Linguistics Definition and 22 Threads

Hello everybody! Although I'm joining this forum, my field of studies is not science, it's linguistics. Despite that, I've always been fascinated by the universe and its laws, I've consumed countless media about the topic ever since I was in elementary school, when I brought a study about the...

Is there a word for when when the purpose of some activity is forgotten, and the activity is confused as an end in itself. The means becomes the end? Examples: You need a ladder, so you cut down a tree to make one. Then remember that the reason you wanted the ladder was to climb the tree...

Do tenseness and laxness of consonants in English depend on people saying them?Or are there tense and lax consonants in English?If there are, which consonants(in English) are tense and which are lax consonants?

In the Wikipedia article on prosody in linguistics it says: There is no agreed number of prosodic variables. In auditory terms, the major variables are: the pitch of the voice (varying between low and high) length of sounds (varying between short and long) loudness, or prominence (varying...

Can we trace all correct words from Jumbled words using machine learning prediction, search algorithms? https://builtin.com/machine-learning/nlp-machine-learning Input Dataset : Jumbled words. Jumbled word example: oolp Output : pool, loop, polo.

I was watching a video about english spelling reform where the author, as an aside, pointed out something that I thought was rather more important than anything else in the video: A fully phonetic alphabet is impossible because we don't agree on what the words are supposed to sound like. You...

Besides telepathy, what could I use to explain the properties of a device that is a TRUE universal translator, a handheld device that can decipher any language it encounters? I don’t know much about linguistics but I was told that even in a sci-fi setting, this is impossible. Jack Buchanan even...

Hi, Say L is a human language (e.g. German, Chinese, etc.) and w is a string in L of length n>1. Is it known for different languages what the probability is that w is a word in L? And if S is an ordered set of strings, the probability that S is grammatically correct in L? I mean, I know or have...

This is in reference to post #10 and 11 in https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/i-dont-have-physics-what-can-i-do.958089/#post-6075184 These are NOT what I am listening to now, as like another of the forum topic. This is just to show an indication how widespread is this both used and...

A few years ago I read two pretty groundbreaking linguistic papers from the 90s arguing that natural languages are networks which can be conceptualized from the perspective of nonlinear dynamical systems theory, with a lexicon being a state space and grammatical rules being attractors in that...

Which book gives a thorough overview of the structures of all the general languages from antiquity to present? If there is no such book, a suggestion on the way of achieving it, would also be helpful.

I know that this is a physics forum and that a physics forum might not be the best place to find linguistics enthusiasts. But I'll try anyway. Is there anyone on here who is genuinely interested in linguistics? I'm a linguistics nerd myself, and I'm particularly interested in...

Do you believe genetics can cause one to have a particular accent in a given language? Or are accents only related to post-birth personal development? Are there ethnicities having anatomically distinct voice boxes, that have more difficulty in emulating specific accents? I tend to...

Has anyone ever tried to establish an approx rate that languages evolve, in a similar way that genetic change was used to establish a molecular clock of sorts? (disclaimer: i know zero about linguistics) thanks someone.

From my understanding, the line of descent of the English language looks like this: Modern English << Middle English << Old English << Anglo-Saxon << Old Saxon/other Old Germanic languages. Also, from my understanding, somewhere between 50-70% of all modern English words have Latin and/or...

I have a question that I've been pondering recently. As far as I can tell, it's original to the boards or at least hasn't been discussed in a long time so I think it's fair to start a new topic. This concerns initial bases for thought. It would seem that both language and mathematics are the...

To whom it may concern, I am looking for any articles on the uses of the preposition "of" in mathematics. I once read in a teacher's edition of a pre-algebra textbook that suggested students should be taught, as early as possible, the many uses of the preposition "of" in mathematics, but I...

As many of you know, precise language is necessary for effective communication in mathematics. Although I find that I am quite capable of communicating my thoughts effectively and clearly, I feel that there is always room for improvement. Please recommend an introductory, and perhaps a...

I'm looking for a good introductory linguistics textbook. Unfortunately, I'm not able to squeeze a class into my physics degree. Thanks for any recommendations.

I'd like to find a good intro. or whatever Linguistics textbook I can buy online. Thanks.

This is kind of a dumb question but I really can't find a definition anywhere. Can anyone help?

I'm getting ready to return to school and am trying to figure out how to combine my interests. I plan on attending grad school, so I'm looking at my undergrad work as just preparatory. I have a specific, long-term project in mind that covers four areas: math (mainly logic and foundations)...