Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2015 January 1

= January 1 =

Opposite adjectives in English
Hi there,

Sometimes, when I write English Sentences, I notice that there is an "anti-order" adjective.

Example: This subject is English only topic. vs Only English has this subject as a topic.

My question is, how-come both are acceptable?

I assume that English in the 2nd sentence is a noun vs the first sentence, on which it is an adjective?Exx8 (talk) 13:54, 1 January 2015 (UTC)


 * I don't think "This subject is English only topic." is a sentence which makes sense as written. Do you mean to use 'English-only', with a hyphen? I think "This subject is an English-only topic." makes reasonable sense. It's typical in English to put the noun first and the adjective second when forming compound adjectives. AlexTiefling (talk) 13:58, 1 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Isn't it zero-marking? I speak about a category of topics, not on a specific one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-marking_in_English

like:Happiness is contagious?

Suppose you are right:

This subject is an English only topic. vs Only English has this subject as a topic.Exx8 (talk) 15:36, 1 January 2015 (UTC)


 * The hyphen Alex mentioned in compound adjectives is important, or one will run into ambiguity. μηδείς (talk) 16:57, 1 January 2015 (UTC)

Guys, the OP originally left 'an' out of "This subject is an English only topic", which half of us (including me) silently read into the sentence and found it fine. 212.96.61.236 (talk) 17:10, 1 January 2015 (UTC)


 * So, you're not only Hungarian and sexist, you also read minds but you don't read actual questions posted here, and you assume others share the same faults you do as well as your gender? μηδείς (talk) 22:12, 1 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Same shit, different year. -- Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  03:31, 2 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Leaving out the article might betray non-native English, or it might just be typo. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 22:08, 2 January 2015 (UTC)
 * I just finished reading an article on this exact topic: Post-positive adjective. Weird timing. Mingmingla (talk) 23:25, 3 January 2015 (UTC)

Comparative Phonemes
Where can I find a comparative research that shows which phonemes of which languages are absent in which languages? Comments would be appreciated. And BTW, happy new year. Omidinist (talk) 15:10, 1 January 2015 (UTC)


 * A semi-classic work is Ian Maddieson, Patterns of Sounds (1984)... AnonMoos (talk) 18:13, 1 January 2015 (UTC)