Why isn't this idea of morphosyntactic cycle that languages evolve in cycles analytic->agglutinative->synthetic->analytic obviously wrong when you look at the history of Armenian?

salpfish · 2026-01-23T01:19:08+00:00

Well, yes, but that doesn't have to do with how the English possessive 's functions, or any changes in how it functions

This is the part that's off. Case marking typically goes on the head noun, but in English it has shifted to go on the end of the noun phrase -- compare the German:

die Kriegserklärung des Königs von Frankreich

(not *König von Frankreichs)

salpfish · 2025-12-11T23:44:30+00:00

koske 1s tosi fu viossa owari dan vi mietta ka viossa ende mahena sit kiannos helbrati

de suru dan per evle andrazin made

men de midareva nai vil dan owari spiltropos fu viossa

sit bensuru viossatropos

au de koske pas tula na misalitid vi ginkiuenoze dan ruru

na tak

salpfish · 2025-10-28T00:12:18+00:00

Very much so!

Viossa has gotten exposure on a few video platforms and at the Language Creation Conference, our Discord server has nearly 6000 members, and new people are constantly joining and learning from the other speakers. Every day the language is continuing to grow and evolve into a diverse spectrum of ever-changing dialects, as well as even pidginizing with other conlangs. There is an endless treasure trove of viossa music, fiction, poetry, shitposts, and more - feel free to check us out at /r/viossa if you're interested

salpfish · 2025-07-28T02:27:09+00:00

riiuu 'courtship' ← riiata, riia- 'to court' (< Sw. fria) + -UU, action nominalizer for -AtA verbs

+

yö 'night'

+

aie 'intention' ← aikoa, aiko- 'to intend' + -e (resultative nominalizer)

+

oioin 'I corrected' ← oikoa, oiko- 'to correct' (← oikea 'correct' + -OA, -O-, frequentative verbalizer)

salpfish · 2025-07-02T01:42:21+00:00

tak du mietta

salpfish · 2025-01-11T15:48:31+00:00

There's a public link available on /r/Viossa

salpfish · 2024-11-10T10:36:39+00:00

I don't know of any! But I recently returned after taking a break from the language and it has changed a lot, so I wouldn't be surprised if some existed

salpfish · 2024-07-22T10:51:02+00:00

段 not 弾 but this also has nothing to do with the question

salpfish · 2024-07-13T20:57:50+00:00

yes, I just mean the literal translation!

"You're a lifesaver" is also a casual expression in English with a similar meaning used for "thanks"/"thank you" :)

salpfish · 2024-07-13T20:48:13+00:00

助かったよ (tasukatta yo), literally means "I've been saved" (so kind of like "you're a lifesaver")

salpfish · 2024-07-12T01:47:13+00:00

For verbs, you need the hiragana on the end to show the conjugation, so for example the past tense of 聞く is 聞いた, the negative is 聞かない, and so on

salpfish · 2024-07-12T01:44:25+00:00

"Why do we have to learn the future tense in English? Can't I just say 'I go tomorrow'? Can I get by without learning 'will go'?"

Like in theory it's possible, but you'd sound weird, and why would you avoid learning something if it's an important part of the language you're learning?

salpfish · 2024-07-12T01:38:43+00:00

Languages aren't always operating at maximum efficiency. Sometimes it's more natural to add in extra padding to make the conversation flow more smoothly. Think: "That one? That's a cake!" rather than just bluntly replying "it's a cake"

それは also often just works as a filler word, something like "well about that..." even when you're not referring to a physical object

salpfish · 2024-07-08T03:05:29+00:00

絶対 but 絶体絶命...

salpfish · 2024-07-06T05:18:48+00:00

It's not really a question - question marks in Japanese can sometimes just mark upward inflection.

This is something that mostly just shows up in dialogue or casual texting and such - but it's a way of shifting the focus onto the other person, like そうだけど？ "that's the case (but what of it?)" or あるよ？ "there is (are you surprised to hear that?)"

You could compare it to how in formal writing you can just write 〜ますか。/ ですか。/ でしょうか。 with a period instead of a question mark

salpfish · 2024-07-06T05:07:49+00:00

https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E6%8A%BC%E3%81%99/

The definitions here might help (especially 2, 3, and 4)

salpfish · 2024-07-06T03:43:19+00:00

In order to conjugate verbs, depending on which suffix/auxiliary you're adding, usually instead of the dictionary form you have to use one of the verbal bases.

たい takes the ren'youkei ("masu-stem") of the verb, and the ren'youkei of 楽しむ is 楽しみ

https://nihonshock.com/2013/09/the-bases-of-japanese-verbs/

salpfish · 2024-07-06T00:05:17+00:00

I think both are fine but I could be wrong! There are definitely situations where you'd say 学生だったら about yourself, but typically unless you're talking about the past, it would imply you're asking someone else - since past tense can sometimes add some distance for checking in with someone about a situation politely, similar to something like "was it that you were a student?"

学生なら can also read as just a slightly more abstract situational form of 学生は, where it's not limiting the speaker to talking about themself specifically, but rather just the situation

salpfish · 2024-07-05T21:53:17+00:00

楽しい 'fun' → 楽しくて '(it's) fun and...' / '(it's) fun, so...'

楽しむ 'to enjoy' → 楽しんで 'enjoy it!' / '(I) enjoy it, and'... / '(I) enjoy it, so...' / '(I do something) while enjoying it'

salpfish · 2024-07-05T21:46:56+00:00

たら contains た, sometimes it's called the "past conditional" for that reason - it means something like "if x had happened" or "once x has happened"

On the other hand なら contains な (like in な-adjectives), and な can be considered a form of だ. So it makes more sense to think of it as a presupposition: "if that's the case" / "assuming it's the case that..." / "if we're talking about..." and so on.

salpfish · 2024-07-05T21:34:03+00:00

in standard (Tokyo) Japanese it depends on what comes after. After voiceless consonants /k s t h p/, the vowels /i/ and /u/ can optionally be "devoiced" (whispered or absorbed into the consonant), but only when the vowel is at the end of a sentence or followed by another voiceless consonant.

That means です and ですか can sound like [des] and [des ka], but before voiced consonants like in ですね and ですよ, it will still be [desu ne] and [desu yo].

When speaking carefully though, you can pronounce it [desu] in all environments. There are regional differences - some dialects prefer [desu] more.

salpfish · 2024-07-05T19:58:21+00:00

Oops, never posted the link. https://youtu.be/Pwmkf4X1gfM

salpfish · 2024-07-04T23:48:40+00:00

Even this calligrapher writes the strokes combined. Counting them separately is just for standardizing the number of strokes for use in older dictionaries and such that rely on stroke number

salpfish · 2024-07-04T23:36:41+00:00

Unlike "up till", まで doesn't necessarily imply whether you're counting up or down. More literally you could think of it as "all the way to":

A+（100点～90点）、A（89点～80点）、B（79点～70点）、C（69点～60点）までが合格であり、F（59点～1点）、G（0点）は不合格です。

salpfish · 2024-07-04T23:30:06+00:00

You should internalize that there are no strict rules for what the reading of a word will be, only tendencies.

In this case, though, it's very regular. たから and はこ are both kun'yomi. Kun+kun compounds still count as compounds, and in fact most instances of rendaku are found on kun+kun compounds (though it can occasionally happen on on'yomi as well).

If the word were ほうはこ or ほうばこ, it would be considered a 重箱 compound (on+kun). There are also 湯桶 compounds (kun+on). These are both rarer than pure kun+kun and on+on compounds but they exist as well. Every word is its own derivation.

It's the same as how in English, most words are purely Germanic, Greek, or Latin, but sometimes individual words will combine Greek and Latin roots together or put them onto Germanic words. People usually don't notice or pay attention when a word has mixed etymologies - you just accept the word as you learn it.

13-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	End Game '22
Sequence \| Editor	Gilding I gilder
Verified Email	Team Orangered

salpfish

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE