Actually, fruity, I think it's Frisian, but as Sander pointed out elsewhere, that doesn't mean English-speakers can understand it!
What is the closest language to English?
=>the closest language to English is Flemish <=
Bullshit, Flemish isn't even a language.
Bullshit, Flemish isn't even a language.
Actually, I would place Scots closer to English than the Frisian languages, which would be next closest to English.
I thought Scots was just what happened when you drank a lot and had a bad respiratory infection from all the rain....
I think Flemish pronunciation of English is pretty good. Listen to the song in charts DHT - Listen to your Heart. DHT (=dangerous hardcore team) are from Belgium (just like Ian van Dahl, Lasgo, Kate Ryan, Milk inc ;) ).
this is 2nd top10 hit for Belgium (1st one was Ian van Dahl - Castles in the Sky) :) go belgium go!
this is 2nd top10 hit for Belgium (1st one was Ian van Dahl - Castles in the Sky) :) go belgium go!
I would agree that Scots is probably the closest language to English (not Frisian), since I listened to a little on various internet sites, and could pick out about as many words as I can when listening to German. It's even impossible to understand in its written form, due to different words, different word forms, different word uses, different word order, etc.
Alas poor Travis, you don't seem to have a full grasp of the concepts involved here yourself.
First, "natural gender" recognizes only two categories, the biological sexes of male and female. All things can only be male, female, both (hermaphroditic) or neither.* But "neither' is not a sex. It is the absence of a sex.
"Grammatical gender" recognizes all the "noun classes" that exist within a given language. Generally, in English and in most other Indo-European languages, we recognize up to three "genders" - masculine, feminine and neuter. As you know, some languages - such as French - have only two.
For any given word to have "grammatical gender" it must be identifiable with some type of "marking scheme" in the language. In many languages, this will mean modifier (adjective/article) agreement (in some, even verb agreement) and pronoun substitution agreement. English retains the last of these as the sole remaining marker of gender. For example:
"man" can only be replaced by "he" so it is masculine
"girl" can only be replaced by "she" so it is feminine
"house" can only be replaced by "it" so it is neuter
This is grammatical gender - even though in English, it largely coincides with "natural gender." This is of course why we are often so flippant about gender in English; because a "house" isn't "feminine" as it would be in Spanish or French, we think our language doesn't have grammatical gender. In fact, English grammatical "noun classes" are quite interesting:
(I'm going to set aside the figurative tendency in English to "feminize" some inanimate things and concepts: "she's a fine ship" or "in all our country's endeavours, we shall support her")
1. masculine: man boy bull
2. feminine: woman girl cow
3. neuter: brick cheese computer
So far so good for the "natural gender" zealots, but:
4. epicene (may be masculine or feminine): writer worker doctor
5. indeterminate (will have a male or female "natural gender" but generally treated as neuter): beetle sheep cat
(and these can get complicated as we ascribe gender to them: "he's a great dog")
And finally:
6. plural: the English plural (like the German plural) is actually quite genderless. Look at the following:
600 men
600 girls
600 telephones
Grammatically, all of them can only be replaced by one common pronoun, "they." Oh yes, we know "girls" remains inherently "female" but it is no longer grammatically "feminine" as well.**
This system doesn't cater for classing nouns like "box" as feminine, but it no less represents grammatical gender functions because of that.
* "neither" in Latin is "neuter, neutra, neutrum" - hence the grammatical gender "neuter."
** just as every German speaker knows "Fraulein" is inherently female even though it's neuter and every French speaker knows "livre" is inherently inanimate even though it's masculine.
First, "natural gender" recognizes only two categories, the biological sexes of male and female. All things can only be male, female, both (hermaphroditic) or neither.* But "neither' is not a sex. It is the absence of a sex.
"Grammatical gender" recognizes all the "noun classes" that exist within a given language. Generally, in English and in most other Indo-European languages, we recognize up to three "genders" - masculine, feminine and neuter. As you know, some languages - such as French - have only two.
For any given word to have "grammatical gender" it must be identifiable with some type of "marking scheme" in the language. In many languages, this will mean modifier (adjective/article) agreement (in some, even verb agreement) and pronoun substitution agreement. English retains the last of these as the sole remaining marker of gender. For example:
"man" can only be replaced by "he" so it is masculine
"girl" can only be replaced by "she" so it is feminine
"house" can only be replaced by "it" so it is neuter
This is grammatical gender - even though in English, it largely coincides with "natural gender." This is of course why we are often so flippant about gender in English; because a "house" isn't "feminine" as it would be in Spanish or French, we think our language doesn't have grammatical gender. In fact, English grammatical "noun classes" are quite interesting:
(I'm going to set aside the figurative tendency in English to "feminize" some inanimate things and concepts: "she's a fine ship" or "in all our country's endeavours, we shall support her")
1. masculine: man boy bull
2. feminine: woman girl cow
3. neuter: brick cheese computer
So far so good for the "natural gender" zealots, but:
4. epicene (may be masculine or feminine): writer worker doctor
5. indeterminate (will have a male or female "natural gender" but generally treated as neuter): beetle sheep cat
(and these can get complicated as we ascribe gender to them: "he's a great dog")
And finally:
6. plural: the English plural (like the German plural) is actually quite genderless. Look at the following:
600 men
600 girls
600 telephones
Grammatically, all of them can only be replaced by one common pronoun, "they." Oh yes, we know "girls" remains inherently "female" but it is no longer grammatically "feminine" as well.**
This system doesn't cater for classing nouns like "box" as feminine, but it no less represents grammatical gender functions because of that.
* "neither" in Latin is "neuter, neutra, neutrum" - hence the grammatical gender "neuter."
** just as every German speaker knows "Fraulein" is inherently female even though it's neuter and every French speaker knows "livre" is inherently inanimate even though it's masculine.
D'accord avec toi, JJM.
Dans le neutre grammatical, je me hasarderais à distinguer le neutre fort (ex. : le neutre allemand) du neutre faible (ex. : le masculin épicène français).
Le neutre grammatical fort peut s'appliquer aux animés du sexe féminin : Al <das Mädchen>, <das Weib>, <das Fräulein>.
Le neutre grammatical faible (formellement : masculin épicène) s'applique à certains animés des deux sexes : Fr <le ministre>, <l'écrivain>, <le docteur> (même si des formes grammaticales féminines viennent concurrencer le traditionnel neutre faible, d'apparence masculine).
Mais je ne sais pas si cette distinction est pertinente : le français utilise aussi le féminin épicène en guise de neutre faible. Par ex. : Fr <la sentinelle> (la sentinelle peut être de sexe masculin ou féminin, même si le plus souvent ce sont des hommes qui sont postés).
À suivre...
Dans le neutre grammatical, je me hasarderais à distinguer le neutre fort (ex. : le neutre allemand) du neutre faible (ex. : le masculin épicène français).
Le neutre grammatical fort peut s'appliquer aux animés du sexe féminin : Al <das Mädchen>, <das Weib>, <das Fräulein>.
Le neutre grammatical faible (formellement : masculin épicène) s'applique à certains animés des deux sexes : Fr <le ministre>, <l'écrivain>, <le docteur> (même si des formes grammaticales féminines viennent concurrencer le traditionnel neutre faible, d'apparence masculine).
Mais je ne sais pas si cette distinction est pertinente : le français utilise aussi le féminin épicène en guise de neutre faible. Par ex. : Fr <la sentinelle> (la sentinelle peut être de sexe masculin ou féminin, même si le plus souvent ce sont des hommes qui sont postés).
À suivre...
**I thought Scots was just what happened when you drank a lot and had a bad respiratory infection from all the rain.... **
Och no! I cannae breathe......I hae a minging baud hangover....and I cannae find my (BLEEP) brolly..... :-(
Och no! I cannae breathe......I hae a minging baud hangover....and I cannae find my (BLEEP) brolly..... :-(
"I would agree that Scots is probably the closest language to English (not Frisian), "
It probably would be if Scots was a separate language from England.
You'll have to be careful what you say, otherwise you'll get hundreds of Geordies coming on here saying that Geordie is a separate language from English.
It probably would be if Scots was a separate language from England.
You'll have to be careful what you say, otherwise you'll get hundreds of Geordies coming on here saying that Geordie is a separate language from English.
Why aye, man. The Geordie lingo isny English, like. It's juss closely rela'ed to it, like, man.
Awae the lads!
Awae the lads!
I read an Engliish grammar book in the library and it listed about TWELVE different types of grammatical gender in English, more than listed above. So the language has more "gender" than most other European languages, except we don't do the silly and pointless things of having four or five ways to say "the" or changing an adjective to agree with the noun.
"And on the subject of accents in movies, the Dawn of the Dead remake starred a British actor perpetrating an American accent, which I did not notice one bit while I was watching it (I had no idea he was British and was not paying attention). "
That's because, for a Brit, an American accent is EASY to speak. I can speak with an American accent. If I went to the USA right now, I could speak with an American accent and everyone would think I'm American. And I've never had to learn how to do it. I've ALWAYS been able to do it because an American accent is probably the easiest English accent outside of Britain for a Brit to speak.
However, Americans don't find it easy trying to speak with a British accent.
That's because, for a Brit, an American accent is EASY to speak. I can speak with an American accent. If I went to the USA right now, I could speak with an American accent and everyone would think I'm American. And I've never had to learn how to do it. I've ALWAYS been able to do it because an American accent is probably the easiest English accent outside of Britain for a Brit to speak.
However, Americans don't find it easy trying to speak with a British accent.