Linguistics

The word éxito in Spanish (and cognates in other iberian romance languages) has the meaning of success, but it is a cognate of English "exit".

According to Wiktionary, they all come from Latin "exitus", which is a participle of "exire", which literally means "to go out/outside, to exit, to leave".

Also on the Wiktionary page for this word is someone asking about this apparent semantic shift in Spanish, which got me wondering as well. Further googling only told me that it's not just Spanish but also Galician and Portuguese, possibly more.

Does anyone have information on how this shift developed? Or is the written evidence we have so poor that it might just as well have suddenly acquired the current meaning overnight as gradually over several generations and we wouldn't be able to tell?

I was discussing this with my fiance, and she agreed with me in that she also speaks English in this manner.

I have found that, at least personally, I tend to speak several common homonyms in English in distinct ways: bear/bare, they're/there, where/ware. It's difficult to describe the differences in a concise way, but I'll do my best, and maybe use IPA where applicable, assuming I'm not using them incorrectly?

The traditional pronunciation of bare is [ˈbɛr]. I would completely agree with this, and while the dictionary might also say bear is pronounced this way, I would argue that I often hear it more as [ˈber] — a more closed sound with the lips pulled back in a smile. Sure, sometimes people will lazily say both in the same manner, but if I say [ˈber], the listener is going to recognize in a vacuum that I am speaking of the furry mammal, not the term to describe a naked person.

Similarly, there is rendered as [ðɚ]. There is a perfect rhyme with bare. I agree with this. However, they're is given the treatment of being a contraction of "they are", and it similarly has that closed sounded [e] instead of [ə].

Am I crazy, or does anyone else out there experience English this way?

without the filler:

Excavations have been taking place at Boğazköy-Hattusha for more than century under the direction of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI).

Around 30,000 clay tablets have been found at the site to date, which have shed light on various aspects of life during the Hittite period, according to the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg. The tablets contain inscriptions in cuneiform—what is generally considered to be the oldest known writing system. Developed by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia more than 5,000 years ago, cuneiform is a script that was used to write several languages of the ancient Near East.

Most of the inscriptions found at Boğazköy-Hattusha record the extinct Hittite language, which is the oldest attested member of the Indo-European family. Other languages, such as Luwian and Palaic, are also represented at the site.

However, excavations conducted this year, led by professor Dr. Andreas Schachner of the DAI's Istanbul Department, surprisingly uncovered a recitation of a previously unknown extinct language. The language was hidden on a cuneiform tablet containing a ritual text written in Hittite. The Hittite ritual text refers to the lost tongue as the language of the land of Kalašma, an area that likely corresponds to where the towns of Bolu or Gerede in northern Turkey are located today.

"The new language was written in cuneiform," Schachner told Newsweek. "It is the same writing system the Hittites used. The text is part of a longer text starting in Hittite. As it continues it says at one point: 'Continue in the language of the Land [of] Kalašma.'"

"The Hittites were uniquely interested in recording rituals in foreign languages," Daniel Schwemer, head of the Chair of Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, said in a press release.

The recently discovered language remains largely incomprehensible. However, Professor Elisabeth Rieken with the Philipps University of Marburg, Germany, a specialist in Anatolian languages, has confirmed that the Kalasmaic tongue belongs to the Indo-European family, according to Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg.

EDIT: a more readable article with some other details here - https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/news-and-events/news/detail/news/new-indo-european-language-discovered/

Phrases like know one's [general subject of interest] are very annoying to me because they seem rather self-centered. I am obviously fine with knows his way around or Know Your Customer because the use of possesive pronouns is appropriate.
On the other hand, now I know my ABCs is atrocious because the modern Latin alphabet obviously does not and never did belong to a single person, and has been used by billions of people in the last few centuries.

Do you know other English phrases with unnecessary posessive or personal pronouns? Do they exist in other languages? Is there a name for this linguistic phenomenon? Where do I complain? ~/s~

From what I’ve seen, writing was independently invented somewhere between 3 to 6 times. With so many languages and linguistic communities, why have so few independently invented writing?

Hey everyone, new mod here. I'd like to hear you on a few things, in order to make this community grow:

1. Who should be the primary target audience of this community?

We could tailor it primarily for layperson or for people with deeper Linguistics knowledge. Or we could simply let it roll.

2. Which type of moderation do you guys like? Stricter or laxer?

A stricter moderation would include rules like "quote your sources", "no crack theories" (proto- or pseudo-scientific hypotheses lacking methodological rigour), stuff like this; it would also mean that I'd discourage off-topic a bit further.

3. "Almost no crown or cross" rule: yes, no, indifferent?

By "almost no cross or cross" I mean that posters would only be able to talk about politics and religion as much as necessary for the subject of Linguistics. For example you'd be still fine posting something like this, but you wouldn't be able to discuss here the Marxist side of the matter, only the Linguistic one. Just an example, mind you.

4. How much do you know about Linguistics?

Are you a grad, undergrad, informed layperson, or just curious? Are there areas that you feel confident on, like Sociolinguistics or Phonetics or something like this?

5. Which type of content do you want to see here?

Papers? Videos? Discussions? Historical Linguistics? Sociolinguistics? Phonetics and Phonology? Since mods are IMO responsible to nurture a community, I don't mind looking for stuff to post here, but I'd like to know which one.

Thank you!

EDIT: I'm reading all your comments, even the ones that I didn't reply to, OK?