Posts Tagged ‘language change’
-
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 [...]
Read the full article
-
Posted by Stan Carey on September 28, 2011
No doubt you’re familiar with the following line from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay on self-reliance: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds”. In a comment to my recent post about hopefully, Marc Leavitt quoted it in relation to the strange persistence of outdated and unfounded rules of grammar and usage. Most people know [...]
Read the full article
-
Posted by Stan Carey on September 20, 2011
When people lament the state of the English language, they often criticise new vocabulary, such as the slang, buzzwords and jargon that arise from young people, advertising, and technology. But new vocabulary marks linguistic change only in a relatively superficial way. Significant changes in language happen more slowly. In a short video for Global about [...]
Read the full article
-
Posted by Aneta Naumoska on September 01, 2011
Gender English month continues with a guest post by Aneta Naumoska, a Lector of Contemporary English Language at the “Blaze Koneski” Faculty of Philology in Skopje, Macedonia. Aneta’s first book, Gender Marking in the English Language, was published in December 2010. Her particular interests lie in the field of Sociolinguistics. She is also an avid [...]
Read the full article
-
Posted by Laine Redpath Cole on August 26, 2011
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. Global English Iraqi aircraft [...]
Read the full article
-
Posted by Michael Rundell on August 24, 2011
Though coined in the 1930s, the expression political correctness came of age during the Eighties, initially – as we saw in Part 1 – as a neutral or even positive term. Nowadays, it is an all-purpose term of disparagement, and its application goes far beyond the realm of language, which was its original focus. For some [...]
Read the full article
-
Posted by Stan Carey on August 22, 2011
In a recent post about the role of dictionaries in matters of language and gender, Michael Rundell wrote that they “shouldn’t take sides in any area of language use” but that “in some cases this is unavoidable”. Dictionaries record how language is used, so they can’t simply ignore sexist and discriminatory usages – or new [...]
Read the full article
-
Posted by Caroline Short on August 18, 2011
This week’s ‘language in new media’ post looks at the origins of the English phrase reading the riot act. Now understood as a scolding or telling off, usually administered by parents or teachers to unruly children, being read the riot act used to have far more serious connotations. Listen to excerpts and view contemporary artists’ [...]
Read the full article
-
Posted by Michael Rundell on August 17, 2011
In his popular post on pronouns, Stan Carey mentions an experiment in gender-free language in a Swedish school, and asks whether this is a positive idea or ‘an exercise in political correctness’. Political correctness and the related adjective politically correct are good examples of words that have undergone ‘pejoration’: originally neutral or even positive terms, [...]
Read the full article
-
Posted by Michael Rundell on June 06, 2011
A recent round-up of language news featured an article by Robert Lane Greene, explaining his dislike of the word literally: ‘When used as a mere intensifier … it has almost no kick at all. And when misused, it can be spectacular.’ On the face of it, he has a point. We know that words don’t [...]
Read the full article
Follow Us