Spelling of a capital IJ

[King Harold]

And they even do it names, like IJssel, would they also do that do people's names? (I don't know a Dutch name starting on IJ, but there probably is at least one)

btw, somewhere on the internet I saw someone using a "ÿ" instead of an "ij" ... seriously, what the hell.

And Dutch has consonant diphthongs, did you ever think that possible? There aren't many. "ch", "ng", "sch"
Words like "angstschreeuw" have multiple consonant diphthongs. (I would roughly translate it as "scream of terror")

Ok, Dutch is weird, I know, and we have a capital IJ.


But, the IJ is not usually seen as one letter, I learned that the "ij" at the beginning of a sentence/name is the exception to the rule of capitalizing only the first letter. In crosswords it's one letter, and the alphabetical ordering of the IJ is almost never done right, and I'm not even sure whether it should go near the y or included in the i (there is a rule of course, but I don't know it)

[DigiTan]

I could post something similar nearly in every thread here, but for some strange reason I don’t feel the slightest temptation to do so...

Sorry. I've waiting to use that gif for longest time. It's my oddball way of saying I think it's a moot point. For reasons stated by Arcane and CoBB.

[CoBB]

And they even do it names, like IJssel, would they also do that do people's names? (I don't know a Dutch name starting on IJ, but there probably is at least one)

There’s no difference between place names, people’s names, names of institutions etc. in this respect.

btw, somewhere on the internet I saw someone using a "ÿ" instead of an "ij" ... seriously, what the hell.

That’s most likely an IJ character encoded in UTF-8 but rendered in Latin-1 (iso-8859-1)... Welcome to the world of internationalisation.

And Dutch has consonant diphthongs, did you ever think that possible? There aren't many. "ch", "ng", "sch"

Diphthongs are vowels, so it’s not possible. The things you’re talking about are called digraphs and trigraphs, and many languages have them, so why would Dutch be an exception? For instance, in Hungarian digraphs are letters in their own right, and they are listed in the alphabet.

Words like "angstschreeuw" have multiple consonant diphthongs. (I would roughly translate it as "scream of terror")

It’s called a consonant cluster. And it’s still nowhere near Strč prst skrz krk.

Sorry. I've waiting to use that gif for longest time.

Ah, that’s an acceptable excuse.

[King Harold]

Diphthongs are vowels, so it’s not possible. Wink The things you’re talking about are called digraphs and trigraphs, and many languages have them, so why would Dutch be an exception? For instance, in Hungarian digraphs are letters in their own right, and they are listed in the alphabet.

no no. these are called diphthongs(except for the one with 3 letters), I can't help it I didn't make the names, its just different in Dutch..

But atleast all Dutch wordt have atleast one vowel in them to make them pronounceable..

"koeienuier" is probably close to the other extreme..

edit: yes the whole consonant cluster in angstschreeuw is called a consonant cluster, but it has an "ng" and a "sch" in it, scary..

Not as scary as this though: (only fun if you can read Dutch)

[CoBB]

no no. these are called diphthongs(except for the one with 3 letters), I can't help it I didn't make the names, its just different in Dutch..

Who calls them that way? Digraaf vs. tweeklank/diftong. Hmm.

But atleast all Dutch wordt have atleast one vowel in them to make them pronounceable..

There is a sound recording on the page I linked. It’s quite easy to pronounce in my opinion.

"koeienuier" is probably close to the other extreme..

My personal favourite is Estonian tööööööbik.

[King Harold]

sounds like "strutsj prus skrus kruk"*, those u's just come out of nowhere.. (surprisingly it still looks like bit like how it's spelled)

It cheats a little by being a sentence instead of a word..

Speaking about that, Dutch probably has the longest possible word, no I'm not going to tell you what word it is. It's length it theoretically infinite!

Several people are trying (and failing) to produce the longest Dutch word here they are long though..

(quote)
hottentottenten­tenten­toonstellings­makersopleidings­programma-
ontwerpers­computerscherm­reparateuren­vakverenigingbeleids-
ambtenarensalarisbesprekingsafsprakenrapportsvergaderings-
notuleringsrapportsarchieferingsgebouwenonderhouders-
vakbondsleiderssalarisafsprakenkoffiejuffouwswerkkledinghanger-
fabrieksmanagementondersteunigsteamlogoontwerpsters-
verenigingspromotiemareriaalversprijdersvoertuigenoppoetsers-
handschoenenopbergtrommeltjesbewaarplaatsenerhuirders-
bedrijfleideropleidingrapportenvergaderingslijderspennenhouders-
verkoopersskippybalverenigingskledingsstomerijzakloopwedstrijds-
scheidsrechtersvergaderingszaalschoonmakersbedrijfs-
afsprakenondertekeningsplichtenwetcontrolebedrijfspersoneels-
geheimhoudingsplichtopheffingsregelingenverduiseraarsbijeenkomst-
kamerschildersvakbondsstakingsrechtenovereenkomstbespreking-
raportenagiefkastslotenkrakkersgreedschapverkoperklantendatabase-
upgratespakkettenverhandelaarsbespreekingsruimtetekort

928 letters

yes this is a word. I might even translate it some day..

note: I could add some words to the end of it to make it longer, and that is perfectly acceptable. That is what makes Dutch words theoretically infinitely long.


*: how one would probably write it in Dutch, if you really wanted to..

learndutch calls them diphthongs (http://learndutch.elanguageschool.net/m ... w.php?id=2)

[CoBB]

sounds like "strutsj prus skrus kruk"*, those u's just come out of nowhere.. (surprisingly it still looks like bit like how it's spelled)

Those are syllabic r’s. I think a Czech native would consider them vowels.

Speaking about that, Dutch probably has the longest possible word, no I'm not going to tell you what word it is. It's length it theoretically infinite!

That’s not a unique feature either. Surely many languages allow the formation of infinitely long words. I could easily construct words of any length in Hungarian or Finnish for instance.

learndutch calls them diphthongs (http://learndutch.elanguageschool.net/m ... w.php?id=2)

Obviously not an authoritative source...

[King Harold]

How could I know Suomi allows that as well?
Or Hungarian..

how do you know all those languages anyway..

still its a fun word, it's a lack of space btw (ruimtetekort) the preceding words make it more specific (ofcourse it has something to do with the old Hottentottententententoonstelling - the shortest Dutch words with 4 "ten"'s in a row)

authoritative source or not.. it's a source, and the rest on that site seemed to be ok

[CoBB]

how do you know all those languages anyway..

One of them is my native language, the other I study for fun.

authoritative source or not.. it's a source, and the rest on that site seemed to be ok

It’s okay, but it’s obviously a course put together by some hobbyist(s), so it should be taken with quite a few grains of salt. And a quick googling for ‘consonant diphthong’ should convince you that this expression is at best accidental.

[Delnar_Ersike]

how do you know all those languages anyway..

One of them is my native language, the other I study for fun.

authoritative source or not.. it's a source, and the rest on that site seemed to be ok

It’s okay, but it’s obviously a course put together by some hobbyist(s), so it should be taken with quite a few grains of salt. And a quick googling for ‘consonant diphthong’ should convince you that this expression is at best accidental.

Or...
One of them is you native language, the other is related to your native language .

German also allows infinitely long words as well. I know of a really long German word, but I can't remember it properly. It starts something like (if I separate the word parts with hyphens):
Hotten-stotten-beuter-ratter-gitter-wetter...

I am sure many other languages are also like that (ie, Welsh or Aborganese). This is because those languages allow the putting together of different words up to any amount. Hungarian and other Ugoric languages, however, are a different story. I can't really explain it, the only way I can is if you learn the language's use of prepositions and prepositon/verb words (yes, there are those types of words in Hungarian: CoBB will prove it, igaz?)

[CoBB]

One of them is you native language, the other is related to your native language .

It is indeed, but about as closely as Russian to German.

I can't really explain it, the only way I can is if you learn the language's use of prepositions and prepositon/verb words (yes, there are those types of words in Hungarian: CoBB will prove it, igaz?)

There are no prepositions in Hungarian. I guess you mean verb prefixes, but I don’t see how you can produce long words with them, since they can’t be stacked. I’d simply add derivational suffixes (like -ness or -hood in English) ad infinitum.

[King Harold]

German and Russian are both Indo-European, there the similarity pretty much ends, Russian is east-Slavic and German is.. Germanic.. (you probably saw that coming ) So German is as closely related to Russian as to Hindi, not a lot.

Hungarian(magyar?) and Suomi both seem to be Uralic, but they are in different sub-categories, so they are indeed as closely related to each other as German and Russian are.. Exactly as much.

Those Germans remind me of the capital letters, they use them for every noun, and they do spell IJsselmeer correctly. Even in other places than Wikipedia (which, by the way, isn't an authoritative source either, according to my school at least.)

[CoBB]

German and Russian are both Indo-European, there the similarity pretty much ends, Russian is east-Slavic and German is.. Germanic.. (you probably saw that coming ) So German is as closely related to Russian as to Hindi, not a lot.

Oh no, they are very similar grammatically. My formal grammar professor actually said they are the same language. (Obviously someone who had no trouble thinking in abstractions.) Their vocabulary is quite different though, and that can be deceiving.

Those Germans remind me of the capital letters, they use them for every noun, and they do spell IJsselmeer correctly. Even in other places than Wikipedia (which, by the way, isn't an authoritative source either, according to my school at least.)

Of course, WP has its own faults. But having lots of contributors generally does more good than harm, and definitely gives better results most of the time than one-man efforts.

[King Harold]

Oh no, they are very similar grammatically. My formal grammar professor actually said they are the same language. Laughing (Obviously someone who had no trouble thinking in abstractions.) Their vocabulary is quite different though, and that can be deceiving.

Then why aren't they more closely related? Did the scientists make a mistake? Maybe Hindi has the same grammar as well?

[CoBB]

Then why aren't they more closely related? Did the scientists make a mistake? Maybe Hindi has the same grammar as well?

What do you mean by ‘more closely’? Languages have a certain taxonomy, but the distances between them are not quantified.