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Listening to my recording of the The Kings' Singers performing " Annie Laurie", I was once again struck by phrase, "it was there that Annie Laurie gived me her promise true". What can you tell me about this regular past tense of give? Is it strictly poetic, or was/is this a common substitute for "gave" in Scottish English or any other dialect? if it's a typical feature of, say, Scottish English, are there other typically irregular verbs that they regularize? Ladyof Shalott 04:04, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
I am trying to contact Heather Stoddard, a specialist in Tibetan Studies who works at the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales in Paris. I have tried contacting her through the publisher of her book, but nothing has come of this. I would have tried to contact her through the Institute's webpage, but I don't know French. Prof. Stoddard does speak English, so I only need someone to find her contact information on the site. If it can't be found easily, hopefully whoever agrees to help can contact the head of the appropriate department. This is regarding some of my research that she may find interesting. Thanks. -- Ghostexorcist ( talk) 06:55, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
I'd be grateful if someone could give me a meaningful interpretation of the following phrase from either side of a Pure Land Buddhism temple gate in Changchun, China: 登清凉地入解脱门. The first four characters were on the right, the second four on the left of the main doorway, if that is significant at all (I suspect not). I can translate it literally, but am curious if there is a more substantial meaning here... or if it is referencing a well-known sutra, etc. Thank you. The Masked Booby ( talk) 07:54, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
Is it right to say that Yiddish is German? In the same sense that we could say a German dialect is German? Quest09 ( talk) 13:39, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
Yes, it is correct to call Yiddish a dialect of German, specifically one of the High German languages. It is about as different from standard German as Scots is from standard English. μηδείς ( talk) 15:48, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
Quest09 -- It's indisputable that Yiddish is a Germanic language, belonging to somewhat the same sub-branch as German. However, Yiddish speakers do not judge whether or not a sentence is correct Yiddish based on whether it conforms with German constructions -- the standard of Yiddish correctness is completely different and independent from the standard of German correctness, and in that sense Yiddish is a language with strong written literary use independent from German (unlike any of the German dialects other than Dutch). As far as mutual comprehensibility goes, there would be fairly good mutual understanding of basic common vocabulary -- but as soon as Yiddish speakers started to use somewhat slangy vocabulary, or began a discussion of Jewish customs and concepts, the ability of German speakers to understand Yiddish would decline dramatically... AnonMoos ( talk) 16:47, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
I recall driving near Brumfiss with my father, flipping through the radio, and finding a broadcast with a German speaker with a very heavy NYC accent. "Was hat er gesagt?!?" asked my father. After a few moments I smacked my forehead and said, "Oh, it's Yiddish!"
One interesting thing about Yiddish is its use or mir rather than wir for the 1st pers pl. I read an account that said this was a Slavic adstratum influence. But aren't there other High Germanic dialects that use the mir form? μηδείς ( talk) 20:17, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
The difference between language and dialect will always be contentious... Our article dialect offers:
The last bit explains the Nazis' nonsense about all Germanic languages being dialects. Nowadays surely the only criterion of these which applies to Yiddish is the second one? And if we apply this across the board then we make a fair amount of assumptions about languages which happen to be in the same family (Sami is a dialect of Finnish? Rusyn of Ukrainian?) - filelake shoe 07:55, 14 October 2011 (UTC)
Thanks, Sluzzelin and Slomox for your very interesting answers. As to the IP OP, for the Scots/Standard English analogy, Angr's comments on the vocabulary are quite correct. Scots does have plenty of vocabulary not known in standard English, but things like wee bairns are not quite so foreign to English speakers (weeny borns) as the outright Semiticisms of Yiddish are to standard German speakers when they hear it. My experience as a Mediocre German speaker, has always been, upon hearing Yiddish, to think it is German, to process it as if it were standard German spoken by someone with a dialectical accent, until I hear the Hebrew words. This is quite different from my experience with Portuguese. As a fluent Spanish speaker, I can read Portuguese without effort. But I have never heard a full sentence of Portuguese that didn't strike me as obviously not Spanish. It is also different entirely from my attempts to eavesdrop on natives in Bavaria and Switzerland speaking their dialects. I can usually figure out Portuguese by pretending it is drunken Frenchman attempting Spanish. I find spoken Bavarian and especially Swiss dialects entirely incomprehensible. μηδείς ( talk) 03:27, 15 October 2011 (UTC)
I debated whether to place this here or the computing desk. Anyway, using a mac, my computer screen renders Wikipedia's (or other websites') textual content relative to the size I drag the screen to. I can go huge, or tiny and the page content will squeeze up or widen on the fly, allowing you to read and see all content at any size--to a point. There is a point of making compaction where it breaks down. Instead of squeezing further, the content remains constant and the edge of the window instead moves to cover the content. I know the description may be hard to follow but I think those who know what I mean, will know what I mean, as it were. I wanted to know if there is an actual name for this minimum screen size point when the text no longer compacts. There may very well not be, but I thought I'd ask. I have a good reason for seeking the name, but I would need to tell you a story and make this much lengthier.-- 108.27.98.230 ( talk) 16:17, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
I went to Google's language translating site and translated "That is a big mountain." into simplified Chinese and got "这是一座大山。" I turned it around to see what English translation it gave for "座" and got "Seat, base, place, pedestal, stand." But when I switched "mountain" for "hill," or even "seat," "base," "place," "pedestal," or "stand" back in again, the measure word changed to the quite general purpose "个." What are some other things that use the measure word "座"? I've been trying things in Google translate for fun that I thought would be associated with large bases but no luck. 20.137.18.53 ( talk) 16:23, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
Does anyone know where I can find a comprehensive list of Esperanto prepositions and how to use them all? I've done some searching of my own, but it appears that the best Wikipedia has is this basic list of rules and all other sources just list them without explaining their uses. Helpu min, bonvolu! Inter change able| talk to me 18:29, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
The name KODAK which the founder Mr. Eastman gave to his company puzzeled many. the explanations for the name given in the Vikipedia is not convincing. My father who idulged in Photography in the begining of the 20th century and used at that time film emultion on glass plates told me that he had a friend. a jew, a proffesional photographer, who knew Mr. Eastman. Upon the discovery of applying film emultion on celluloid that was much thinner then the glass plates, he mentioned the Hebrew words "KO DAK" which means "SO THIN". I have no way to substantiate this. I contacted the Kodak headquarters in 1977 inquiring about the name KODAK. their answer was that there is no explanation for the name in the company official records.
Abraham Mardor [identifying info removed for privacy and to prevent spam]
— Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.138.98.5 ( talk) 20:01, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
Language desk | ||
---|---|---|
< October 12 | << Sep | October | Nov >> | October 14 > |
Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives |
---|
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages. |
Listening to my recording of the The Kings' Singers performing " Annie Laurie", I was once again struck by phrase, "it was there that Annie Laurie gived me her promise true". What can you tell me about this regular past tense of give? Is it strictly poetic, or was/is this a common substitute for "gave" in Scottish English or any other dialect? if it's a typical feature of, say, Scottish English, are there other typically irregular verbs that they regularize? Ladyof Shalott 04:04, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
I am trying to contact Heather Stoddard, a specialist in Tibetan Studies who works at the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales in Paris. I have tried contacting her through the publisher of her book, but nothing has come of this. I would have tried to contact her through the Institute's webpage, but I don't know French. Prof. Stoddard does speak English, so I only need someone to find her contact information on the site. If it can't be found easily, hopefully whoever agrees to help can contact the head of the appropriate department. This is regarding some of my research that she may find interesting. Thanks. -- Ghostexorcist ( talk) 06:55, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
I'd be grateful if someone could give me a meaningful interpretation of the following phrase from either side of a Pure Land Buddhism temple gate in Changchun, China: 登清凉地入解脱门. The first four characters were on the right, the second four on the left of the main doorway, if that is significant at all (I suspect not). I can translate it literally, but am curious if there is a more substantial meaning here... or if it is referencing a well-known sutra, etc. Thank you. The Masked Booby ( talk) 07:54, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
Is it right to say that Yiddish is German? In the same sense that we could say a German dialect is German? Quest09 ( talk) 13:39, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
Yes, it is correct to call Yiddish a dialect of German, specifically one of the High German languages. It is about as different from standard German as Scots is from standard English. μηδείς ( talk) 15:48, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
Quest09 -- It's indisputable that Yiddish is a Germanic language, belonging to somewhat the same sub-branch as German. However, Yiddish speakers do not judge whether or not a sentence is correct Yiddish based on whether it conforms with German constructions -- the standard of Yiddish correctness is completely different and independent from the standard of German correctness, and in that sense Yiddish is a language with strong written literary use independent from German (unlike any of the German dialects other than Dutch). As far as mutual comprehensibility goes, there would be fairly good mutual understanding of basic common vocabulary -- but as soon as Yiddish speakers started to use somewhat slangy vocabulary, or began a discussion of Jewish customs and concepts, the ability of German speakers to understand Yiddish would decline dramatically... AnonMoos ( talk) 16:47, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
I recall driving near Brumfiss with my father, flipping through the radio, and finding a broadcast with a German speaker with a very heavy NYC accent. "Was hat er gesagt?!?" asked my father. After a few moments I smacked my forehead and said, "Oh, it's Yiddish!"
One interesting thing about Yiddish is its use or mir rather than wir for the 1st pers pl. I read an account that said this was a Slavic adstratum influence. But aren't there other High Germanic dialects that use the mir form? μηδείς ( talk) 20:17, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
The difference between language and dialect will always be contentious... Our article dialect offers:
The last bit explains the Nazis' nonsense about all Germanic languages being dialects. Nowadays surely the only criterion of these which applies to Yiddish is the second one? And if we apply this across the board then we make a fair amount of assumptions about languages which happen to be in the same family (Sami is a dialect of Finnish? Rusyn of Ukrainian?) - filelake shoe 07:55, 14 October 2011 (UTC)
Thanks, Sluzzelin and Slomox for your very interesting answers. As to the IP OP, for the Scots/Standard English analogy, Angr's comments on the vocabulary are quite correct. Scots does have plenty of vocabulary not known in standard English, but things like wee bairns are not quite so foreign to English speakers (weeny borns) as the outright Semiticisms of Yiddish are to standard German speakers when they hear it. My experience as a Mediocre German speaker, has always been, upon hearing Yiddish, to think it is German, to process it as if it were standard German spoken by someone with a dialectical accent, until I hear the Hebrew words. This is quite different from my experience with Portuguese. As a fluent Spanish speaker, I can read Portuguese without effort. But I have never heard a full sentence of Portuguese that didn't strike me as obviously not Spanish. It is also different entirely from my attempts to eavesdrop on natives in Bavaria and Switzerland speaking their dialects. I can usually figure out Portuguese by pretending it is drunken Frenchman attempting Spanish. I find spoken Bavarian and especially Swiss dialects entirely incomprehensible. μηδείς ( talk) 03:27, 15 October 2011 (UTC)
I debated whether to place this here or the computing desk. Anyway, using a mac, my computer screen renders Wikipedia's (or other websites') textual content relative to the size I drag the screen to. I can go huge, or tiny and the page content will squeeze up or widen on the fly, allowing you to read and see all content at any size--to a point. There is a point of making compaction where it breaks down. Instead of squeezing further, the content remains constant and the edge of the window instead moves to cover the content. I know the description may be hard to follow but I think those who know what I mean, will know what I mean, as it were. I wanted to know if there is an actual name for this minimum screen size point when the text no longer compacts. There may very well not be, but I thought I'd ask. I have a good reason for seeking the name, but I would need to tell you a story and make this much lengthier.-- 108.27.98.230 ( talk) 16:17, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
I went to Google's language translating site and translated "That is a big mountain." into simplified Chinese and got "这是一座大山。" I turned it around to see what English translation it gave for "座" and got "Seat, base, place, pedestal, stand." But when I switched "mountain" for "hill," or even "seat," "base," "place," "pedestal," or "stand" back in again, the measure word changed to the quite general purpose "个." What are some other things that use the measure word "座"? I've been trying things in Google translate for fun that I thought would be associated with large bases but no luck. 20.137.18.53 ( talk) 16:23, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
Does anyone know where I can find a comprehensive list of Esperanto prepositions and how to use them all? I've done some searching of my own, but it appears that the best Wikipedia has is this basic list of rules and all other sources just list them without explaining their uses. Helpu min, bonvolu! Inter change able| talk to me 18:29, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
The name KODAK which the founder Mr. Eastman gave to his company puzzeled many. the explanations for the name given in the Vikipedia is not convincing. My father who idulged in Photography in the begining of the 20th century and used at that time film emultion on glass plates told me that he had a friend. a jew, a proffesional photographer, who knew Mr. Eastman. Upon the discovery of applying film emultion on celluloid that was much thinner then the glass plates, he mentioned the Hebrew words "KO DAK" which means "SO THIN". I have no way to substantiate this. I contacted the Kodak headquarters in 1977 inquiring about the name KODAK. their answer was that there is no explanation for the name in the company official records.
Abraham Mardor [identifying info removed for privacy and to prevent spam]
— Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.138.98.5 ( talk) 20:01, 13 October 2011 (UTC)