Refs and Stuff

This blog is mostly for my personal references (i.e. languages, tips, witchcraft, etc.)

[speakvulcantome]

Zhit-isan. Grammar.

Dvubolaya. Motivation. Ha, vesht tor nash-veh! Yes, I did it! Dungi tor nash-veh. I will do it.  Kup tor nash-veh. I can do it.  Dungi nisau tor nash-veh. I’ll try to do it.  Uf tor nash-veh? How do I do it?  Aitlu tor nash-veh. I want to do it.  Rikup tor nash-veh. I can’t do it.  Ritor dungi nash-veh. I won’t do it. 

https://vulcanlanguage.blogspot.com/

[enbyzombies2]

Transcript of Segments From My Kazakh Textbook's First Chapter

Because I typed all of this out in hopes of making a study guide on Quizlet, and want to save it just in case. Enjoy, I suppose, and do feel free to correct or clarify if you are a native speaker.

Vowel Harmony:

There are thirteen vowels in Kazakh, divided according to their place of articulation and phonological behavior.

Back vowels: а, о, ұ, ы

Front vowels: ә, е, ө, ү, і

Mixed vowels: и, у, ю, я

There are mixed vowels such as у and и that occur in combination with front or back vowels; "қуану", "киім", "оқиға", "күйеу". The vowels ю and я occur in combination with back vowels; "ою", "жая", and sometimes with front vowels; "сүю", "Сәния"

Vowel harmony plays a major role in the Kazakh language. The most important thing to remember is that the vowel of a suffix must match the final vowel of the stem- if the final vowel is front, the suffix vowel must also be front; if the final vowel is back, the suffix vowel must also be back. For example, with the plural suffixes, "-лар/лер", "-дар/дер", and "-тар/тер", the "a" is a front vowel and the "e" is a back vowel. The form that occurs depends on the final vowel of the stem. Specific examples (note that these words do not need to be memorized and therefore are not translated);

Бала + лар = балалар

Терезе + лер = Терелер

Қыз + дар = Қыздар

Гүл + дер = Гүлдер

Ат + тар = Аттар

Сурет + тер = Суреттер

Note that vowel harmony does not seem to apply stem-internally. There are some "broken" stems in casual Kazakh, mostly from loanwords dating back hundreds of years.

It is important to know that, in Kazakh, there are certain suffixes that have only one variant of the vowel, but you will learn all of these in due time.

Consonant Alternations:

In Kazakh, consonants at the end of stems and the beginning of suffixes may change based on adjacent sounds. To understand how these alternations work, it is important to know whether a consonant is voiceless or voiced.

Voiceless: к, қ, п, с, т, ф, х, ц, ч, ш, щ

Voiced: ғ, ж, з, й, л, м, н, ң, р, у

Voiced, but act voiceless in practice: б, в, г, д

If a word ends in a voiceless consonant, then the suffix added to the word begins with a voiceless consonant. If the last sound of a word is a voiced consonant, then the added suffix begins with a voiced consonant. For example, using "-Та/те", "-да/де" (note that these words do not need to be memorized and therefore are not translated);

Ағаш + та = Ағашта

Бесік + те = Бесікте

Люксембург + те = Люксембургте

Жаз + да = Жазда

Адам + да = Адамда

Көше + де = Көшеде

If the last sound of the word is one of the voiceless consonants қ, к, п, and the added suffix begins with a vowel, then the voiceless consonant changes to its voiced counterpart, ғ, г, б.

It is important to know the form of a verb stem- verbs are often given in their imperative form, ending with -y, and usually one may simply remove the imperative suffix (-y) to know the verb stem. However, if the verb stem ends in i or ы, these vowels become absorbed by the -y suffix and there is no way of knowing that the stem includes one of these vowels by simply removing -y.

Kazakh Word Order:

In Kazakh sentences, the verb always goes at the end of the sentence. This is because typical word order of Kazakh sentences is subject + object + verb (SOV), as opposed to in English that has subject + verb + object (SVO) word order. For example; "Мен қазақ тілін оқимын," translates to "I learn Kazakh", but literally means "I Kazakh language learn." Example 2; "Ол студент болды," translates to "He was a student", but literally means "He student was."

Kazakh Personal Pronouns:

In Kazakh, there are eight personal pronouns, that are used as subject pronouns or nominative case pronouns, meaning they are used for the subject of a sentence, as in English "I," "we," "they," etc. as opposed to "me," "us," "them," etc. There are a few situations in Kazakh where the subject is not nominative or something in nominative case is not the subject; but you will be introduced to these topics as needed in future chapters.

The complete list of personal pronouns is as follows:

1st person pronouns; "Мен" = I, "Біз" = we

2nd person informal pronouns; "Сен" = you, "Сендер" = you all

2nd person formal pronouns; "Сіз" = you, "Сіздер" = you all

3rd person pronouns; "Ол" = singular they or it, "Олар" = plural they (Kazakh does not have gendered pronouns)

When referring to objects, the name is used instead of any pronoun such as "it".

Personal endings in copula sentences:

English sentences using the linking verb "to be" (copula sentences) are expressed in Kazakh with a suffix rather than a verb. These personal endings are added to the noun or adjective that is being sued as a predicate (the part of the sentence which states something about the subject). This is best explained by the following examples;

"Мен жаспын." = I am young. "пын" is the personal ending indicating that "young" (жас) describes "I", the subject.

"Сен ақылдыcың." = You are intelligent. "cың" is the personal ending indicating that "intelligent" (ақылды) describes "you", the subject.

"Сіз жассыз." = You are young. "сыз" is the personal ending indicating that "young" (жас) describes "you", the subject.

"Ол қуанышты." = They (singular) are happy. Note that "Ол" does not have a personal ending.

"Біз жаспыз." = We are young. "пыз" is the personal ending indicating that "young" (жас) describes "we", the subject.

"Сендер дәрігерсіңдер." = You are doctors. "сіңдер" is the personal ending indicating that "doctors" describes "you (all)", the subject.

"Сіздер қуаныштысыздар." = You all are happy. "сыздар" is the personal ending indicating that "happy" describes "you all"", the subject.

"Олар дәрігерлер." = They (plural) are doctors. Note that "Олар" does not have a personal ending- "лер" is the suffix that makes the noun "дәрігер" plural.

Personal pronouns can be dropped when the subject is clear- such as "Дерігермін" = "I am a doctor". In contrast, 3rd person requires more clarity due to the lack of personal endings, so the pronoun is usually specified.

The Plural Suffix:

In spoken Kazakh, the plural suffixes "-лар/лер", "-дар/дер", and "-тар/тер" are often dropped. For example, "They are doctors" can be spoken as "Олар дәрігер" rather than "Олар дәрігерлер."

The Yes/No Particle:

You can turn a simple statement into a yes/no question by using the interrogative particles "Ма/Ме", "Ба/Бе", "Па/Пе". The question particle's selection is, as most grammar in Kazakh, based on the principles of vowel harmony and consonant assimilation. The consonant is chosen based on how the word ends.

After vowels or й, р, у, л: Ма/Ме; "Олар қуанышты ма?" = "Are they happy?"

After ж, з, м, н, ң: Ба/Бе; "Сіз мұғалімсіз бе?" = "Are you a teacher?"

After voiceless consonants or б, в, г, д: Па/Пе; "Ол студент пе?" = "Are they a student?"

Questions in Kazakh have either the question words (what, who, when, etc) or the yes/no question particles, but not both.

When you are asked a yes/no question and wish to answer affirmatively, answer "Ие" for "yes". Example; "Ие, студентпін." = "Yes, I am a student."

When you need to answer negatively, use ther word "Жоқ" for "no". Example: "Жоқ, мұғалім емеспін." = "No, I am not a teacher."

Ablative Case:

To express the idea of "from a place" in Kazakh, you attach the ablative case suffixes "-Даһ/ден", "-Нан/нен", "-Тан/тен" to the place name. For example, "Америкадан" means "from America".

The initial consonant of the subject takes the д- form when it occurs after voiced sounds (vowels and voiced consonants), the т- form when it occurs after voiceless consonants, and the н- form when it occurs after nasals (м, н, ң).

The vowel sound is, as always, dependent on vowel harmony, so if the previous vowel is a back vowel, it takes the "a" sound. If the previous vowel is a front vowel, it takes the "e" sound.

After vowels or й, р, у, л: -Даһ/ден

After ж, з, м, н, ң: -Нан/нен

After voiceless consonants or б, в, г, д: -Тан/тен

Asking Questions with "әлде" and "немесе":

When asking someone a question where there are two optional answers, the words "әлде" and "немесе" can be used to indicate the English term "or". These words are optional and can be omitted, however, both options must share a subject and be stated as questions using a question particle. For example, the question "Are you from America or Canada?" can be expressed as all three of the following;

"Сен Америкадансын ба әлде Канададансың ба?"

"Сен Америкадансын ба немесе Канададансың ба?:

"Сен Америкадансын ба, Канададансың ба?"

[zhuzhudushu]

Learning Chinese from Spam Texts

I got a very amusing spam text in Chinese this morning, so naturally I have to turn it into a vocabulary lesson.

生活洋溢甜蜜温馨，周末愉快，今天有什么安排呢？ 看你没有回信息，你是在忙还是没有收到我的信息呢？

新词 Vocab:

洋溢 / yáng yì / brimming with

甜蜜 / tián mì / sweet

温馨 / wēn xīn / soft, fragrant and warm

愉快 / yú kuài / happy, pleasant, cheery

安排 / ān pái / plan or arrangements; to plan or arrange

信息 / xìn xī / text message; information

收到 / shòu dào / to receive

翻译 Translation:

Life is brimming with sweetness and warmth, happy weekend, what plans do you have today? I see you haven't replied to my message, are you busy or have you not received my message?

[gofollowthenewkindofapolyglot]

TO HAVE IN BULGARIAN

Здравейте!  I am here with yet another weird Yoghurtland post! Today it’s all about.. глаголът имам - the verb to have Firstly, here’s how you conjugate it: Аз имам - I have Ти имаш - you have Той има - he has Тя има - she has То има - it has Ние имаме - we have Вие имате - you have Те имат - they have Example sentences: Аз имам брат. - I have a brother. Ти имаш колело. - You have a bike. Тя има книга. - She has a book. Той има паспорт. - He has a passport. То има лапи. - It has paws. Ние имаме деца. - We have kids. Вие имате къща. - You have a house. Те имат апартамент. - They have an apartment. Just like with the verb съм (to be) it would be much more natural to drop the pronoun, since the verb is already conjugated. Good news here! You keep the word order! Unlike with съм where you must put the verb at the end for the short forms (for some reason) with имам you don’t need to do that. Same sentences: Имам брат. - I have a brother. Имаш колело. - You have a bike. Има книга. - She has a book. (since there’s no pronoun this sentence could mean ‘’He has a book’’, depending on the context) Има паспорт. - He has a passport. (since there’s no pronoun this sentence could mean ‘’She has a passport’’, depending on the context) Има лапи. - It has paws.  Имаме деца. - We have kids. Имате къща. - You have a house. Имат апартамент. - They have an apartment. Note: You can put the verb at the end of the sentence but the meaning becomes a bit different. If you put at the end you’re adding emphasis on the thing that you have. Example! А: Имаш сестра?         Б: Не, брат имам.  -> ‘’Имам брат’’ works perfectly fine, also. A: You have a sister? B: No, I have a brother. ( it’s a brother that I have) All in all, if you’re not sure where to put have just put it at the beginning, since it works in either case. The only reason I told you about the weird emphasis thing is to prepare you for people who’d use it - don’t worry, they’re not out of their mind, they just have something that is very important!  I hope you found this useful and interesting, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate do ask me!

[wonderful-language-sounds]

Overview

Wikibooks’ Punjabi 

Punjabi Pronunciation Dictionary

Language information

MAA Alphabet Exercises

Gurmukhi script

Shahmukhi script

Grammar and Courses

A Start in Punjabi

Basic Punjabi

Basic phrases

ilanguages Punjabi

Learn 101 Punjabi

Learn Punjabi

Memrise Courses

Overview of Punjabi Grammar  

Travel phrases

Vocabulary

Dictionaries

Shabdkosh

Dictionary

Punjabi-English Dictionary

Books

A Descriptive Grammar of Punjabi

Colloquial Panjabi + Audio

Panjabi Primer

Panjabi Reader

Teach Yourself Punjabi

Media 

Punjabi Radio USA

SBS Radio

DD Punjabi TV

Daily Ajit Newspaper

Video lectures

Youtube Lessons

More Lessons

Mango language app

Songs

Amplifier – Imran Khan

Ki Banu Duniya Da – Gurdas Mann ft. Diljit Dosanjh

Soch – Hardy Sandhu

Sadi Galli - Lehmber Hussainpuri

Desi Kalakaar – Honey Singh

Jassi Siddhu - Veer Ji Viyohn

[dailygregg]

[dailygregg]

[tulunnguaq]

Check out this video for a brief intro to Greenlandic!

[tulunnguaq]

Greenlandic Joke

Woman: Do you smoke?

Man: Yep

Woman: How many a day?

Man: Two packs

Woman: How much do the packs cost?

Man: 79 kroner

Woman: When did you start smoking?

Man: Back in 1985

Woman: Single packs are 79kr. Two a day, 158kr? Each month 4,898kr, each year 58,776kr, and in 33 years that’s 1,939,608kr.

Man: That’s right.

Woman: Do you know that if you hadn’t been a smoker, you could have bought a Targa-32? [see pic below]

Man: And what about you, do you smoke?

Woman: Not at all!

Man: So where’s your Targa-32?

[ukrainianjournal]

Cases Part 1 - Declension

There are three genders of verbs in Ukrainian - masculine, neuter, and feminine. Here are the declension of these nouns (from http://www.ukrainianlanguage.org.uk/ because typing them all out would take too long):

Masculine:

Feminine:

Neuter:

Next time, I'll talk about when to use the cases, and what we can use them for.

[ukrainianjournal]

Summer Vocab

Summer's almost here, so vocab.

Nouns:

Summer - Літо

June - Червень

July - Липень

August - Серпень

September -Вересень

Beach - Пляж

Ocean - Океан

Vacation - Залишення

Friend/Friends - Друг/Друзі

Friend (female) - Подруга

Sun - Сонце

Water - Вода

Verbs:

To swim - Плавати

To walk - Гуляти

To run - Бігати

Adjectives/Adverbs

Hot - Жарко

Sunny - Сонячно

Very - Дуже

Cold - Холодно

Phrases:

I am (too) hot - Мені (занадто) жарко

I will swim in the ocean with my friends - Я буду плавати в океані з моїми друзями

I am going on a walk with my friend/female friend - Я гуляю з моїм другом / моєю подругою

It's sunny - Сонячно

The water's (too) cold - Воді (занадто) холодна

[europeanlanguages]

Resource List for Learning Ukrainian

Hi Language Enthusiasts,

Do you want to learn Ukrainian but don’t know where to start? Then I’ve got the perfect resource list for you and you can find its links below. Let me know if you have any suggestions to improve it. I hope everyone can enjoy it and if anyone notices any mistakes or has any questions you are free to PM me.

Here is what the resource list contains;

Handmade resources on certain grammar concepts for easy understanding.

Resources on learning pronunciation.

Websites to practice reading.

Documents to enhance your vocabulary.

Notes on Colloquial Language.

Music playlists

List of podcasts/audiobooks And a compiled + organized list of websites you can use to get hold of grammar!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DTgAwXrk_PLS7Or8T8vnzgAZIutwQZIDVN35hDW1F54/edit?usp=sharing

[tenet00]

𓅔

[tulunnguaq]

This question was recently posted on the Inuit-Yupik-Unangan Discord group, and user zanewallach gave this fantastic answer, which I’m sharing with you all below (the above map from Wikipedia by Noahedits may be helpful):

ehhh… it’s a complicated question to answer, but Inuit languages work on a spectrum. Pick a spot on the map, and the further west or east you go, the less you’ll understand. Generally, all the Inuit dialects in Nunavut, including North Baffin, South Baffin, Aivilik, Kivalliq, Nunavik, and Nunatsiavut, are mutually intelligible for native speakers without much effort. These dialects share the vast majority of their basic vocabulary (although some surprisingly basic things such as greetings and the words for ‘yes’ and 'no’ are different from dialect to dialect) and the main way that they vary is in terms of gemination (generally, the more west you go, the less gemination occurs). That being said, it makes sense to classify the aforementioned group of dialects under a single name: Eastern Canadian Inuktitut. So, there are basically four main dialect groups which, for the sake of simplicity, can kind of each be considered their own language. Another way to look at it, is that Inuit is one huge macrolanguage, but I think the former approach is more practical.

The four major dialect groups (or languages) are these: Inupiatun dialect group = North Slope, Malimiutun, Qawariaq, Bering Strait Western Canadian Inuktun dialect group = Siglitun, Inuinnaqtun, Natsilingmiutut Eastern Canadian Inuktitut dialect group = North Baffin, South Baffin, Kivalliq, Aivilik, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut Greenlandic dialect group = West Greenlandic, East Greenlandic, Polar Greenlandic

Keep in mind, most all these dialects have subdialects, but at that level, it’s most just quibbling If we start with North Baffin, Inuinnaqtun is where it starts to become a legitimately different language, but still, I think  a native speaker from Iglulik would be able to understand 80% at the very least of  what a native speaker from Ulukhaktok was saying. North Baffin compared to Greenlandic is where the differences start to become pretty insuperable, but I still think someone from Nuuk could understand 70ish% of what someone from Iglulik was saying if they were trying their hardest. (But probably less so, the other way around) Theoretically, the two furthest Inuit dialects apart from each other are Bering Strait Inupiaq and East Greenlandic. I don’t think that speakers of these two dialects would understand more than 20% of what each other were saying Here is a list of basic North Baffin Verb Roots next to their Inuinnaqtun equivalents for comparison:

isuma- = think / ihuma- pisuk- = walk / pihuk- titiraq- = write / titiraq- niri- = eat / niri- katak- = fall / katak- sinik- sleep / sinik- tikit- arrive / tikit- taku- see / taku- ikajuq- help / ikajuq- malik- follow / malik- tautuk- watch / tautuk- pilak(si)- = carve / pilak(hi)- kapi(si)- stab / kapi(hi)- ingit- (iksivaaq-) = sit (be seated) / ingit- (ikhiva-) aullaq- = depart / aullaq- angirrau- (angirraq-) = go home (be at home) / angilrau- (angilraq-) tusaq- (tusaa-) = hear / tuhaq- (tuhaa-) tuqu- (tuqunga-) = die (be dead) tuqu- (tuqunga-) iqqaq- (iqqauma-) = remember / itqaq(gi)- qauji- (qaujima-) = discover (know) / ilihima- tukisi- = understand / kangiqhi- qukiq(si)- shoot / hiqquq- naulik(si)- harpoon / naulik(hi)- kunik(si)- = kiss / kunik(hi)- ilira(suk/gi)- = intimidate / ilara(huk/gi)- quvia(suk/gi)- = be happy / quvia(huk/gi)- kangu(suk/gi)- = be shy / kan'ngu(huk/gi)- naglik(gusuk/gi)- = love / piqpa(gi)- piu(ksak/gi)- = like / nakuu(gi)- unga- = miss / kinnguq- As you can see, with basic vocabulary, the differences between East Canadian Inuktitut and Western Canadian Inuktun are very minimal. That’s why sometimes, both dialect groups are labeled under the name “Inuktut” But Greenlandic shares a lot less vocabulary with these dialects The good thing though is that all Inuit languages have essentially the same grammar as each other (they are all equally polysynthetic as one another), but some dialects are more vague about tense than others, North Baffin has one extra mood than the other dialects, aspect works a bit differently in Western Canadian Inuktun than it does in Eastern Canadian Inuktitut; stuff like that. It’s really in the phonology that dialects vary the most.

[tulunnguaq]

Greenlandic Masterpost 2021

I thought it was time to do another round-up / masterpost of my own posts to date on the Greenlandic language (and some more recently on Inuktitut). I promise that none of the links below are rickrolls! (but I guarantee that at least one of the posts does contain one…).

As ever, I’m open to questions and comment!

Translations and stuff

Greenlandic Text Lesson 1 - Bussimi Naapinneq (The Meeting in the Bus)

Greenlandic Text Lesson 2 - Ingerlaliinnaleqaagut by Nanook

Greenlandic Text Lesson 3 - Qeqertarsuarmi nanorsiortut (Bear hunt in Qeqertarsuaq)

Greenlandic Text Lesson 4 - Name the Book Challenge!

Greenlandic Text Lessons 1-4 - Revision Challenge!

Greenlandic Text Lesson 5 - Arnanut (For Women)

Greenlandic Text Lesson 6 - Aasami Atuanngiffik (The Summer Holidays)

Greenlandic Text Lesson 7 - A letter

Greenlandic Text Lesson 8 - Astrofysikeri Stephen Hawking

Greenlandic Text Lesson 9 - Ulla the pregnant LOLcat

Greenlandic Text Lesson 10 - Tuuma

Greenlandic Text Lesson 11 - Benny the Beluga

Greenlandic Text Lesson 12 - Nunassittarneq/Settlement

Greenlandic Text Lesson 13 - Bussimi Naapinneq (again)

Greenlandic Text Lesson 14 - Captain Tom Moore’s fundraising for the NHS

Greenlandic Text Lesson 15 - Harry Potter!

Counting in Greenlandic - 1 to 20

Word length in Greenlandic

Another Greenlandic Song - Ukiut Qaangiuttut by Zikaza

Inuktun - the language of the Inughuit of Northern Greenland

Iikkaleeq - an East Greenlandic Children’s story

Linguistic Excursions #7: French and East Greenlandic/Tunumiisut

Herod and Mariamne - Pär Lagerkvist - Greenlandic extract

Greenlandic - Skolt Saami Phrase List

Greenlandic - Yorùbá Phrase List

Greenlandic / Icelandic Parallel Texts - The Northern Lights

Greenlandic / Icelandic Parallel Texts - The Ice

Enjoy *being* Yourself - LGBT terminology

Humour and stuff

A nice long word

Another nice long word

Roll on another long word

Some Greenlandic humour…

More Greenlandic humour…

Italian words for pasta…

Essential Movie Quotes in Greenlandic #1-#9

Essential Movie/Book Quotes in Greenlandic #12 - Harry Potter

Greenlandic Linguistics in 2025

Qaqqaqaqaaq!

Greenlandic Scrabble

Books and stuff

Learning Greenlandic Book Review #1: Qaagit!

Grønlandsk Rejseparlør

The Language of the Inuit - Louis-Jacques Dorais

Words of the Inuit - Louis-Jacques Dorais

Oqa.dk - a new Greenlandic grammar resource

Some textbook suggestions

Other stuff

Juullileqaaq - It’s Christmas soon!

Tsunami in Greenland

Playground sign

A (Greenlandic) quote for Valentine’s Day

Etymology of Greenlandic “Tuluk” - an alternative hypothesis

West Greenlandic guide to the orthography of East Greenlandic

Ethnonym Chain

How do you say North-West in Greenlandic?

Mutual Intelligibility of Greenlandic and Inuit dialects

Greenlandic Language Puzzle

My blog gets cited in a Bachelor’s thesis

Inuktitut artwork - Josie Paperk

“The Terror” - Post 1 (Silna), Post 2 (Netsilik Hunter)

And finally - not my work, but here you have the excellent “Ultimate Greenlandic Resource List”

[bpdpeepo]

Literally no one:

My body dysmorphia: lol u look like this

[soundsofhumanity]

Logo Te Pate - Te Vaka

Language: Tokelauan 

Where the artist(s) is from: Various Polynesian backgrounds, including Tokelau, Tuvalu, Samoa, and New Zealand 

Lyrics:

Ke manatua faiga iena Do you remember when we did all that Te luelue te malohi ina hiva The sway, the energy expressed in the dance Ke manatua faiga iena Do you remember when we did all that Te fiafia te malie ina hiva The sway, the energy expressed in the dance

Hau la ke ta o (kuku mai to lima) Come on, let’s go (give me your hand) Hau la ke ta o (hau ta hihiva) Come on, let’s go (come let’s dance) Hau la ke ta o (kuku mai to lima) Come on, let’s go (give me your hand) Hau la ke ta o (ko koe taku pele e fofou ai au)  Come on, let’s go (you are the only one that I wish for)

Tamilomilo fakatamilomilo (e kua ninimo toku ulu) Round and round spinning round (hey, my head’s getting dizzy) Tamilomilo fakatamilomilo (toe fai toe fai ke manino)  Round and round spinning round (do it again it’ll soon clear)

Katakata mai (kata mai) Smile my way (my way) Hihiva mai (hihiva mai) Keep on dancing (keep on dancing) Fakalogo ki te pate  Listen to the pate Ma te luelue And keep on swaying