SpeakersCorner. Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century by Rank. Words for time travellers. English Timeline. This interactive timeline allows you to explore the evolution of English language and literature, from the 11th century to the present day. Scroll through decade by decade to investigate the richness and diversity of our poetry and prose, as well as the many social, cultural and political strands from which our language has been woven. The timeline includes a fascinating combination of texts: Anglo Saxon tales and medieval illuminations; iconic literary manuscripts and printed texts; as well as letters, newspapers, handbills, posters, charters, speeches and campaign leaflets. Launch the interactive Flash timeline above, or explore the collections within each of the centuries below.
Beowulf, Anglo Saxon monsters & more... The beginnings of Middle English & more... Dictionaries and Meanings. This site traces the history of English dictionaries from the 1500s to the present day. You can examine how words change their meaning over time, and how scholars have argued over ideas of 'correct' spellings. You can see how new words have travelled into the English language from all over the world, having been transported in scholars' books, woven into the tales of sailors, carted about in merchants' crates, or brought from overseas by migrants. You will also discover how English words have travelled out of England, to the Caribbean for instance, where they have developed new forms. You can read about the secret languages of pickpockets and vagabonds, and learn how much toilet humour there was in 18th century England.
Click on the pages listed on the right to explore the dictionaries themselves. You might think that a word's definite meaning, or its proper spelling, can be found in the dictionary. ShareThis. American Anthropological Association: English As She Is Spoke. Written by Rosina Lippi Green In discussions about language, prescriptive types generally scorn academic linguists; they see us as language anarchists who reject the very idea of rules. In fact, any linguist will tell you that all human language is structured and rule governed. What linguists and anthropologists object to are pronouncements about good and bad language which are founded in aesthetics, fashion, or prejudice, but served up as objective truths with a side order of superiority.
Less important (but still irritating) is the way many prescriptivists get wound up in inane controversies about punctuation, which has nothing to do with spoken language, but still will be filed under "proper grammar. " Prescriptivists can be purposefully obtuse and more than bellicose when arguing a position. Sociocultural linguists are actually interested in prescriptivism. 1. 2. 3. Is English Killing Linguistic Diversity?
The issue of linguistic diversity is enmeshed in political debates ranging in topic from global economics to post-colonial nationalism. A common thread that runs through these discussions is the explosive growth of English language use over the last century. The position of English today is truly unique; no language has ever been spoken by so many people in so many countries before. But, what does that mean for linguistic diversity? Does the rise of English necessarily spell doom for other languages? Journalist, Christine Kenneally, recently wrote an excellent piece titled, How to Talk About English in English that explores the question. Here is a brief excerpt to wet your whistle: …The complicated reality of English today is obscured by simple storytelling in which it is the only main character.
Lexical change in spoken English. Du silence du polyglotte au bégaiement de la langue | Kral | Tropismes. Françoise Král Université de Paris Ouest, Nanterre Dans un article du recueil de textes Gaze and Voice as Love Objects édité par Slavoj Zizek et Renata Saleci, Mladen Dolar replace la question de la voix mais également du rapport qu’elle entretient avec le corps dans une perspective diachronique, mettant en évidence l’interdépendance de ces deux notions dans la théorie contemporaine. Il oppose ainsi le phonocentrisme de Derrida dans De la Grammatologie à ce qu’il considère être un traitement réducteur de la voix par les linguistes depuis Saussure. Dolar va d’ailleurs plus loin en osant un jeu de mot sur phonè et phonos pour décrire l’acharnement meurtrier avec lequel, selon lui, les linguistes se sont intéressés de façon presque exclusive aux mécanismes de production des phonèmes.
Voix/ontologie/affect : la voix comme critère définitoire Over three days, 131 such bodies, no, 132, are flung at this sea. Each lands with a sound that the sea absorbs and silences. Japanese (?) Does Language Shape our Thoughts? Are We what We say we are? Some of the major differences can be found in ancient Australian Aboriginal Languages. Lera Boroditsky in her research found that a small Aboriginal community on the western edge of Cape York, in northern Australia had an unusual concept of space, giving directions and orientation. Instead of basing concepts or space based on relationships to the body, they used a concept based on cardinal-directions related to the sun's passage across the sky throughout the day. Instead of giving directions like 'left', 'right', 'back' and 'forward' which are commonly used in English, they used terms similar to 'north', 'south-east', 'east', 'south' and 'west' .
These terms are used at a range of scales - from referring to parts of the body and giving close and far directions. They say things similar to "You have a fly on your southwest leg" or "Move the stick to the north northwest. " The normal greeting in this community is "Where are you going? " The debate continues! © janderson99-HubPages. Yvan BAPTISTE - www.franglish.fr. The North South divide - All About Linguistics. The North South Divide often refers more widely to people's perceptions of a line separating the country according to social, economic and political factors. For example, linguist Katie Wales, who has extensively studied Northern English states that there is a global perception of 'a North-South divide based on temperature' such as the 'frozen North' or 'warm South'. She goes on to state that this can be applied to the British Isles as the North generally tends to be colder (and wetter!)
Than the South due to its geography.[6] People judge varieties on a variety of features, not all of them linguistic. Wales suggests that 'the southern pronunciation is central and the northern more rounded Geographically the divide is still difficult to identify. A political divide Politics is always a hot topic, guaranteed to polarise opinion and get people talking. A historical divide The north south divide can be traced back in literature for almost two centuries. In modern terms As a linguist: References. Do You Speak American . Sea to Shining Sea . Standard American . Presidential. Language is a powerful political tool. Anna Marie Trester explains how, in America, presidential speech continues to reflect broader changes in our way of speaking. Ask most Americans what someone from Washington, D.C. sounds like, and they’ll probably look at you blankly.
American English as spoken in Washington, D.C. doesn’t seem to be among the language’s most recognizable or highly valued forms. This may have something to do with the city. It is not one of the nation’s biggest and it is transitory; most inhabitants are not from D.C. and many do not stay long-term. When people move to D.C., they bring the speech of the communities in which they were raised, resulting in a mix of many norms. Ironically, the American English that most Americans say is most acceptable may be entirely imaginary. President Ronald Reagan is credited as speaking this variety, but he started as a professional actor. R-Lessness: JFK, Carter and FDR John F.
Lyndon B. Bill Clinton and George W. The Texas Bush. American English Dialects. Whoohoo.co.uk Geordie Translator!