Armchair Linguist
@manof2moro.bsky.social
Just wandering through the ether
I reckon you’re right, partner.
Were there any other AAVE words that had a nonstandard pronunciation be inherited into the dialect? If not, how did /aks/ slip through the cracks?
Were there any other AAVE words that had a nonstandard pronunciation be inherited into the dialect? If not, how did /aks/ slip through the cracks?
January 14, 2026 at 2:49 AM
I reckon you’re right, partner.
Were there any other AAVE words that had a nonstandard pronunciation be inherited into the dialect? If not, how did /aks/ slip through the cracks?
Were there any other AAVE words that had a nonstandard pronunciation be inherited into the dialect? If not, how did /aks/ slip through the cracks?
Now that you mention it, I wonder why AAVE speakers never metathesized other /sk/ words. Why no ‘maks’ (mask) or ‘bicsuit’ (biscuit), for example? Have you any idea on why it only occurred in one word across the dialect?
January 14, 2026 at 12:40 AM
Now that you mention it, I wonder why AAVE speakers never metathesized other /sk/ words. Why no ‘maks’ (mask) or ‘bicsuit’ (biscuit), for example? Have you any idea on why it only occurred in one word across the dialect?
So ‘to ax’ and its previous versions were used nonstop (for lack of a better term) from OE, ME to ModE times by at least some dialects? There was never a time in English’s history where ‘to ax’ wasn’t used?
January 8, 2026 at 2:09 AM
So ‘to ax’ and its previous versions were used nonstop (for lack of a better term) from OE, ME to ModE times by at least some dialects? There was never a time in English’s history where ‘to ax’ wasn’t used?
This looked too overwhelming to read at first glance but the arrows really helped make it a smooth read 😊
January 8, 2026 at 12:27 AM
This looked too overwhelming to read at first glance but the arrows really helped make it a smooth read 😊
Can’t both be true? Not that modern speakers should be demeaned but that that’s a way it happened to be pronounced centuries ago before “ask” became dominant until centuries later some dialects coincidentally started metathesizing it not knowing of ācsian and axen’s existence?
January 7, 2026 at 11:47 PM
Can’t both be true? Not that modern speakers should be demeaned but that that’s a way it happened to be pronounced centuries ago before “ask” became dominant until centuries later some dialects coincidentally started metathesizing it not knowing of ācsian and axen’s existence?
Good points. Not to mention they could also be ignored like how most still pronounce and spell Türkiye as Turkey
December 9, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Good points. Not to mention they could also be ignored like how most still pronounce and spell Türkiye as Turkey
Why not further simplify the spelling of place names to match their continually simplified pronunciations? It seems like Brits shortened spelling but stopped at a point despite pronunciation continually deleting syllables
December 9, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Why not further simplify the spelling of place names to match their continually simplified pronunciations? It seems like Brits shortened spelling but stopped at a point despite pronunciation continually deleting syllables
I always wondered about these sounds and now I no longer have to. Thanks for the clarification!
December 2, 2025 at 6:58 AM
I always wondered about these sounds and now I no longer have to. Thanks for the clarification!
I (and I’m sure many others) would love to be able to speak and write these beautiful languages with as many native derivations as possible. Just seeing your examples of how ‘opinion’ would vary across them really highlights the nuances and idiosyncrasies of each of these mellifluous tongues
December 2, 2025 at 6:51 AM
I (and I’m sure many others) would love to be able to speak and write these beautiful languages with as many native derivations as possible. Just seeing your examples of how ‘opinion’ would vary across them really highlights the nuances and idiosyncrasies of each of these mellifluous tongues
Is there a site or book that details each latin sound and their modern correspondences across those four languages? If not, could you possibly do guides to such correspondences across those four languages to get a broader view of what “pure” versions of them would look like in long form?
December 2, 2025 at 6:42 AM
Is there a site or book that details each latin sound and their modern correspondences across those four languages? If not, could you possibly do guides to such correspondences across those four languages to get a broader view of what “pure” versions of them would look like in long form?
I like inmerdification to keep it all Latinate
December 2, 2025 at 12:45 AM
I like inmerdification to keep it all Latinate
Is there a linguistic term for the /d/ placed between “hi” and “algo” in “Hidalgo”? Is that the same phenomenon as when German adds /s/ like in “Gesicht(s)behaarung” (body + s + hair) and Greek using /t/ in words like “neuro(t)ic”?
December 2, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Is there a linguistic term for the /d/ placed between “hi” and “algo” in “Hidalgo”? Is that the same phenomenon as when German adds /s/ like in “Gesicht(s)behaarung” (body + s + hair) and Greek using /t/ in words like “neuro(t)ic”?
Is that a common correspondence where German ‘au’ = English ‘ow’ pronounced “oh”?
December 2, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Is that a common correspondence where German ‘au’ = English ‘ow’ pronounced “oh”?
Would the Romance languages be significantly less mutually intelligible if they didn’t borrow the same Latin words and instead derived native words for those concepts? I’d assume having so many similar sounding/spelled borrowings aids a lot in intelligibility
December 1, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Would the Romance languages be significantly less mutually intelligible if they didn’t borrow the same Latin words and instead derived native words for those concepts? I’d assume having so many similar sounding/spelled borrowings aids a lot in intelligibility
Thanks for sharing
November 3, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Thanks for sharing
I think you should change “speak” to “read” unless you’re referring to the all-encompassing “speak” which also includes understanding, reading, writing a language, in which case I wish there were a specific word to group all four together. There’s “know” but that seems vague.
speaking.in
November 1, 2025 at 9:19 PM
I think you should change “speak” to “read” unless you’re referring to the all-encompassing “speak” which also includes understanding, reading, writing a language, in which case I wish there were a specific word to group all four together. There’s “know” but that seems vague.
Do/did any other English verbs ending in ‘ow/e’ have a past tense form ending in ‘-ght’?
November 1, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Do/did any other English verbs ending in ‘ow/e’ have a past tense form ending in ‘-ght’?
Where does “sit” fit in all this?
October 13, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Where does “sit” fit in all this?
I wonder why we didn’t just calque it to “offsole” 🤔
October 13, 2025 at 6:29 PM
I wonder why we didn’t just calque it to “offsole” 🤔
When you say “mandatory’ and “optional” do you mean some languages were easier to be understood without the prefix or do you mean some languages had more strict standard dialects/governing bodies that made it mandatory?
September 20, 2025 at 11:36 PM
When you say “mandatory’ and “optional” do you mean some languages were easier to be understood without the prefix or do you mean some languages had more strict standard dialects/governing bodies that made it mandatory?
Could one argue that ‘ge(g)-‘ in the other west Germanic languages also doesn’t add much to the meaning of a past participle other than underscoring that the action was completed? I wonder what made English less conservative when it comes to retaining such grammatical markers
September 20, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Could one argue that ‘ge(g)-‘ in the other west Germanic languages also doesn’t add much to the meaning of a past participle other than underscoring that the action was completed? I wonder what made English less conservative when it comes to retaining such grammatical markers
Did the'i-' in 'icumen' make it to modern English? If not, what would it have become and why did English lose it?
September 20, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Did the'i-' in 'icumen' make it to modern English? If not, what would it have become and why did English lose it?
Any chance you post them online? 😅
September 4, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Any chance you post them online? 😅
Thanks for the context. It’s always fun hearing other’s perspectives on linguistic matters.
Also, you now make me want to learn Dutch!
Also, you now make me want to learn Dutch!
September 4, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Thanks for the context. It’s always fun hearing other’s perspectives on linguistic matters.
Also, you now make me want to learn Dutch!
Also, you now make me want to learn Dutch!
It’s hard to argue against English being one of, if not the most, forgiving languages when it comes to not adhering to grammar rules.
I didn’t think about the frequency side of it. That definitely plays a part!
I didn’t think about the frequency side of it. That definitely plays a part!
September 4, 2025 at 6:49 AM
It’s hard to argue against English being one of, if not the most, forgiving languages when it comes to not adhering to grammar rules.
I didn’t think about the frequency side of it. That definitely plays a part!
I didn’t think about the frequency side of it. That definitely plays a part!