When I started learning German to a reasonable level, I was puzzled by 2 oddities in how modal verbs work. I’ll start by giving some background. In German main clauses, the finite verb appears in 2nd position (example 1). A finite verb is a verb form that marks the person and number of the subject—…… Continue reading Odd word order for German modal verbs
Tag: Tense: perfect
Irish challenge (6)
This post is the 6th instalment of the Irish leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers chapter 5 of Teach Yourself Irish. For previous instalments, please see https://languagemiscellany.com/tag/irish/ It covers: the demonstrative sin (‘that’) possessive phrases ‘above’ and ‘below’ more on prepositions ‘very’ ann (‘there’) cá bhfuil? (‘where is?) verbs: (1) perfect tense; (2)…… Continue reading Irish challenge (6)
Irish challenge (4)
This post is the 4th instalment of the Irish leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers chapter 3 of Teach Yourself Irish. For previous instalments, please see https://languagemiscellany.com/tag/irish/ Possession, and personal forms of ag Irish has no transitive verb meaning ‘have’. Instead, use the preposition ag (‘at’), see example 1.(1) Ta clann ag Síle …… Continue reading Irish challenge (4)
Shaetlan—the language of Shetland
Shaetlan, the language of Shetland, has now been awarded an ISO 3-letter code: scz https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/scz For more on ISO language codes, please see Russian: an official language at the ISO – Language Miscellany Shaetlan has sometimes been regarded as ‘just a dialect’ of English or as a ‘just a dialect’ of Scots, but the awarding…… Continue reading Shaetlan—the language of Shetland
Selecting the auxiliary for French and Italian anticausatives
In forming the perfect tense, both French and Italian use the auxiliary ‘have’ (Italian avere, French avoir) for most verbs, but the auxiliary ‘be’ (Italian essere, French être) for some verbs. Both languages use ‘have’ for all (non-reflexive) transitive verbs and use ‘be’ for reflexive verbs. For some intransitive verbs, both languages use ‘have’, but…… Continue reading Selecting the auxiliary for French and Italian anticausatives
Xmas with kids
Spending a week with our grandchildren between Christmas and New Year, I noticed a few things about how they use language. Strong verbs I came across 2 more examples of some creative formations of a past participle and of a simple past tense from strong verbs: our middle grandson (now 7 years 0 months) produced…… Continue reading Xmas with kids
English Grammar Day 2024
I went last week to an event called English Grammar Day 2024 at the British Library. This event has been held for the last 10 years, but I went for the first time in 2023. The event is sponsored by UCL (the official short name of University College London), the University of Oxford and the…… Continue reading English Grammar Day 2024
Languages differ in what they MUST say
There is a popular belief that some things can only be expressed in some languages and not in other languages. The linguist and literary theorist Roman Jakobson (1896-1982) took issue with that belief in his well-known statement: ‘Languages differ essentially in what they must convey and not in what they may convey’. That statement appears in his short essay…… Continue reading Languages differ in what they MUST say
Darwin seems to have been to Australia
It seems you can’t say ‘Charles Darwin has visited Australia’, but you can say ‘Charles Darwin seems to have visited Australia’. Why is that? In a previous post, I mentioned ‘lifetime effects’ in the use of the perfect tense in English. Sentence (1) is one example from that earlier post. (1) * Charles Darwin has…… Continue reading Darwin seems to have been to Australia
Similarities and differences within Scandinavian languages
The Scandinavian languages are similar to each other, but also differ from each other. Here is an example that illustrates nicely some of the similarities and differences. I came across it in The Syntax of Icelandic, Höskuldur Thráinson (2007). Although Höskuldur Thráinson uses the example to make one specific point about word order, I use…… Continue reading Similarities and differences within Scandinavian languages