Unanswered Questions
5,889 questions with no answers
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Is there dialectal variation in the weak form of "on"?
This question is related, but not quite identical, to a previous one and to another similar one.
In a recent video, phonetician Geoff Lindsey claimed that the words "off" and "on" ...
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Earlier sources or identity of person who coined the term "neutrois"?
A lot of work I've been doing recently has been around the emergence of various gender identities. "Neutrois" recently came to my attention, with more information about it here:
Nonbinary ...
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How are /ɪ/ and /ʌ/ realised in the Nottingham (East Midlands) accent?
I've got a sample of a few words pronounced by a Nottingham accent representative: https://youtu.be/2fCSeDEZeVU
My ear is far from perfect and this is why I'd like to ask for your help in this ...
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Whispered voiced sibilant fricatives / z ʒ / (e.g., cee vs zee)
Are whispered voiced sibilant fricatives devoiced to the point of being indistinguishable from their (whispered) voiceless counterparts, /s ʃ/ ?
For example, Asher = azure, mesher = measure, buses = ...
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What is a Google Tree? (used in a book from 1898)
The phrase Google Tree appears in St. Nicholas: An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks from 1898 (starting on p. 35, or p. 49 of the pdf file):
Both madly loved the Lily Maid,
And better to decoy
...
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Is there any implication of drunkenness in "high lonesome" as used in the term "high lonesome sound"?
Wiktionary has the following entry for "high lonesome sound":
high lonesome sound (music) An expressively emotional, powerful and earthy style of musical expression associated mainly with ...
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There’s one letter (for you) to sign
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language by H&P says (Page 1394):
(d) Infinitival extensions
[11] i a. A few replies are still to come. b. There are still a few replies to come.
ii a. One ...
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Where does the phrase "cheater caught, Peter red" come from?
Growing up in Pakistan, I heard variations of either:
Cheater caught, Peter red; or
Cheater cock, Peter red
I assumed it was about a cocky boy named Peter who was either caught red-handed or turned ...
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Where did "sprocket" sprout from?
Sprocket originally referred to a carpenter's tool, but its usual meaning now is a toothed wheel that drives a chain or gear.
Etymonline says 'of obscure origin':
1530s, originally a carpenters' word ...
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Assimilation of /ʃ/ to [ɕ] before bunched [ɹ̈]
I noticed an odd phonetic phenomenon in my own speech that I initially assumed was widespread; then I asked @tchrist about it and he seemed to think it was highly unusual, which made me curious. IANAP ...
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Was 'without' always the opposite of 'with'?
It seems that the word without was constructed as the opposite of within (or vice versa, but either way, they're a pair). However, we also use the word to mean the opposite of with, and that poses a ...
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'To lie' and 'to lay' / 'to rise' and 'to raise' / 'to fall' and 'to fell' <-- Did English used to have more pairs like this?
My understanding is that there aren't many pairs of intransitive and transitive verbs in modern English. Off-hand, I know of three (though I think there are more):
lie vs lay
rise vs raise
fall vs ...
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Is linking R to a vowel in British English an intentional effort or a natural occurrence?
If I am not wrong, the linkage between words happens naturally when you try to pronounce the words quickly. Unlike American English, where the ending R is always clearly pronounced, British ...
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How can I distinguish between supplements and modifiers as proposed in The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (CGEL)?
In CGEL, the authors use the term 'adjunct' as an umbrella term to cover an element that is either modifier or supplement. On page 1350, the authors explain the properties of supplements to ...
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Again = 'back, opposite direction'
In the OED, archaic again, under def. 1a, is 'In the opposite direction; back.' The last example given there is from John Bunyan, with "turn again": "Come then, Neighbour Pliable, let ...
