Linguistics!

The great thread of linguistics, got questions about a language, or just want to share your linguisticacles (if thats now a word, I take the credits of being the maker of it) knowledge.

My absolute interest at the moment lies in Southeast Asia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos.
Aka Khmer languages.

I find it interesting that the Thais language, though the written language is also hailing from brahmi as the others, share no similarity in spoken language. At first i thought that since they all came from khmer waaay back in time, they'd sound quite close. But I was wrong, I first thoguht that they'd be like swedish and norwegian, danish icelandic, f?r?yar. Due to our common ancestral language, (swedish = east norse, norway = west norse). We can understand each other to a great extent whereas Thai's and Cambodians cannot. They sound awfully similar when both talking and writing. The friends I have that are from the respective countries cannot understand more than a few words, loan words from old khmer (the thais).

This is all info gathered from people I have spoken to about this matter. Does anyone else got any more input?

Feel free to start new topics on the matter.

Is the lack of linguistic commonality between Thai and neighboring languages parallel to the lack of linguistic commonality between Finnish and neighboring languages?

Well, ehm, those countries in the past were one and the same during ayuthaya and khmer, thus having the language shared, though conquered lands probably had their own. Whereas the finnish language group is Ugric, whereas the norse are northern germanic languages.
The languages i wrote about are mon khmer, thus sharing same roots. wich is not the case with finland and the rest of the north. I personally think because of strong patriotism and old ties of hatred towards each other the austroasiatic languages there have not had much contact.

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Originally Posted by Kudis

I personally think because of strong patriotism and old ties of hatred towards each other the austroasiatic languages there have not had much contact.

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That's a lot of love and hate you are applying to entire people. Perhaps there is a geographical reason instead. After all, language and culture diffuse through trade and other contact.

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Originally Posted by Boleslav

That's a lot of love and hate you are applying to entire people. Perhaps there is a geographical reason instead. After all, language and culture diffuse through trade and other contact.

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its all from what i've heard from friends. the geo graphical reason is that they ahve been war-torn for many centuries. Much like sweden and denmark.

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Originally Posted by Kudis

its all from what i've heard from friends. the geo graphical reason is that they ahve been war-torn for many centuries. Much like sweden and denmark.

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Well, don't forget that "nation-states" in Europe were involved in national projects to establish a common, standardized language that could be enforced across the state. So linguistic diversity in Sweden and Denmark would have been reduced by that. Except in the far north, where the state couldn't enforce its will on the Sami.

Well, it wasn't. We've never had any real diversity, its pretty much some spelling, like och in sweden and og in denmark, wich sounds the same.


Also Esperanto was a nice nifty idea, dont you think? Would've been easier for all if that hit the charts big time instead of English in my opinion.

Well, that's the other issue isn't it? The population of Scandinavia versus the population of Southeast Asia. From my position of not knowing, and being too full of Christmas cheer to be bothered with google, I'll bet that population distribution and density play a role.

I can speak Irish fairly well but I have no idea what people are saying when they talk in Welsh. They are both Gaelic/Celtic originated, yet I can't understand a word. I've never heard Scottish or seen it written, so I can't comment how similar that is to Irish. Even though it is a compulsory subject in school, there are only a few towns in the country that speak Irish on an everyday basis. Not that it matters, considering English is the most widely spoken language in the world. However. it's still nice to keep our native language alive.

Good thread. Bravo! :)


I will endeavour to answer questions regarding French if anyone is curious.

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Originally Posted by Richie_B

I have no idea what people are saying when they talk in Welsh.

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I only know one welsh word and it is the most amazing word ever, 'Popity Ping' the word for microwave, it translates to - 'Oven that goes Ping'.

Irish and Scottish Gaelic are related, but Welsh, Cornish and Breton Gaelic are in a different branch of that language tree.

The difference between Finland and Sweden has many roots, Finland used to belong to Sweden but became its own country 101 years ago (1909). Most Finnish speak both Finnish and Swedish as an effect of this but the finnish have their own language which comes from the original scandinavian inhabitants, the samis.

It's quite interesting how languages evolve. Modern day France and UK were inhabited by Germanic settlers/invaders from modern day Germany. The languages from these three countries used to be a lot more similar, now they are completely different.

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Originally Posted by Kudis

The great thread of linguistics, got questions about a language, or just want to share your linguisticacles (if that's now a word, I take the credits of being the maker of it) knowledge.

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No, that is not word and will never ever be a word. I suggest that perhaps the English language might be a field of learning that you might want to invest some more time and effort into. You might want to learn a little about sentence structure and phrasing before attempting "the great thread of linguistics".

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Originally Posted by Rodri

No, that is not word and will never ever be a word. I suggest that perhaps the English language might be a field of learning that you might want to invest some more time and effort into. You might want to learn a little about sentence structure and phrasing before attempting "the great thread of linguistics".

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Give it a rest, english isn't his first language, hes from Sweden.

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Originally Posted by Rodri

No, that is not word and will never ever be a word. I suggest that perhaps the English language might be a field of learning that you might want to invest some more time and effort into. You might want to learn a little about sentence structure and phrasing before attempting "the great thread of linguistics".

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Because English is the only language that matters, right? I mean surely you can only study linguistics if you know English very well... :duh:

Anyway, this has been something I've been rather interested in, though I mostly only look far into European languages when I bother to. I'm interested in hearing about others.

I'm the bad guy?

http://www.nypost.com/r/nypost/blogs...allingDown.jpg

How did that happen?

my linguisticacle intrest lies in the evolution of word use.

like how did the word used for "burning brand" and later "cigarette" become a derogatory slang name for homosexual males?
why do we use the words we use now for what we use them for?

how long will it be before L33T is a recognized language?

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Originally Posted by tindris

Give it a rest, english isn't his first language, hes from Sweden.

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From Sweden?
Sorry, I thought he might be American.
I don't know much Swedish except what I learned from this guy.

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Originally Posted by imnothere

how long will it be before L33T is a recognized language?

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I'll give it a generation or two, when the people who already speak it on a regular basis are in positions of power. :p

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Originally Posted by imnothere

How long will it be before L33T is a recognized language?

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Originally Posted by Bree Fletcher

I'll give it a generation or two, when the people who already speak it on a regular basis are in positions of power. :p

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How do you "speak" L33T?
My opinion on this?
Read my sig.

The mass of mediocrity with its irresistable and leaden weight will bring the highest and noblest down to same level as itself.

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Originally Posted by Conrad_Jalowski

The mass of mediocrity with its irresistable and leaden weight will bring the highest and noblest down to same level as itself.

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w47? |*|_3453 5|*34|< 50 1 (4N |_|N|>3|\574N|)...

I doubt 1337 will ever form into an actual language, since it cannot be spoken. Internet language maybe, but not an actual real world language.

can someone explain how i'm supposed to understand americans and brits (let alone any of the irish and scots) when all i speak is australian?


well it's root, root, root for the home team

proof l33t can be spoken.