• @disguy_ovahea
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    173 months ago

    Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

    “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo” is a grammatically correct sentence in English that is often presented as an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create complicated linguistic constructs through lexical ambiguity. It has been discussed in literature in various forms since 1967, when it appeared in Dmitri Borgmann’s Beyond Language: Adventures in Word and Thought.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo

    • @[email protected]
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      fedilink
      43 months ago

      In German, we have “Wenn Fliegen hinter Fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen Fliegen nach”. Notice that all nouns are capitalized in German.

        • @Klear
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          33 months ago

          Yup. I know a bit of German, but that doesn’t help with the buffalos at all.

    • 10_0
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      03 months ago

      People who say that this is grammatically correct need to resit GCSE English

      • @disguy_ovahea
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        3 months ago

        It is grammatically correct, just semantically ambiguous. Buffalo is a proper noun, a noun, and a verb.

        A semantically equivalent form preserving the original word order is: “Buffalonian bison that other Buffalonian bison bully also bully Buffalonian bison.”

  • Jolteon
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    93 months ago

    Depending on the location, “Aaron earned an iron urn” is an interesting example in spoken language.

  • @Matriks404
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    3 months ago

    That’s why everyone learning English should also learn basic IPA to be able to read phonetic transcription and pronounce words correctly.

    Just knowing the symbols for all English vowels/consonants is fine, no need to study IPA more than that, unless you find it interesting, like me.

    I recommend reading this Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_phonology.

    Just look up consonant and vowel charts here, you don’t need to study the details unless you really need to. Especially given that this article is full of linguistic jargon, and you probably won’t be able to understand any of this unless you have elementary knowledge of phonetics/phonology.

    • rockerface 🇺🇦
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      23 months ago

      In Ukrainian schools they teach English with IPA broad transcription. And most paper dictionaries I had also had the transcriptions next to the words. It was very helpful in remembering the pronunciation