have contractions?
I am hoping people with a good knowledge of languages can answer this.
I am hoping people with a good knowledge of languages can answer this.
Do all languages
- Thread starter Miss Chicken
- Start date
I can't speak for all languages, but French has contractions. When a definite article precedes a word beginning with a vowel, it's contracted, such as l'eglise (the church).
I don't believe that they do. I know a bit of Spanish and they will put words together, but that's technically compound words. I don't think German does it either.
Thespeckledkiwi
Vice Admiral
IIRC German doesn't use contractions.
Tagalog (Filipino) uses contractions.
We have a sort of linking verb that doesn't really have any tenses. "Ay" (pronounced 'I') can mean is, was, are, or were. So in written sentences where it's used, the writer uses the contracted form 'y.
Example: Ito ay maliit (It is small) becomes Ito'y maliit (It's small.)
But in conversational or everyday speech, we just reverse the order of words, often eliminating the use of the linking verb "ay."
Maliit ito.. (Literally, "Small, this (is)."
We have a sort of linking verb that doesn't really have any tenses. "Ay" (pronounced 'I') can mean is, was, are, or were. So in written sentences where it's used, the writer uses the contracted form 'y.
Example: Ito ay maliit (It is small) becomes Ito'y maliit (It's small.)
But in conversational or everyday speech, we just reverse the order of words, often eliminating the use of the linking verb "ay."
Maliit ito.. (Literally, "Small, this (is)."
Heh...I remember when I was first learning french, with words like that we were told "elision collision". Doesn't really pertain to the topic, but since I speak nothing other than English and French, I really have nothing of interest to add.
Although, since this is a Star Trek Board...I do believe the Vulcan language uses contractions...
I'd be surprised if there are any languages that don't use some form of contraction. Informality is universal.
Norwegian, Swedish and Danish don't.
Actually, German does use contractions. "Zum" instead of "zu dem" for example. Contractions might also be used when you're speaking casually.
Thespeckledkiwi
Vice Admiral
Heh, forgot that. I really need to start taking German again.
Indeed. "Im" instead of "in dem" would be another example.
There are several 'inofficial' contractions, like 'nen instead of einen or even 'n instead of ein. However, they shouldn't be used in writing unless one tries to convey informal speech.
The slang/dialect where I'm from uses contractions very frequently.
l', d' and c'.
Really? So everybody talks like Data all the time?
Really? So everybody talks like Data all the time?
Can't really speak on behalf of the others, but in spoken Danish it happens that some of the letters in a word aren't spoken.
This is however mostly due to regional dialects.
ETA:
An example of a small sentence and how it could be pronounced here on my little island:
I just can't tell you how happy I am
Jeg kan bare ikke sige dig hvor glad jeg er.
Je' ka' bar' ikk' si'e dig hvor gla' je' er.
Jeg kan bare ikke sige dig hvor glad jeg er.
Je' ka' bar' ikk' si'e dig hvor gla' je' er.
But if anyone started writing like that in school they'd get the paper back with a lot of red markings!
Agglutinative languages use them but it's a bit different. Japanese and Korean use "particles" to describe where you are in a sentence... so take the phrase "It was not warm." --- in English could be "It wasn't warm." However, in Japanese, you would manipulate the adjective "warm" to its past-negative form-- what you would want to "contract" are long verb endings into shorter (informal) forms.
This is true. My Norwegian friends (and colleagues when I did a 9-week summer project there) didn't even contract names - if you were born "Stein Erik", then you always call yourself "Stein Erik", not "Stein" or "Erik"... and one of my colleagues was (coincidentally) called "Jim" at birth, came to England and couldn't get people to understand that it was "Jim" not "James" for formal papers etc!
I was discussing this with my brother today and I don't know that Bengali has any contractions in the same sense that English does. However, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the language used currently is actually what was once a contracted form, or slang or something.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contraction_(grammar)
And it's not just zum, im, dem, den, ins, etc... in German. "Wie geht's?" ("How are you?" or literally "How goes it [to you]?") is a great example. The long form is "Wie geht es dir?" or "Wie geht es Ihnen?" Pamina's aria, "Ach, ich fühl's", is clearly another example of the es-to-'s contraction.
I've also seen French contractions in slang such as "m'selle" and "m'sieur". Our "ma'am" from "madam(e)" is comparable.
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
You probably have seen contractions like this in "Rondo alla Turca", for example.
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.
The Elvis Presley song, "Wooden Heart" (which contains an entire section with the original German lyrics), was based on a song with the lyrics "Muß i' denn, muß i' denn..." (i' is a contraction of ich). I've seen a lot of "geh'" for "gehe", as well. The last "e" in the ich form is often left off.
Spanish and Italian share the habit of contracting commands. "Dime"/"dimme" for "tell me", "dame"/"damme" for "give me", etc... ¡Escúchame! ¡Mírame!
Spanish has the "del" and "al" contractions.
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).
The French term "lèche-bottes" (literally "lick-boots" or "boot-licker") is of this same construction.
And it's not just zum, im, dem, den, ins, etc... in German. "Wie geht's?" ("How are you?" or literally "How goes it [to you]?") is a great example. The long form is "Wie geht es dir?" or "Wie geht es Ihnen?" Pamina's aria, "Ach, ich fühl's", is clearly another example of the es-to-'s contraction.
I've also seen French contractions in slang such as "m'selle" and "m'sieur". Our "ma'am" from "madam(e)" is comparable.
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
You probably have seen contractions like this in "Rondo alla Turca", for example.
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.
The Elvis Presley song, "Wooden Heart" (which contains an entire section with the original German lyrics), was based on a song with the lyrics "Muß i' denn, muß i' denn..." (i' is a contraction of ich). I've seen a lot of "geh'" for "gehe", as well. The last "e" in the ich form is often left off.
Spanish and Italian share the habit of contracting commands. "Dime"/"dimme" for "tell me", "dame"/"damme" for "give me", etc... ¡Escúchame! ¡Mírame!
Spanish has the "del" and "al" contractions.
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).
The French term "lèche-bottes" (literally "lick-boots" or "boot-licker") is of this same construction.
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