Talk:Questions

Should the title of this page be Questions rather than Question? Any other thoughts? --JPeton (talk) 02:26, 22 February 2023 (UTC)

Makes sense to me - plurals seem to be the norm of the articles describing general principles, and having it different might end up confusing Jan Ke Tami (talk) 09:12, 22 February 2023 (UTC)

I'm comfortable adding jan Pije's lessons as sources, but others may disagree.

jan Pije Lesson 8 jan Pije Lesson 10

JPeton (talk) 01:57, 23 February 2023 (UTC)

Could somebody who speaks "colloquial German" clarify what it means when Sonja compares "oder" to "anu seme"? JPeton (talk) 02:46, 23 February 2023 (UTC)

anu

It remains my theory that anu is underspecified and so people hesitate to use it, which is not the same as saying that using it to form questions is controversial or non-standard. Otherwise it seems to me that the word doesn't have any use at all except in the fossilized form anu seme. Perhaps this is so, but that would be as controversial to me as it would be to simply use it to form questions in the way it's occasionally used. --JPeton (talk) 18:15, 16 November 2023 (UTC)

Otherwise it seems to me that the word doesn't have any use at all except in the fossilized form anu seme.

I like using anu, and my own way of how anu works is pretty clear and anu finds uses outside of questions. So I think I'm misreading you, you're probably not saying "either anu can form questions or the only use of anu is with anu seme". Hmmm... The larger point is about people holding back? And therefore we can't actually make a good descriptive statement about anu? How would we find out if they're holding back? And how does that fall into weight in a language that to some extent asks users to hold back on unnecessary words? Jan Ke Tami (talk) 22:08, 16 November 2023 (UTC)

I like using anu, and my own way of how anu works is pretty clear and anu finds uses outside of questions.

I feel the same way: you've actually helped me clarify my use of anu. I think what I mean is that I feel that the current wording of the article suggests that any use of anu besides "anu seme" is controversial. I was stating rhetorically (not very clearly, apparently!) that if the only use of anu is in "anu seme", then anu is an unnecessary word. I think that if we made a more certain statement about anu it would be "correct" according to your (and my which comes from your) theory of it; but it would also potentially cause people to use anu more frequently. The question of how documenting the language impacts its use is too complex to pin down here and now. My concrete suggestion: forming questions with "anu" shouldn't be marked controversial. JPeton (talk) 05:41, 17 November 2023 (UTC)