Posts

Showing posts with the label language theory

What letters are used most frequently in English?

Image

Which countries do not have an official language?

Image
According to Henry Hitchings  Language Wars  (2011) these nations do not currently have an  official  primary language: UK see here USA though 20 states now have an official language —  see here Australia Over 80% speak English but there is no official national language. Pakistan Urdu became official language in 2015 but   only spoken by 8% of population . Ethiopia Amharic is official language but most spoken is Oromo Somalia Eritrea  Costa Rica Why these countries?   Read extended transcript on Medium  About the English Language - Teaching Pack  

What is a descriptivist? And a prescriptivist?

Image
Listen to this short description of two key words in linguistics: descriptivist and prescriptivist .

Do the languages we speak shape the way we think?

Image
The Tower of Babel' by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1563 Do they merely express thoughts, or do the structures in languages (without our knowledge or consent) shape the very thoughts we wish to express? Stanford psychology professor  Lera Boroditsky makes has some surprising observations about the relationship between language and thought. How do we come to be the way we are? Why do we think the way we do? An important part of the answer, it turns out, is in the languages we speak.  Full text here Language & Thought: Chicken & Egg English Language 100 FAQ Teaching Pack     -  only £1.99 using discount code  CQDWKF0

What is Fowler’s Modern English?

Image
A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926), by Henry W. Fowler (1858–1933), is a style guide to British English usage, pronunciation, and writing. Ranging from plurals and literary technique to the distinctions among like words (homonyms, synonyms, etc.), to foreign-term use, it became the standard for most style guides that followed and remains in print.   source Fowler's legacy is claimed by both the descriptivist and prescriptivist  schools of linguistics. David Crystal (perhaps the leading descriptivist) has written the introduction to the new edition . A version of this post is included in  50 FAQ about English    ($1.75) A Dictionary of Modern English Usage: Classic First Edition  Begat: The King James Bible and the English Language

Is it wrong to split an infinitive?

Image
To boldly split the infinitive is fine - listen below: Listen! This is what Fowler says in his classic Dictionary of Modern Usage (1926). The English-speaking world may be divided into (1) those who neither know nor care what a split infinitive is; (2) those who do not know, but care very much; (3) those who know and condemn; (4) those who know and approve; and (5) those who know and distinguish. Those who neither know nor care are the vast majority, and are happy folk, to be envied. A Dictionary of Modern English Usage: The Classic First Edition  Grammar For Dummies Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage (Oxford Paperback Reference) The Language Wars: A History of Proper English. by Henry Hitchings

What is a descriptivist? A prescriptivist?

Image
In linguistics very long words sometimes describe straightforward ideas. Listen to this short description of two key words: descriptivist and prescriptivist. listen to ‘What do linguists mean by descriptivist and prescriptivist?’ on Audioboo Essential Linguistics: What You Need to Know to Teach Reading, ESL, Spelling, Phonics & Grammar The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics (Oxford Paperback Reference) Teaching English as a Foreign Language For Dummies E.S.L - English As A Second Language

How do we learn language?

Why is English a 'weird' language?

According to linguist John McWhorter it's because the Vikings learned it badly!

How do children learn language?

Image
Child Language: Acquisition and Development

Is the general standard of English declining?

Image
Or  has there 'never been a time when English was not thought to be going to hell in a handcart'?  Complaints about English are (a) as old as the hills, (b) based on no linguistic logic, and (c) ultimately futile, since no one can stop language from varying and changing.   In The Language Wars , Henry Hitchings argues there has never been a time when English was not thought to be going to hell in a handcart. He cites what sounds like a contemporary essay on "the growing illiteracy of American boys" and invites us to guess when it was written. The answer turns out to be, in 1896 – and the boys whose illiteracy so alarmed the essay's author were not hillbillies or slum children, but Harvard undergraduates.  Source But aren't young people today reading far less?  Is the Internet destroying our 'book culture'? Adam Gopnik summarises the different approaches to this question: Never-Better : The internet is opening up a new information democracy. Everyone

Does language shape the way we think?

Image
Do the languages we speak shape the way we think? Do they merely express thoughts? Or do the structures in languages (without our knowledge or consent) shape the very thoughts we wish to express? Provocative article is WSJ from Stanford psychology professor challenging - or at least refining - Chomsky's theory of a 'universal language'. How do we come to be the way we are? Why do we think the way we do? An important part of the answer, it turns out, is in the languages we speak.  Full text here On Nature and Languag by Noah Chomskye