English Language Studies

The Open University in the UK has produced a funny video on the history of English:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3r9bOkYW9s&list=PL0B3F3F2E7BCC0F51&index=1&feature=plpp_video

Caution: There’s a bit of language which might offend some.

Presenters will share experiences and speak about the hard work required in revitalizing Native languages. Abstracts of the talks are available under the above link.

Archeological evidence in Denmark provides convincing evidence that the Germanic tribes fought fiercely:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/science/warrior-remains-2000-years-old-found-in-denmark.html?_r=1

In this insightful article from the New York Times, Geneva Smitherman and H. Samy Alim discuss Obama’s use of a range of dialects:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/opinion/sunday/obama-and-the-racial-politics-of-american-english.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Be sure to click on the link to Obama’s visit Ben’s Chili Bowl and listen to how he is speaking.

The New York Times has done an analysis of the most frequent words used at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. This is nicely represented graphically in the linked article:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/09/06/us/politics/convention-word-counts.html?emc=eta1

It shows you that words matter!

Thanks to Ari Hoptman for making syntax fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB1m4w9j79o

Merriam-Webster editors have produced a variety of short YouTube segments on questions of English usage (“flat adverbs”, “who” vs. “whom”, etc.) and vocabulary. (“gridiron”, “cop”, “literally”, etc.). They’re quite well done. Here’s the link:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UULGx1Xl1Nd1iJ37dWeNnp-A&feature=plcp

Slate.com recently had a very interesting discussion of the Northern Cities Shift, a change in short vowel which is affecting US cities around the Great Lakes but which has not crossed the Canadian border. Here is the link:

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_good_word/2012/08/northern_cities_vowel_shift_how_americans_in_the_great_lakes_region_are_revolutionizing_english_.html

Another good account of this change is a short interview with the linguist William Labov. Here you can also hear the differences in the vowels:

An evolutionary biologist, Quentin Atkinson, using statistical methodology, has shown that Anatolia must be the homeland of the Indo-Europeans. However, his findings are contested by others, who claim — primarily because of the presence of the horse among the Indo-Europeans — that the steppes of Russia are their homeland. Read the New York Times account of this controversy:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/science/indo-european-languages-originated-in-anatolia-analysis-suggests.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Shanghai says that it is winning the “war on Chinglish”:

http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/Shanghai+winning+Chinglish+signs/7036341/story.html