global English
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Posted by Michael Rundell on November 17, 2011
At the recent eLEX 2011 conference in Slovenia (for earlier posts, see here and here), the discussion focussed on the future of dictionaries – or, more broadly, on the various ways in which reference needs might be catered for in years to come. What often happens in this field is that people working in universities [...]
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Posted by Ben Trawick-Smith on November 14, 2011
Class English month continues with the pronunciation theme: guest blogger Ben Trawick-Smith, from Dialect Blog, takes a look at (non-)rhoticity in American English. Ben has worked as an actor, playwright, director, critic and dialect coach. His other passions include linguistics, urban development, philosophy and film. Ben lives with his wife in Seattle, Washington, in the [...]
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Posted by Michael Rundell on November 11, 2011
More news from eLEX2011, the conference on e-lexicography currently taking place in Slovenia. The conference got off to a rip-roaring start as Simon Krek (one of the organizers) outlined a radical vision for a future in which a range of intelligent language tools would be freely available to make communication easier. The functions Simon mentioned [...]
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Posted by Michael Rundell on November 09, 2011
Today’s post comes from the beautiful Slovenian city of Bled, where I’m attending a conference called ‘eLEX2011’– or ‘Electronic lexicography in the 21st century’. Regular readers will be aware of how completely the job of producing dictionaries was transformed in the 1980s by the arrival of large language corpora. Those were pioneering times, and the [...]
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Posted by Stan Carey on November 08, 2011
In his recent guest post about the language of the theatre, Ben Trawick-Smith mentions the privileged position of Received Pronunciation. RP, he writes, was virtually de rigueur in English theatre “until it became apparent to (some) Britons that dialect prejudice is as bad as any other”. An RP accent, even a modified one that combines [...]
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Posted by Stephen Bullon on November 07, 2011
What do you call the meal you eat in the evening? Is it tea, supper, or dinner? And in the middle of the day, do you eat lunch, luncheon, or dinner? Do you use a serviette or a napkin to wipe the crumbs from your mouth? And do you (excuse the indelicacy) go to the [...]
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Posted by Stan Carey on November 02, 2011
Impact is part of the core vocabulary of English, ranking as a three-star red word in Macmillan Dictionary. Yet it is subject to constant dispute and ire, appearing frequently in lists of pet peeves and inspiring lengthy discussions in usage dictionaries. Why is this? The noun first denoted a physical strike or collision, such as [...]
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Posted by Ben Trawick-Smith on October 25, 2011
Subcultural English month continues with a guest post by Ben Trawick-Smith from Dialect Blog. Ben began his dialect fascination while working in theatre. He has worked as an actor, playwright, director, critic and dialect coach. Other passions include linguistics, urban development, philosophy and film. He lives with his wife in Seattle, Washington, in the USA. [...]
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Posted by Stan Carey on October 24, 2011
Many neologisms come to us from science and technology, where perpetual cycles of discoveries and developments create a constant need for new terminology. I examined one of them, the familiar blog, a few weeks ago, after several Macmillan Dictionary Blog contributors selected it as their favourite “online English” word. Another one worth a closer look [...]
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Posted by Kati Sule on October 21, 2011
This post contains a selection of links related to recent language and words in the news. These can be items from the latest news, blog posts or interesting websites related to global English, language change, education in general, and language learning and teaching in particular. Feel free to contact us if you would like to [...]
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