Archive for June, 2010

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  • Language and words in the news – 11th June, 2010

    Posted by on June 11, 2010

    This post contains a weekly selection of links related to language and words in the news. These can be items from the latest news, blog posts or interesting websites related to global English and language change, and language education too. Do contact us if you would like to submit a link for us to include. [...]

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  • James Joyce. How could they turn him down?

    Posted by on June 10, 2010

    Our next guest blog in South African English month is from Professor Tony Voss. Professor Tony Voss was educated in South Africa and the USA and has taught English literature at various universities around the world. He retired his position as head of the English Department of Natal University in 1995. He continues a research [...]

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  • Kellogg’s, braais and a monkey’s wedding

    Posted by on June 09, 2010

    Our next guest post about South African English comes from Sarah Clive. Sarah lived in Johannesburg until she was six, then moved over to the UK. She now lives in Wells, Somerset with her two dogs. You can find her here or on her blog. __________ Being a bit of a word geek, I subscribe [...]

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  • l’Academie Anglaise

    Posted by on June 08, 2010

    The Times recently carried a report on the Academy of English, an organization set up by the Queen’s English Society to “protect the language from impurities, bastardisations and the horrors introduced by the text-speak generation.” Anyone who’s now cowering behind the sofa in fear and trembling of these text-speak horrors can safely come out and [...]

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  • South African words in English – then and now (part 1)

    Posted by on June 07, 2010

    It is a pleasure and a privilege to welcome Jean Branford to our blog. A distinguished lexicographer, Jean is a world authority on the English of South Africa and author of A Dictionary of South African English. This is the first of two blogs from Dr Branford. _____________ South African words have been around in [...]

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  • Language and words in the news – 4th June, 2010

    Posted by on June 04, 2010

    This post contains a weekly selection of links related to language and words in the news. These can be items from the latest news, blog posts or interesting websites related to global English and language change. Please contact us if you would like to submit a link for us to include. We’d love to hear [...]

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  • South African English is the eish

    Posted by on June 03, 2010

    This month’s first guest post about South African English is from Dawn Nell, a historian and Capetonian. You can follow her on twitter. ____________ There’s a degree of irreverence in South African attitudes to most things, but particularly towards the English. It is something that undoubtedly has its roots in South African history, as pretty [...]

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  • English likes to verb

    Posted by on June 02, 2010

    English morphology is famously simple. Most nouns have just two forms (dog, dogs), most verbs only four (walk, walks, walking, walked). By contrast, a regular Spanish verb can have 42 forms, while in Hungarian that can easily go up to 60 or more (see example verb here). And – since we are in South Africa [...]

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  • Howzit

    Posted by on June 01, 2010

    It’s South African English month, lekker! When I got back to South Africa in 2002 having been away for 6 years, I was struck by the change in the English spoken there. It had become more of a mix of the other predominant languages (such as Zulu and Afrikaans) and was a real indication, I [...]

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