There's a good reason why Towie outshines its scripted reality rivals – the language. It's well educational
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2013/aug/02/mind-your-language-nouveau-cockney
Wednesday, 25 November 2015
Tuesday, 24 November 2015
Don't get your Alans in a twist
Sometimes only cockney rhyming slang will do. But get it wrong and you can end up looking a berk
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2013/feb/22/mind-your-language-cockney-rhyming-slang
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2013/feb/22/mind-your-language-cockney-rhyming-slang
What Britain's county dialects can tell us about the national character
Take a linguistic tour – a holus-bolus fidge-fadge, if you will – around some of Britain's most charming forgotten words
http://www.theguardian.com/education/mind-your-language/2014/apr/02/what-british-dialects-tell-us-about-national-character
http://www.theguardian.com/education/mind-your-language/2014/apr/02/what-british-dialects-tell-us-about-national-character
If you can't use an apostrophe, you don't know your shit
Greengrocers – and big supermarkets – may struggle to tame the 'apostrofly', but it's not actually that hard
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2013/aug/16/mind-your-language-apostrophe
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2013/aug/16/mind-your-language-apostrophe
Jafaican it? No we're not
Comedians might play the patois of multicultural Britain for laughs, but spoken English has been drawing on influences from other languages and dialects for centuries
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2013/aug/30/mind-your-language-jafaican
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2013/aug/30/mind-your-language-jafaican
Words are stupid, words are fun
As words fall in and out of fashion, new ones enter the language. But some, such as autonaut, chassimover and pupamotor, failed to reach the assembly line
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2013/oct/07/mind-your-language-words
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2013/oct/07/mind-your-language-words
Sexist language: it's every man for him or herself
The author of Winnie-the-Pooh thought 'he or she' should be replaced by 'heesh', but there's nothing wrong with singular 'they'
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2013/oct/18/mind-your-language-sexism
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2013/oct/18/mind-your-language-sexism
Basically, don't underestimate your listeners
Let's trust each other with depth and detail, not try to reduce conversation to basics
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2013/nov/15/mind-your-language-basically
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2013/nov/15/mind-your-language-basically
10 grammar books to read before you die of boredom
A seasonal selection of new (and not so new) books about language that are anything but dull
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2013/dec/13/mind-your-language-books-of-the-year
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2013/dec/13/mind-your-language-books-of-the-year
Found in translation ... when misquoting someone is the best way to be fair and accurate
If a non-English speaker feels like a 'donkey out of water', it's right to change their words to help them get their point across clearly
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/apr/16/mind-your-language-quote-unquote
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/apr/16/mind-your-language-quote-unquote
When insults become the norm, dialogue is debased
If you call someone a Nazi just because you disagree with them, you have already lost the argument
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/apr/25/mind-your-language-insults
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/apr/25/mind-your-language-insults
A good pun is its own reword
From Battersea Flower Station to Blonde Dye Bleach, everyone wants to be punny. What's your favourite?
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/may/30/mind-your-language-puns
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/may/30/mind-your-language-puns
Good grammar saves lives – and rescues friendships
Despite the uproar it caused, local councils are still banishing apostrophes from street signs. But a single apostrophe can save utter humiliation
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/jun/27/good-grammar-saves-lives-and-rescues-friendships
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/jun/27/good-grammar-saves-lives-and-rescues-friendships
The David Beckhamosaurus: he’s closer than you think (and he has feathers)
The often peculiar names we give newly discovered species reveal as much about the egos, eccentricities and obsessions of humans as they do about the creatures themselves
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/jul/25/mind-your-language-scientific-names
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/jul/25/mind-your-language-scientific-names
Word criminal? The web will sentence you
Here are the current funniest ways the web is telling us to mind our language
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/aug/29/mind-your-language-word-criminal-the-web-will-sentence-you
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/aug/29/mind-your-language-word-criminal-the-web-will-sentence-you
Let’s eat Grandma! How to use, and not use the comma
‘If you could edit your past, what would you change?’ ‘I’d get rid of all the commas’ – Peter Carey
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/sep/04/mind-your-language-commas
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/sep/04/mind-your-language-commas
Guardian masterclass: the essentials of grammar with David Marsh
A whole Saturday of grammar-related events at the Guardian building near King’s Cross with the emphasis on entertainment. It doesn’t matter whether you know your apostrophe from your ellipsis, you’re bound to learn something.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/live/2014/sep/06/guardian-masterclass-essentials-grammar-david-marsh-kings-place
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/live/2014/sep/06/guardian-masterclass-essentials-grammar-david-marsh-kings-place
The Guardian’s style guide editor on … putting the fears around texting into historical context David Marsh
Every minute, the world’s mobile phone users send more than 15 million text messages. There is no evidence that any of them have forgotten how to write.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/14/style-guide-editor-texting-fears-historical-context
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/14/style-guide-editor-texting-fears-historical-context
Wednesday, 11 November 2015
Research Activity- Linguistics Research Blogspot
Investigate the following academic linguistic research
blog and write notes about any interesting pieces of research you find.
http://linguistics-research-digest.blogspot.co.uk/p/about.html
http://linguistics-research-digest.blogspot.co.uk/p/about.html
Monday, 9 November 2015
Oi, you – yes, youse lot – I’m talking to you, y’all
Although some regional dialects retain the distinction, most English speakers have to make do with using ‘you’ to mean one person or many
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2015/jun/05/oi-you-yes-youse-lot-im-talking-to-you-yall
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2015/jun/05/oi-you-yes-youse-lot-im-talking-to-you-yall
Scots: do you know your teuchters from your sassenachs?
Irrespective of the political fallout from the independence referendum, the UK’s language patchwork is stronger having retained the rich tradition of Scots
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/oct/03/scots-english-do-you-know-your-teuchters-from-your-sassenachs
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/oct/03/scots-english-do-you-know-your-teuchters-from-your-sassenachs
Speaking it in the family
Familects – home dialects in which words are given private meanings – reveal that everyone has a creative and playful linguistic story
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2013/jul/19/mind-your-language-family-slang
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2013/jul/19/mind-your-language-family-slang
Mind your slanguage, and don't be an erk. YOLO
Slang should be celebrated, not condemned. It enriches our language – from bloomers to booty, from cool to ceebs, and from doing a Lohan to LOLZ
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/mar/28/mind-your-language-slang
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/mar/28/mind-your-language-slang
The Guardian’s style guide editor on … putting the fears around texting into historical context
Every minute, the world’s mobile phone users send more than 15 million text messages. There is no evidence that any of them have forgotten how to write.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/14/style-guide-editor-texting-fears-historical-context
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/14/style-guide-editor-texting-fears-historical-context
Using ‘literally’ metaphorically is literally spreading like wildfire
Mark Twain, F Scott Fitzgerald and James Joyce all did it. (HW Fowler disapproved.) Should ‘literally’ be used to mean its opposite?
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/oct/24/mind-your-language-literally
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/oct/24/mind-your-language-literally
Txting is for people who can’t spell, write? Wrong
Children who use ‘textisms’ have greater phonological awareness, according to research that exposes some of the myths about language and social media.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/nov/07/mind-your-language-textisms
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/nov/07/mind-your-language-textisms
If you’ve got ‘another thing coming’, you’ve got another think coming
I don’t want to make a big thing about it, but I do think ‘think’ makes more sense when using this phrase.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/nov/18/mind-your-language-another-think
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/nov/18/mind-your-language-another-think
English spellings don’t match the sounds they are supposed to represent. It’s time to change
You can’t tell the spelling from the pronunciation, and you can’t tell the pronunciation from the spelling. No wonder people find English difficult.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/dec/11/mind-your-language-english-spelling
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/dec/11/mind-your-language-english-spelling
Waiting with bated breath to learn how idioms took flight
At
the end of your tether because you are treated as a dogsbody? Falconry and the
sea are two rich sources of English expressions
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2015/sep/18/waiting-with-bated-breath-to-learn-how-idioms-took-flight
Man up, come off it, jel and aww ... the Facebook emojis we really need
If we must communicate via
soundbites and emoticons, at least give us some ironic and sarcastic ones.
Power grab: reclaiming words can be such a bitch
From suffragette to queer, the prerogative force of words can change. But reclaiming them has had mixed success.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2015/oct/30/power-grab-reclaiming-words-can-be-such-a-bitch
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2015/oct/30/power-grab-reclaiming-words-can-be-such-a-bitch
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