Do all languages

[AdAstra]

Dutch has some official ones, and dialects that don't pronounce half their words (West-Flemings, I'm looking at you!)

e.g. 's morgens instead of "des Morgens" (in the morning) - note that nobody would ever use "des", it's archaic and most people probably wouldn't know that the 's is short for des.
Z'n instead of zijn (his), 'k instead of ik (I).

Etc.

 

[RJDiogenes]

But if anyone started writing like that in school they'd get the paper back with a lot of red markings!

Well, contractions are by nature informal (and some are more informal than others).

But I find it beyond belief that contractions don't show up in all languages-- it's just the nature of the Human animal to be casual and informal and bloody lazy. It may exhibit itself in different ways because of different grammatical structure or whatever, but it's got to be there somewhere.

 

[trekkiedane]

^As this thread clearly shows; contractions are found in most languages... in lyrics

 

[RJDiogenes]

And no doubt after drinking. All cultures have drinking.

 

[Chilli]

I doubt that the speakers of any language will always bother to say ever single sound which should appear in the standardized language.

In addition to general laziness, spoken Estonian has a few common contractions that pretty much anyone will use at any time. For example, twenty, thirty, fourty etc. are "kakskümmend", "kolmkümmend", "nelikümmend" - two/three/four + "kümmend". As soon as you actually say "kümmend", though, people'll instantly know you're a foreigner - real Estonians drop the "ümm", and just say "kend" ("kakskend", "kolmkend", "nelikend")

 

[RoJoHen]

What I want to know is do other languages have stupid internet abbreviations? Is there a German version of LOL?

 

[wew]

Having visited Estonia and Finland, I can say both the languages are tough.

Maybe ancient languages lacked them.

 

[Shaytan]

What I want to know is do other languages have stupid internet abbreviations? Is there a German version of LOL?

mdr in French : mort de rire.

Ah and never ask "where ?" to a French internet user. He will always answer you "dtc".
dtc = dans ton cul = in your ass.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

What I want to know is do other languages have stupid internet abbreviations? Is there a German version of LOL?

Apparently (I read this once, an Italian can correct me) there's an Italian version of text speak.

Perché would be written as xk (per is also used for multiplication, in other words, x and k is literally just ché pronounced as it is in English).

You could also say Dove 6 for where are you ("Sei" is 6, but it is also "You").

EDIT: Or look at this link I found:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co...tainment/books/non-fiction/article4356458.ece

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I am not aware of any contractions in Russian.

But they have other ways of shortening what they say. For example, there are no articles in Russian. When you say "I have a book" in Russian, the literal translation of it is "I have book".

Of course, what they shorten by the non-use of articles, they add back with all the other requirements of grammar...but that's another matter entirely.

 

[Count Zero]

What I want to know is do other languages have stupid internet abbreviations? Is there a German version of LOL?

I've always used the English versions and have never seen a German version. We're adapting English words (or making up fake English words) at a fast rate, so we're hardly searching for German equivalents anymore. Some people believe that means that German is dying as a language.

At least one of the internet abbreviations would be the same in German, anyway: omg=oh mein Gott.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Italian is contraction-crazy. The amount of contractions is one of the most memorable things about learning the language.

c', l'
a + il = al, allo, alla, all', ai, agli, alle
da + il = dal, dallo, dalla, dall', dai, dagli, dalle
de + il = del, dello, della, dell', dei, degli, delle
in + il = nel, nello, nella, nell', nei, negli, nelle
su + il = sul, sullo, sulla, sull', sui, sugli, sulle

It may be crazy, yet there is a method in it.

Actually, many words get contracted or elided or truncated depending of surrounding sounds. For instance, "uno" = "one" (number) and also "a" (article): "uno gnomo" (a gnome), "un uomo" (a man), "una donna" (a woman), "un'elfa" (a female elf).

And if you're a fan of a lot of classical music (which has a habit of being in languages like Italian and German), you'll see examples like the song, "La ci darem' la mano" (darem' = daremo), and Leporello's line, "siam' tutti morti" (siam' = siamo). And that's just the obvious from Mozart's "Don Giovanni". I've heard this is poetic usage.

Poetic and quite archaic, too. The reason is to make the words fit the metric, so there is little use for that in actual conversation outside the exceptions i mentioned before (dialectal variations sometimes use that, tho).

Spanish and Italian share the habit of contracting commands. "Dime"/"dimme" for "tell me", "dame"/"damme" for "give me", etc...

"Dimmi" and "dammi" actually. It's very similar to "gimme" for "give me".

Another interesting contraction is making a new noun in romance languages by putting together a verb with a noun.

"Buffy, the Vampire Slayer", for example, [loosely] translates to "Buffy Cazavampiros" (cazar + vampiros) and "Buffy l'ammazzavampiri" (ammazzare + vampiri).

Yeah, that's true. It's a short-hand for "(he/she who) slays vampires". It's used for objects, too: "schiacciamosche" = "(it that) swats flys" = "fly swatter".

What I want to know is do other languages have stupid internet abbreviations? Is there a German version of LOL?

Apparently (I read this once, an Italian can correct me) there's an Italian version of text speak.

Yes, there is, and it should be loathed by anyone past the age of 14 or the IQ of 60, whichever comes first. Unfortunately, it isn't so.

Perché would be written as xk (per is also used for multiplication, in other words, x and k is literally just ché pronounced as it is in English).

Correct. The symbol "x" is used in multiplication and pronounced "per", so "x" can be substituted in words that use that syllable: "xké" = "perché" (why, because), "xò" = "però" (but), and so on. Other symbols are used, too (for instance, the already mentioned "k" for "ch" = "hard c").

You could also say Dove 6 for where are you ("Sei" is 6, but it is also "You").

Actually, it's "are" while "you" is implicit, so "dv6" would be "dove sei (tu)", "where are (you)".

 

[Deckerd]

What I want to know is do other languages have stupid internet abbreviations? Is there a German version of LOL?

mdr in French : mort de rire.

Ah and never ask "where ?" to a French internet user. He will always answer you "dtc".
dtc = dans ton cul = in your ass.

Ah those French. Shining wits.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Yes, there is, and it should be loathed by anyone past the age of 14 or the IQ of 60, whichever comes first. Unfortunately, it isn't so.

Because I'm not a native speaker, I find them cool. I can't possible think of a situation where I'd possibly use it, though.

You could also say Dove 6 for where are you ("Sei" is 6, but it is also "You").

Actually, it's "are" while "you" is implicit, so "dv6" would be "dove sei (tu)", "where are (you)".

Yeah, I wasn't thinking when I wrote that. Sei = you are

BTW, any chance you want to take my classes for me?

 

[Gryffindorian]

I forgot to mention that in Tagalog, some adjectives and "linking particles" are contracted before the nouns they modify. In the same manner, some nouns and particles are contracted before the corresponding adjectives.

For example, Magandang umaga is Tagalog for "Good morning." Magandang is a combination of "Maganda" (beautiful, good) + "na" (conjunctive preposition or relative pronoun for 'that is'), resulting in an -ng ending. Umagang maganda (literally, morning that is good) is another way of writing it, although that's not the greeting form. This rule applies only to verbs or nouns ending in a vowel or the letter "n." Therefore, masarap na pagkain (delicious food) cannot be contracted, whereas pagkaing masarap is accepted.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Yes, there is, and it should be loathed by anyone past the age of 14 or the IQ of 60, whichever comes first. Unfortunately, it isn't so.

Because I'm not a native speaker, I find them cool. I can't possible think of a situation where I'd possibly use it, though.

To give you a measure of comparison (and loathing), think about reading misskim's "lol wut" over and over and over again.

The only acceptable situation for using that was text messaging in 1999, where the number of characters was severely limited. And even then, it was lame.

BTW, any chance you want to take my classes for me?

Make your offer, and we will talk.