Tag: Dialect

Where did Welsh and Irish words come from?

In this post, I look at words inherited by both Welsh and Irish from: Proto-Indo-European (PIE), the presumed ancestor of the Indo-European family of languages (52 words). Proto-Celic, the presumed ancestor of the Celtic languages (8 words). The information comes from the IE-COR database—a database of cognates for 170 words (lexemes) in 109 modern and…… Continue reading Where did Welsh and Irish words come from?

This typo was just a typo, not a result of a different variety of English

I have written before about the distinction between (a) different varieties of a language and (b) performance errors within a single variety. https://languagemiscellany.com/2026/08/a-place-that-you-know-where-it-is/ Sometimes, it can be hard to draw this distinction in practice, but sometimes it is easier. I recently saw an example that clearly results from an editing glitch and is not an…… Continue reading This typo was just a typo, not a result of a different variety of English

Welsh challenge (7)

This post is the 7th instalment of the Welsh leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers chapter 6 of Colloquial Welsh. For earlier instalments, please see Welsh Archives – Language Miscellany I’ve used bold type below to highlight words affected by mutations and an asterisk * to mark words followed by mutation. Numbers I show below…… Continue reading Welsh challenge (7)

The Italian Language Today

The Italian Language Today, by Anna Laura Lepschy and Giulio Lepschy (2nd edition, 1988) is a useful guide for anyone who has been through a basic to intermediate Italian course.   The book has 2 parts: part one The Linguistic Situation in Italy has 4 sections: Italian today; a historical view; Italian dialects; varieties of…… Continue reading The Italian Language Today

Italian places and their inhabitants

Italian place names generally have related adjectives. Many of them are formed in fairly predictable ways by just adding a suffix to the place name (eg romano from Roma, Milanese from Milano and Napoletano from Napoli). Common suffixes used in place names include (in the masculine plural form) -ani, -tani, -esi, -ensi, -i, -ali, -giani,…… Continue reading Italian places and their inhabitants

Irish spelling and pronunciation

I’ve set myself a challenge of working through textbooks on Welsh (Colloquial Welsh) and Irish (Teach Yourself Irish). I’ll work through the 2 books in parallel. Spotting similarities and differences will help me learn both these Celtic languages more thoroughly and more quickly. I’ve already covered Welsh spelling and pronunciation. Learning Welsh and Irish – Language…… Continue reading Irish spelling and pronunciation

Learning Welsh and Irish

I’ve set myself a challenge of working through textbooks on Welsh (Colloquial Welsh) and Irish (Teach Yourself Irish). I’ll work through the 2 books in parallel. Spotting similarities and differences will help me learn both these Celtic languages more thoroughly and more quickly.   I’ve had a copy of Teach Yourself Welsh for about 50…… Continue reading Learning Welsh and Irish

Recording regional and hyper-local swear words before they disappear

Linguists at the University of Sheffield have launched a project to create the UK’s first national repository of regional swear words. UK’s first-ever national swear word census to capture real use of English language | News | The University of Sheffield The researchers say they aim to preserve a record of regional and dialect words…… Continue reading Recording regional and hyper-local swear words before they disappear

Language or dialect

Two language varieties are often regarded as separate languages if they differ greatly and if speakers of each variety cannot easily understand the other variety.  They are often viewed as dialects of a single language if they differ little and if their speakers can readily understand each other. In between those extremes, there is no clear distinction between a…… Continue reading Language or dialect