The sci.lang FAQ
Frequently asked questions about linguistics
The sci.lang FAQFrequently asked questions about linguistics |
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This is an expanded version of the FAQ posted periodically to the sci.lang newsgroup.
Original version written by Michael Covington.
Maintained by Mark Rosenfelder.
Version:
2.29
Last modified Mar 3, 2002
Recent changes: Added a question on etymology.
Note: This FAQ doesn't cover everything! Many good books and many important ideas are left unmentioned. All readers should be aware that linguistics is a young science and that linguists rarely agree 100% on anything.
Distribution: All contents are copyright © by the respective authors. This file may be freely distributed electronically, or as handouts in linguistics classes. Please retain the author attributions and addresses, and this paragraph. Before using it in print, please contact the authors.
Linguistics: What it
is
What is
linguistics?
Does
linguistics tell people how to speak or write properly?
Resources
What is sci.lang for?
What are some good
books about linguistics?
What are some stories and
novels that involve linguistics?
Where can I get an electronic IPA font
(or other electronic resources)?
What are some
linguistics-related websites?
How do I subscribe to the
LINGUIST list?
Language families
How are present-day
languages related? [Let's see a map]
How do linguists decide that
languages are related?
What about Nostratic and
Proto-World?
How
likely are chance resemblances between languages?
Theories
What do those asterisks
mean?
What is Noam
Chomsky's transformational grammar all about?
What is the Sapir-Whorf
hypothesis?
Sounds
How can I represent phonetic
symbols in ASCII?
What are phonemes and why's
it so hard to lose a foreign accent?
Writing systems
Why do Hebrew and
Yiddish [etc.] look alike if they aren't related?
How do you look up a word in a
Chinese or Japanese dictionary?
Puzzlers
How did language
originate?
What is
known about prehistoric language?
Are all languages equally complex,
or are some more primitive than others?
What is a dialect? (Relation
between dialects and languages.)
Languages keep simplifying--
how did they ever become complex?
Particular languages
What about those
Eskimo words for snow? (and other myths about language)
What about artificial
languages, such as Esperanto?
How are tone languages
sung?
Is English a
creole?
Why do
both English and French have plurals in -s?
How did genders and cases
develop in Indo-European?
Why are there so many names for
Germany?
Where
did (some word) come from?