aiming higher

30・09・2020

Literally: she hasn't got all cups in the cupboard

Literally: he doesn’t have light on every floor.

Literally: s/he hasn’t all the screws in place (also: s/he misses some screws)

Ha qualche rotella fuori posto (or also: ...che non gli/le funziona)

hospitals are overwhelmed. the lebanese red cross has sent out an urgent message in need of blood donations of all blood types. open transfusion centers to help aid in this disaster are currently

tripoli

jouneih

antelias

spears

zahle

saida

nabatieh

if you have loved ones in lebanon or you are aware of someone who has loved ones in lebanon, i strongly urge you to reach out to them as soon as possible. if you don’t have loved ones in lebanon, i hope you at least spread the word to help others and keep beirut in your thoughts today.

While Kossmann does normally use B—er in his work, this one may have the advantage that it was published via a Moroccan institution and thus, the recognition of the term as a slur is likely much more apparent than it would be via European and American institutions where the offensive nature of the term treated as a nonfactor.

Also, to quote from El Aissati (2001:58), for those who want an academic basis to why the change in terminology needs to happen:

I’m glad you’re asking me about this and stating it’s an obvious question all at once because yes, it kinda is but it isn’t.

Mind you, most people on Langblr tend to view languages as inherently utilitarian and thus, are interesting because they’re “useful”. You can watch Disney movies in German. Go to Germany, talk to average Germans in standard High German like a weirdo. You can read books in German—but you can’t do that in many other languages. It’s that utilitarian mindset that makes people rather uninterested in my opinion more than exposure does. Because if we’re to be frank, people see the European in Indo-European as useful and interesting, not necessarily the “Indo” part of the name. While I would argue from being exposed to Urdu against my will on a daily basis the language is hugely useful in many regards, people will make a litany of excuses to focus on languages in Europe. European languages are useful over others due to the fact of history and all the undoubtedly unfair factors that made European languages just all the more accessible and hence, societally useful—but there’s nothing inherently special about languages in Europe.

But you don’t have to be interested in linguistics to be interested in languages, as you noted even if indirectly. And given this may just be a thing of exposure too—you could be interested in phonology and find syntax abhorrent, like myself. Actual linguists don’t like all of linguistics, from my experience. Everyone has their own little niche interest or preference in the study but this being said the same can go for language enthusiasts who don’t realize they might be great linguists if they narrow down their interests. (mind you do not refer to me as an actual linguist, I have yet to finish my degree)

so Nebi’s advice to read more widely linguistically/academically and to extend your comfort zone is good, but aside form that, I think it’s also just about consciously learning more about the world in general. Not with the express goal of finding an “exotic” language to learn, but just to enjoy west African music, or Persian poetry, or east Asian cinema, or whatever, the same way one enjoys any media and art (and ofc this subconsciously exposes one to many more languages)

Yet I can count the number of times I’ve heard German spoken in my decently sized town on one hand, and there aren’t huge profusions of Spanish or French speakers or culture either. In contrast, I personally know multiple Sudanese Arabic speakers. You can watch two or three Indian films - in Bengali, Hindi, Tamil- at our standard chain cinema.The used bookstore has many French books, obviously, but definitely more Polish and Chinese books than German or Spanish. Of European languages, the most common are probably Polish and Romanian. There are Turkish/Balkan, Polish, and Halal marts with almost no English signage, and Tamil language masses at the local church. If it was just about exposure- the languages available in terms of print media, the ones heard in the street and in supermarkets- I think Yoruba, Arabic, Farsi, Romanian, and Bengali would have a much more marked affect on Langblr- although of course, exposure has strongly influences the languages I want to study (wouldn’t have really considered Bengali or Romanian before moving here.) 

One way to classify Romance languages is by looking at what Latin verb is used to express ownership or possession. Some Romance languages express it by using either tenere “to hold” (such as Spanish, Portuguese or Neapolitan) or habere “to have” (such as Italian, Romanian or French).

Medieval Spanish uses both tenere and habere. Tenere expresses physical ownership whereas habere expresses a more abstract possession (such as hunger, thirst, fear, etc.). In later stages of the language, forms of tenere prevailed so that tener is used to express both concepts in modern Spanish. Haber however is used as the auxiliary (helping) verb to build perfect tenses.

Neapolitan uses a similar system but not with every abstract noun. Nouns such as raggiona “reason” and paura “fear” select avé, whereas physical possession select tené/ténere. Avé is also used to construct perfect tenses and express obligation, e.g. aggio visto “I have seen”, aggio ‘a ascì “I have to go out”.

Another way to categorise Romance languages is by looking at which verb is used to express ownership, build perfect tenses, and express existential statements (“there is a woman”). For example, Italian and Romanian use forms of habere for both possession and perfect tenses, but esse to express existential statements. Sardinian, Occitan and French on the other hand would use habere for all three.

Neapolitan is a special outlier: possession is expressed mainly by tenere (and only exceptionally by habere); perfect tenses are mostly built with habere (intransitive verbs however might select esse, like Italian, but not reflexive verbs); and existential statements are made with stare.

Tengo n’aniello “I have a ring”

Aggio vevuto “I have drunk” (cf. M’aggio assettato “I’ve sat down”);  Ammo juto “We have gone” (but Simmo jute)

15th July - Do you have a specific goal for this summer?