptions. Fun fact: this will happen even if the child has used "went" before. After all, children first learn every word they can make out, and only then learn the rules.) </li><li> Finally, we hit the Recursive Stage (2-3.5 years), the children learns to make complex sentences, and Language acquisition can now be considered a success. Of course, the child will go on to learn the finer points of language and human interaction over the course of their entire life. </li></ul></p><p><h1> Language Controversies, Myths, and Misconceptions</h1> </p><p><h2> Language Equals Thought</h2> This concept is common enough that we have a <a class='twikilink' href='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LanguageEqualsThought' title='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LanguageEqualsThought'>trope</a> of that name. In linguistics, it's known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, and while the strong version (a language completely determines thought) is largely discredited, the weak versions ("language <em>influences</em> thought" and "language <em>reflects</em> thought"), <em>are</em> generally accepted, with quite a bit of supporting evidence. </p><p>For instance, people have greater difficulty distinguishing between colors that their language does not recognize as fundamentally different: Survival-level languages such as young pidgin languages or those of hunter-gatherer societies usually have words for at most "warm color", "cool color", and "grey-brown". When asked to group color samples, native speakers of such languages consider it <em>fundamentally obvious</em> that green and blue are just hues of the same color- anything more is splitting hairs. Children who have not yet been taught their colors will often do the same. </p><p>Language does not <em>dictate</em> thought- their eyes can see a difference, and those among them used to working with color, such as artisans and weavers, can divide the spectrum in more precise ways when asked. For the most part, however, the difference between the subdivisions "green" and "blue" is ignored even by those aware that there <em>is</em> a difference, <em>because there is no word-trope defining that difference as important</em>. For those struggling to relate, a modern example: Russian artists have a slight advantage, having been taught from an early age that <em>sinii</em> (dark blue) and <em>goluboi</em> (light blue) are obviously different. Meanwhile, many native speakers of other Latin-based languages have to slowly retrain their brains to acknowledge the radical difference between blue and cyan before they can mix paints properly. Kind of like English using "pink" instead of <a class='twikilink' href='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WebAnimation/RedVsBlue' title='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'>"light-ish red"</a>. </p><p><h2> Language X is Weird</h2> There are uncountable versions of the 'Language X is so <em>weird</em>' notion - take, for example, the <a class='twikilink' href='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RealLife' title='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RealLife'>Real Life</a> section we used to have in <a class='twikilink' href='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StarfishLanguage' title='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StarfishLanguage'>Starfish Language</a>. The trope is defined as "an alien language completely unlike anything a human can perceive", which is why we had to axe it. What's important to remember is that in this aspect, we <em>are</em> influenced by our native language— the sounds we use, the grammar and syntax we're most familiar with, will of course seem the most natural to us. But to speakers of these 'weird' languages, English will just seem as odd and peculiar— what, you can't just add a suffix to a verb to tell that you have personal knowledge of something, and didn't just learn about it via hearsay? They must be crazy! </p><p>See <a class='twikilink' href='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/GrammarInForeignLanguages' title='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/GrammarInForeignLanguages'>this page</a> for a more in-depth look into the grammar of various foreign languages. </p><p><h3> Vocabulary Myths</h3> One of the most common anecdotes told about languages concern their vocabulary— people are obsessed with words, as if they were everything there is to a language. (To oversimplify it, words are considered a relatively superficial feature— the more important parts when studying a language are how it uses words, how it can combine them, how information is expressed.) These come either as 'Language X has Y words for Z', or 'Language X has no word for Z', usually with an <a class='twikilink' href='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UnfortunateImplications' title='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UnfortunateImplications'>undercurrent</a> of 'so they obviously don't know what it is, and can't possibly understand it'. </p><p>There is a grain of truth in many of these myths— but they are largely exaggerated and/or presented in a misleading way. </p><p><ul ><li> <strong>Words for No and Yes</strong>: It is true that some languages do not have words that would directly translate each and every instance of <em>no</em> and <em>yes</em>. But that does not mean that assent or dissent can't be expressed in these languages— they simply use other methods: <ul ><li> Irish repeats the verb of the question, and negates it if needed ('Do you want apples?' 'Want/Don't want.') </li><li> Finnish has a word for <em>yes</em>, and a negative verb (although one of its inflected forms, 'ei', can serve as a general <em>no</em>). </li><li> Conversely, English lacks a single word for the concept expressed by French 'si' or German 'doch' which is an affirmative answer to a negative question. For example, if you're asked "Don't you like pie?" in English, you can be easily misunderstood— both "yes" and "no" could either confirm the assumption or refute it (Yes you don't like pie, or yes you do like pie?). 'Si', on the other hand, would invariably mean <strong>"you're wrong; I *DO* like pie!"</strong> In that sense, then, "si" is affirmative in that it debunks the negative statement of assumed fact ("you don't like pie") present in the question. </li></ul></p><p></li><li> <strong>Eskimo words for snow</strong>: A perennial favorite, and very, very wrong. Partly, this comes from the definition of what a word is— the languages in question can form long compound words, which are the equivalent of whole phrases in other languages. So in this sense, they don't only have 2 or 20 or 200 words for snow, but an infinite variety— but this applies to <em>each and every word</em>. Hence, some linguists would look at the different <em>roots</em> (the 'words' upon which these compounds are built) related to snow. Turns out, most 'Eskimo' languages have two or three roots. (Generally one for falling snow and one for snow on the ground... and remember, English distinguishes between rain, a puddle, a river, a lake— all of which are just forms of water, after all. Those crazy Earthlings, they have dozens of words for water!) But even if they do have a lot of words for snow, doesn't that mean that typesetters must see the world very differently because they have more words for fonts? When you apply the "Eskimo words for snow" logic to less exotic things, it doesn't seem quite such a racy concept. However: given that much language loss has occurred because of colonialism, it is possible that this trope is not as incorrect as at first glance, <a class='urllink' href='https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/inuit-unikkaangit-kuniluusie-nutarak-1.6330149'>as a recording from the CBC archives has revealed<img src="https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/external_link.gif" height="12" width="12" style="border:none;" /></a>. </p><p></li><li> <strong>No word for Z</strong>: This is one of the language myths that may actually be true. If you have never seen an airplane, you will not have a word for it. Where this myth goes wrong is when it comes with a notion of 'and these silly savages could never ever express this, and thus can't possibly ever understand it'. The thing is, every language can describe pretty much anything - if you encounter an airplane for the first time and describe it as 'big metal bird', then tada, you have a way to describe it. If the descriptive phrase 'big metal bird' becomes the standard thing to call an airplane in your speech community, then over time it will transform into a single lexical unit which should then be translated as 'airplane' instead of 'big metal bird' (for example, if you break down the morphemes of the Chinese word for "train", it literally means "fire wagon"). Another option many languages use is to use an existing word in a metaphorical manner for a new concept - 'to broadcast' originally meant <em>to scatter seeds</em> before it became applied to transmitting messages. </p><p></li><li> <strong>"Peruse" <em>really</em> means "read closely"</strong>: The <a class='urllink' href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymological_fallacy'>etymological fallacy<img src="https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/external_link.gif" height="12" width="12" style="border:none;" /></a> (or in Troper, <a class='twikilink' href='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FromTheLatinIntroDucere' title='/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FromTheLatinIntroDucere'>From the Latin "Intro Ducere"</a>). Words mean what they mean, not what they meant (unless it was written/said back when it did mean the other thing). Saying that a word used almost universally to mean one thing <em>actually</em> means something else is just silly. Closely related to <em>X isn't a word</em>, which is often equally dumb. All of this is mostly the fault of English teachers going around telling people that dictionaries are authorities instead of descriptive references. Of course, most linguists agree that almost everything in dictionaries is wrong anyway. That said, none of this is to say that there isn't some practical utility in insisting on some distinctions, but it's necessary to recognize that these distinctions are inherently artificial social constructs. (Just because something is a social construct doesn't mean it isn't real—and if you don't believe that, why don't you just hand me those meaningless pieces of paper in your wallet?) </li></ul></p></div> <div class="section-links" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/SiteNavigationElement"> <div class="titles"> <div><h3 class="text-center text-uppercase">Previous</h3></div> <div><h3 class="text-center text-uppercase">Index</h3></div> <div><h3 class="text-center text-uppercase">Next</h3></div> </div> <div class="links"> <ul> <li> <a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/HistoricalDomainCharacter">Historical Domain Character</a> </li> <li> <a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UsefulNotes">Useful Notes</a> </li> <li> <a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/CommonlyMisusedWords">Commonly Misused Words</a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="proper_player_insert_div" class="outer_ads_by_salon_wrapper"> </div> <script> if( document.getElementById('user-prefs').classList.contains('folders-open') ){ console.log('open all folders'); var elements = document.querySelectorAll('.folderlabel, .toggle-all-folders-button'); elements.forEach((element) => { element.classList.add('is-open'); }); } </script> <script> function insert_ad(adCount, paragraph, adName, folder = 0){ var ad_count = adCount < 10 ? 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fa-angle-down"></i></a> <ul id="second_main_dropdown" class="padded font-s" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/SiteNavigationElement"> <li class="second_dropdown"><a href="#test" data-click-toggle="active">Tools</a> <ul> <li><a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Administrivia/IttyBittyWikiTools">Wiki Tools</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/cutlist.php" data-modal-target="login" rel="nofollow">Cut List</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/image-fixer.php" data-modal-target="login" rel="nofollow">Image Fixer</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/changes.php">New Edits</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/articles_new.php">New Articles</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/recent_edit_reasons.php">Edit Reasons</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/isolated_pages.php">Isolated Pages</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/launches.php" data-modal-target="login" rel="nofollow">Launches</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/img_list.php" data-modal-target="login" rel="nofollow">Images List</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/recent_videos.php">Recent Videos</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/crown_activity.php">Crowner Activity</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/no_types.php">Un-typed Pages</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/page_type_audit.php">Recent Page Type Changes</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="second_dropdown"><a href="javascript:void(0);" data-click-toggle="active">Templates</a> <ul> <li><a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TropeEntryTemplate">Trope Entry</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ProgramEntryTemplate">Works</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Administrivia/CharacterSheetTemplate">Character Sheet</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Administrivia/PlayingWithWikiTemplate">Playing With</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanficRecs/TemplatePageForNewFandomRecommendations">Fandom</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="second_dropdown"><a href="javascript:void(0);" data-click-toggle="active">Tips</a> <ul> <li><a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Administrivia/CreatingNewRedirects">Creating New Redirects</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Administrivia/Crosswicking">Cross Wicking</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Administrivia/TipsForEditing">Tips for Editing</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Administrivia/TextFormattingRules">Text Formatting Rules</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Administrivia/TVTropesGlossary">Glossary</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Administrivia/EditReasonsAndWhyYouShouldUseThem">Edit Reasons</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Administrivia/HandlingSpoilers">Handling Spoilers</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Administrivia/WordCruft">Word Cruft</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Administrivia">Administrivia</a></li> <li><a href="/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FAQ">FAQ</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="second_dropdown"><a href="/pmwiki/changelog.php">Changelog</a></li> <li class="second_dropdown"><a href="/pmwiki/query.php?type=bug">Report Bug</a></li> <li class="second_dropdown"><a href="/pmwiki/conversations.php?topic=renames">Trope Repair Shop</a></li> <li class="second_dropdown"><a href="/pmwiki/conversations.php?topic=images">Image Pickin'</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="asteri-sidebar" style="display:none"> <p style="margin-top: 20px;" class="sidebar-item-title" data-title="Advertisement">Advertisement:</p> <div id="asteri_cont"></div> </div> <script> //asteri enabled if((tvtropes_config.asteri_stream_enabled || tvtropes_config.get_asteri_stream == 'live')) { //aster stream currently live and not a logged-in troper if(!tvtropes_config.is_logged_in && cookies.read('asteri_event_active') != '') { document.getElementById('asteri-sidebar').style.display=""; } } </script> </div> <script> if(!is_mobile()) { //don't insert if content is too small on page var tropes_insert_side_ad=true; if(document.getElementById("main-article") && document.getElementById("main-article").clientHeight) { var sidebar_height=document.getElementById("main-article").clientHeight; 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