Linguistics 101 (by Leon)

Linguists like to use different terms that the rest of us. I'm not quite sure why this is. Maybe they just like to have their own secret language. So, I've dedicated this page to help you (and me) understand what the heck linguists are talking about.

You get to compare/contrast the following languages: Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Mongolian, & Manchu

Linguistic Term	Abbrev.	Lay-person's term	English ex.	Spanish ex.	Chinese ex.	Korean ex.	Mongolian ex.	Manchurian ex.
Nominative	nom	subject noun	I	yo	wu	na	bi	bi
Nominative		subject noun	thou	tu	ni	ni	chi	chi
Nominative		subject noun	you	usted	nin	tangshini	ta	?
Nominative		subject noun	ye	ustedes	nin-men	tangshindeul-i	ta-nar	?

Accusative	acc	direct object	me	me	wu (wo)	nareul	namaik	?
Accusative		direct object	thee	te	ni	neoreul	chamaik	?
Accusative		direct object	you	su	nin	tangshineul	tanik	?
Accusative		direct object	you (all)	?	nin-men	tangshindeureul	tanarik	?

Instrumental		object used	with pencil	con lapis	?	yeonpil-ro	harandaa-gaar	?
Instrumental		object used	by hand	con manos	?	son-euro	gar-aar	?

Dative	dat	indirect object	to me	a mi	?	na-ege	nadad	?
Dative		indirect object	to thee	a ti	?	neo-ege	chamd	?
Dative		indirect object	to you	a usted	?	tanshin-ege	tand	?
Dative		indirect object	to you (all)	a ustedes	?	tangshindeul-ege	tanard	?

Benefactive	ben	indirect object	for me	para mi	?	nal-wie	minii-tl	?
Benefactive		indirect object	for thee	para ti	?	neol-wie	chinii-tl	?
Benefactive		indirect object	for you	para usted	?	tangshin-wie	tanii-tl	?
Benefactive		indirect object	for you (all)	para ustedes	?	tangshindeul-wie	tanarii-tl	?

Ablative	abl	away	from me	de mi	?	na-eseo	?	?
Ablative		cause	because of me	?	?	nal-ddaemune	?	?

Genitive	gen	possessive	my	mi	wu-de	nae	minii	minii
Genitive		possessive	thy	tu	ni-de	neo-wi	chinii	chinii
Genitive		possessive	your	su	nin-de	tangshin-wi	tanii	?
Genitive		possessive	your (plural)	?	?	tangshindeul-wi	tanarii	?

Locative	loc	location word	in~	en~	?	~e	?	~de
Locative		location word	at~	a~	?	~e	?	~de
Locative		location word	on~	en~	?	~e	~der	~de

Orientative	orient	word of orientation	to towards	a	?	~ege ~ro	~roo ~ruu	~ru
Orientative		word of orientation	back backward	atras	?	~dwiro ~ggogeuro	~oharch ~araksh	?

Vocative	voc	addressing words	Master~ Mister~ "Uncle"~	Senor~	XianSheng~	Ajeoshi (to man who is near same age as one's father)	Ezena	?
Vocative		addressing words	Mistress~ Misses~ "Auntie"~	Senora~	FuRen (married woman)	Ajuma (to woman who is near same age as one's mother)	Ezena	?
Vocative		addressing words	Miss~	Senorita~	XiaoJie (little sister)	Agashi (to younger, unmarried woman)	Awhai	?
Vocative		addressing words	Teacher	Maestro	LaoShi (elderly one)	SeonSengNim	Baksha	?
Vocative		addressing words	Dad	papa'	ba'ba	abba'	avaa	amaa
Vocative		addressing words	Mom	mama'	ma'ma	omma'	ejee	emee
Vocative		addressing words	Big brother (biological & non)	(use person's name)	?	Hyeong (from male) Obba (from female)	akh (from adult) agaa (from kid)	?
Vocative		addressing words	Big sister (biological & non)	(use person's name)	?	Nuna (from male) Eoni (from female)	ekch (from adult) ene (from kid)	?
Vocative		addressing words	Little brother (biological & non)	(use person's name)	?	(use person's name)	(use person's name)	?
Vocative		addressing words	Little sister (biological & non)	(use person's name)	?	(use person's name)	(use person's name)	?
Vocative		addressing words	Grandpa (biological & non)	Abuelo	?	Haraboji	v	?
Vocative		addressing words	Grandma (biological) Granny (non-biological)	Abuela	?	Harmoni	emee	?

Causative	cau	transitive verb	love (sb)	amar	ai	saranghada	hairlakh	hairambi
Causative	caus	transitive verb	study (sth)	estudiar	?	baeuda	sorakh	tacimbi

Intransitive	intr	intransitive verb	fly	volar	?	nalda	nisekh	deyembi
Intransitive		intransitive verb	to be happy	allegrar	kwai le	ggibuda	jargakh	urgulembi

Copula (coupler)	cop	a word that couples the subject with the predicate, and equates the subject and the predicate	be	ser	si	ida	bol (Mongolians seldom use the copula)	? (Manchus probably seldom use it)

Existential	exist	a word that denotes existence of the subject.	exist have	existar estar tener	you	issda	baikh	bimbi

That's interesting. The Mongolians don't use the copula, but the Koreans do. Things that make you go, "Hmmmmmmm."

Language	Sentence or Phrase	Any special notes go here.
Linguistics	Det. nom. cau. loc. gen. acc.	See above from more about linguistic terms.
English	That woman came out of her house.	Asian languages don't have articles [the], so... I used the determiners "that" and "her".
Korean	Keu am-saram [yeoja] keu-eui jib+eseo oasseoyo.	"yeoja" [SK] (女子) "am-saram" is pure Korean meaning "female-person"
Manchu	Tere ??-sargan ?? boo+ci tucike.	"saram" (Kor) & "sargan" (Man) are similar nominatives.
Mongol	Ter em-hun tuunii ger+?? ircan.	"tere" (Man) & "ter" (Mon) are similar determiners.
Comments:	Interesting: jib, boo, ger (not similar at all !)	"am" (Kor) & "em" (Mon) both mean female
Lingustics	Det. nom. intr. orient. acc.
English	That woman went to town.
Korean	Keu am-saram [yeoja] [shi] ma-eul-ro gasseoyo.	"yeoja" [SK] (女子) "shi" [SK] (市)
Manchu	Tere ??-sargan hoton+ru gene+he.
Mongol	Ter em-hun hot-ruu yawcan.
Comments:	Interesting: same orientative particle (ro, ru, ruu); "hoton" (Man) and "hot" (Mon) both mean city/town	Interesting: sometimes Korean is closer to Manchu and other times Mongolian is closer to Manchu.
Linguistics	present-(habitual)-tense causative verb.
English	That place's people make boots of skin(hide).
Korean	Keu changso+wi saram+deul gajuk-ro shinbal+eul mandeunda.	"changso" (place) and "gajuk" (skin/hide) [SK]
Manchu	Tere ba+i niyalma sukū+be gūlha+0 ara+mbi.
Mongol	Ter orshi+in sookchid ars-shir-aar gotal hiikhdak.
Comments:	Notice "~da" (Kor) & "~dak" (Mon) are similar suffixes indicating the habitual tense of the verb.
Linguistics	Nominative
English	king's tree
Korean	wang-i mok The first kings of Korean history were called "Han." The first 7 kings were called "Han-in". The next 18 kings were called "Han-ung".	wang [SK] (王)
Manchu	wang-ni moo	"wang" is probably from Chinese 王
Mongol	Haan-in md	the "h" is a hard "h".
Comments:	Korean "Han" and Mongolian "Haan" are identical !!!	The words for "tree" are quite similar, aren't they?
Linguistics	Nominative
English	I don't know.
Korean	Nae-ga molayo.
Manchu	Bi sarkv.
Mongol	Bi mid-gui.
Comments:	Mongolian "I" and Manchu "I" are the same! What happened to Korean??? Not even close!	Bi = I
Linguistics	Causative verb
English	I love you.
Korean	Nae-ga neo-reul saranghaeyo.
Manchu	Bi shimbe hairambi.
Mongol	Bi chamd hairtae.
Comments:	Mongolian "love" [hair] and Manchu "love" [hair] are identical. What happened to Korean??? Not even close!	Hair = love
Linguistics	Causative verb
English	Spring came!
Korean	Bom+i oasseoyo.
Manchu	Niyengniyeri isinaha.
Mongol	Hawar irsn.
Comments:	Again, Korean mystifies me! Where did it come from?