Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2006 December 27

=December 27=

linking acticals in other lanuguages
I am writing an article in another language and want to link it with the English article how do you do it —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ddogg2 (talk • contribs)
 * See Interlanguage links. -Fsotrain09 03:45, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Language
How do structural descriptive grammar approach define the noun,verb,adverb and adjective?


 * Usually they are considered primitive categories. A specific grammar will describe how sentences can be formed from elements of such categories. If you have a language conforming to such a grammar, you can recognize the nouns etcetera by the fact that they behave in conformance with the grammatical rules. This is of course highly theoretical, since no natural language has been described to any reasonable level of detail and precision by a structural descriptive grammar. --Lambiam Talk  10:31, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

My/Mine
Can someone offer an explanation as to the difference between the two. I can understand it it english, but am trying to explain it to myself in german. MHDIV ɪŋglɪʃnɜː(r)d  ( Suggestion? | wanna chat? ) 11:56, 27 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Good, but tough, question. I will try and answer by examples.  Both of the following statements are correct:


 * "This computer is mine."
 * "My computer is white."


 * It looks like "mine" is quite a vague word, used only to define ownership. But "my" has an adjective attatched: "white". Does that help?martianlostinspace 11:59, 27 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Use "my" when a noun or noun phrase follows immediately. In other cases, use "mine". You should always be able to substitute a phrase like "(the one(s) that is/are) my property" for "mine":
 * "The pink mouse is mine. – Are you sure? Mine is also pink."
 * "The pink mouse is my property. – Are you sure? The one that is my property is also pink."
 * --Lambiam Talk 13:12, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

My is a determiner. It patterns with other determiners such as the, and a/an, some and so on. Mine is a whole noun phrase, that can be understood as incorporating the determiner my in meaning. Many languages have that distinction e.g., Spanish mi vs. mio. mnewmanqc 18:34, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

By summing up what was mentioned above, the difference in present-day English is mine is used as a pronoun and as a predicate adjective. My is used only as an attributive adjective.--El aprendelenguas 23:03, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

reflexive 1st person plural pronouns in German
How does one say eachother/oneanother instead of us. Is it something like: Wir duschen uns Wir duschen einander ? P.S. sorry for the bad example, but my mind's gone blank and I can't think of a more appropriate reflexive verb! MHDIV ɪŋglɪʃnɜː(r)d  ( Suggestion? | wanna chat? ) 12:07, 27 December 2006 (UTC)


 * For example Laßt uns einander lieben. --Lambiam Talk  13:02, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Sorry, that is a bad (confusing) example. You should distinguish between truly reflexive verbs, and "normal" verbs used reciprocally. An example of a reflexive verb is sich verirren (to lose one's way). You cannot lose someone else's way. In the 1st person plural this is: Wir haben uns verirrt. An example of a verb that can be used reciprocally is kennen (to know). If you want to say: "We know each other", you can either use "Wir kennen uns" or "Wir kennen einander". The first is more common. --Lambiam Talk  13:31, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Dankeschön! ɪŋglɪʃnɜː(r)d ( Suggestion? | wanna chat? ) 15:03, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
 * To stick with your example: Wir duschen uns could be translated as we are taking a shower (or we take a shower, depending on the context). Wir duschen einander would be translated as we are showering each other. If you wanted to emphasize the each other, you could also say wir duschen uns gegenseitig or wir duschen einander gegenseitig - in this case both uns and einander would mean the same thing, but without the word gegenseitig, wir duschen uns would normally be interpreted as we are taking a shower (not we are showering each other). ---Sluzzelin 23:44, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
 * wir duschen einander gegenseitig sounds awfully wrong to me. I'd never use einander gegenseitig and I've never heard anyone say it before. I wish I could give a reason, but all I have is my gut feeling as a native speaker. --Dapeteばか 08:37, 28 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Ack, you're right Dapete. Einander gegeseitig is a pleonasm and thus strictly incorrect. You see it used sometimes, but it's wrong nevertheless. Thank you for pointing that out - my bad. ---Sluzzelin 19:42, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

crossword help
please could anyone help me with these clues-


 * ability to speak persuasively (4,2,2,3)
 * - Gift of the gab GeeJo (t)⁄(c) &bull; 17:28, 27 December 2006 (UTC) Bah, read it as 4233. Sorry, no idea. GeeJo (t)⁄(c) &bull; 17:29, 27 December 2006 (UTC) actually you are correctMi2n15 05:39, 28 December 2006 (UTC)


 * colourless gas (5)(o?o??) - Ozone? It's actually pale blue, but in the atmosphere it's colourless (send em a correction if you fancy gaining a reputation as a boffin). GeeJo (t)⁄(c) &bull; 17:28, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
 * 'muddy footwear? (7) - From the use of "colourless" above, I'm gonna guess this is from a British publication, so I'll go with Wellies. If I'm wrong, maybe Hessian; though from lack of obscurity in the other items, that seems a bit of a stretch. Go for Wellies. GeeJo (t)⁄(c) &bull; 17:43, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
 * In some countries, the word gumboot is a synonym for the British welly. Grutness...wha?  11:29, 30 December 2006 (UTC)


 * menial -factotum (6-6) – Pencil-pusher. --Shantavira 19:27, 27 December 2006 (UTC)wait these are the letters (B?T?L?W?S?E?)Mi2n15 05:39, 28 December 2006 (UTC)i think i got it is it "bottle washer"Mi2n15 05:41, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
 * bird of prey (??L?O?) - Falcon. GeeJo (t)⁄(c) &bull; 17:28, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
 * court procedure made void by error (8) - Mistrial. GeeJo (t)⁄(c) &bull; 17:31, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
 * reply (R?P?S??) - Riposte. GeeJo (t)⁄(c) &bull; 17:33, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
 * quaint (4) - I'm not sure why, but cosy was the first word that appeared in my head when reading "quaint". The guy next to me had the same response. Odd, since it doesn't actually relate directly to the word. Still, if it fits, use it. GeeJo (t)⁄(c) &bull; 17:31, 27 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Cute?--Shantavira 19:28, 27 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Twee? --Anchoress 19:33, 27 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Cunt?—not as gratuitous as it sounds. meltBanana  20:19, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Seems unlikely that knowledge of Chaucer would be required for this particular crossword, especially given the word's main usage. I'd go for Cute or Twee though. GeeJo (t)⁄(c) &bull; 20:51, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Mi2n15 17:12, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Nice? A slightly dated usage—but no older than mid-19th century. --Vyasa Ozsvar 01:13, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Vae victis
Please could somebody parse the latin phrase vae victis? Thanks. --Auximines 19:47, 27 December 2006 (UTC)


 * For the meaning, see Vae victis. I think vae ("woe") should be classified as an interjection. Victis is the dative case ("to") of the plural of the perfect passive participle victus ("conquered") – used as a noun here: "the conquered" – of the verb vinco ("to conquer"). --Lambiam Talk  20:54, 27 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Just what I wanted. Many thanks. --Auximines 22:53, 27 December 2006 (UTC)