Great Vowel Shift

Post by westoncb » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 12:08 AM UTC

chc wrote: post #127

yesenadam wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Vowel shift is a term of art in linguistics Aside: I see "term of art" everywhere on HN lately. Why?! What does it add to saying "Vowel shift is a linguistics term" or "a term in linguistics"? Why do people want to sound like patent lawyers? Am I missing something?

"A term in linguistics" is imprecise — it's also a term outside of linguistics. The phrase "term of art" means basically "I know that you think you know what this means based on the words, but it is a special defined term that means something particular in this field." It is generally used to correct someone who seems to be viewing a term of art as a common English phrase, so the precision is useful.

Post by lanstin » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 12:16 AM UTC

yesenadam wrote: post #174

JackFr wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s shorthand for “in context, that might not mean what you think it means.” I would use term of art to distinguish something that has a particular meaning for the context. For example “clobber” has a useful meaning, a meaning that many people use, but when programmers use it, it’s a term of art that means something specific and non-obvious.

Yes..it's a term in programming, a programming term. None of these replies justifying "term of art" seem at all convincing to me. "Term doesn't imply a specialized meaning" – but I think it does here: if "clobber" didn't mean something different in programming, you wouldn't (need to) say "it's a programming term". "It's a programming term" precisely means "the term has a meaning in programming different to what it co…

Post by eointierney » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 12:23 AM UTC

mehwoot wrote: post #176

eointierney wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Terms of art are pre-scientific jargon that survive mainly due to utility. They are common in crafts such as pottery or the Law. They are references to heuristically derived conveniences. They're linguistically cool. In Math, lemma is a term of the art.

They are references to heuristically derived conveniences That's every word in existence

Post by naniwaduni » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 12:47 AM UTC

forbiddenvoid wrote: post #181

Baeocystin wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found that using 'term of art' more effectively communicates 'this word has a domain-specific meaning that might differ from what you would naively think, pay attention' than simply saying 'x is an x term' or the like, which people tend to gloss over. [edit] I am pleased to see that HN readers as a group love to define things, and also that I need to learn to refresh tabs I've had open for a while before respond…

Then why not just say 'domain-specific meaning?' Term of art doesn't really have a clear meaning in general (native English speaker, and this is the first time I've heard this), and it's unclear/ambiguous as to what it actually indicates.

Post by naniwaduni » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 12:53 AM UTC

coolreader18 wrote: post #162

gchucky wrote: post #3

The vowel shift is one of the major reasons why Shakespeare's poetry doesn't rhyme when spoken with modern English. There was a rather fascinating video that went around awhile back of a father and son demonstrating the changes.[1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPlpphT7n9s

It's funny, for at least the first example, original pronunciation just sounds like Hagrid from the Harry Potter movies, which is especially interesting considering that's intended to be a less formal/"lower class" accent. Reminds me of something I heard once that the modern american accent is actually closer to the british accent at the time of the revolutionary war, and it's the british accent that's changed more s…