The LA Review of Books’ China Channel recently featured an essay on the passive voice in Mandarin (HT LanguageLog). Entitled “Passive Aggressive,” it explains a particular Mandarin construction of the passive voice that emphasizes that something happened that has a negative connotation. Example: Gōngkè bèi gǒu chī diào le 功課 被 狗 吃掉 了 Homework […]
Category: Language
False Cognates: The Case of Village Patrols in Indonesia and Peru
False cognates are words of two different languages with similar meaning that look like they share a common origin, but which actually do not. They are fun because they get us thinking about how languages develop and how they relate to one another, even when looks can be deceiving. Classic examples include arigato (Japanese) and […]
