Here is a picture from an open top bus tour of Hanover in 2024. It shows an array of languages available for the recorded commentary. All the usual suspects are there, but the final channel (12) is unusual. Channel 12 is for Platt (Plattdeutsch), the collective name for a collection of German regional dialects spoken…… Continue reading Tour commentary in Low German
Author: Peter Clark
Russian verbs of motion
In Russian, verbs referring to motion include 14 pairs of verbs. Each of those verbs differs from its pair in a systematic way. Sometimes, the label ‘determinate’ is used for one member of each pair and the name ‘indeterminate’ is use for the other member: the determinate verbs refer to motion in one direction (not…… Continue reading Russian verbs of motion
Irish challenge (7)
This post is the 7th instalment of the Irish leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers chapter 6 of Teach Yourself Irish. For previous instalments, please see https://languagemiscellany.com/tag/irish/ It covers: past, present and future of tá time expressions adjectives weather nouns other words and phrases Mutation is indicated below using bold type. Past, present,…… Continue reading Irish challenge (7)
Due, owing, owed
A couple of months ago, a radio presenter was talking about the then imminent stock market flotation of Elon Musk’s company Space X. The presenter said that the estimated valuation of SpaceX was [amount X], and that [amount Y] of this amount ‘is owed to’ the valuation of SpaceX’s artificial intelligence (AI) business Grok and…… Continue reading Due, owing, owed
Language sketch: Esperanto
The artificial language artificial language Esperanto was created by a Polish Doctor Ludovic Zamenhof in 1887. He initially called the language simply la Lingvo Internacia (‘the international language’), but he wrote using the pseudonym Dr Esperanto and Esperanto quickly became the language’s accepted name. Alphabet Esperanto uses a Latin alphabet of 28 letters: 22 letters…… Continue reading Language sketch: Esperanto
A place that you know where it is
The other day, I heard a man say to his young daughter: ‘Where are you putting that? Put it in a place that you know where it is.’ Although that 2nd sentence is perfectly clear, I would never write it myself. I probably wouldn’t say it either, though I quite often hear similar sentences. Why…… Continue reading A place that you know where it is
From words to meaning
Before we can decode a written text or spoken comments, we often need a deep understanding of the context. The literal meaning of the words often does not give us enough to decipher the intended meaning. I found myself thinking about this after reading the following: ‘Man of the match in space on heading…… Continue reading From words to meaning
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)
Sounds and spelling of Spanish
This post summarises the spelling and pronunciation of Spanish. I discuss below mainly standard Spanish of Spain (Castilian), but point out a few of the differences for Spanish regions and Latin America. Spanish Alphabet The Spanish alphabet includes: 26 letters also used in the English alphabet (though <k> and <w> are rare, used mainly in…… Continue reading Sounds and spelling of Spanish
Schwa, the vowel with no letter of its own
The commonest English vowel has no separate letter to represent it in the English alphabet. The vowel is called ‘schwa’ and is found as, for example, the first vowel in about. Schwa is a mid central unrounded vowel: mid means that the highest part of the tongue is neither high (where it is for /i/…… Continue reading Schwa, the vowel with no letter of its own