Depends on the context @dependsoncontext - Tumblr Blog

Grammarians wonder: Should there be an apostrophe in “The Tortured Poets Department”?

#punctuation #english #language #apostrophe #taylor swift #the tortured poets department

In “Essays Two,” the acclaimed fiction writer and translator of Proust, Flaubert and others does a beautiful job of transmitting the satisfa

#translation #translator #lydia davis #books #language #language learning #essay

linguisten

#linguistic variation #prescriptive grammar

sociolinguo

No one ever 'triggered' a treaty article before Brexit and Article 50.

“Recent research has revealed a number of expressions that have entered everyday use since Brexit started. Terms like “Article 50”, “no deal”, “hard border” may now seem just part of life but they were seldom, if ever, used before Brexit.

New and interesting phraseological patterns have also arisen around some of these words. For example, treaty articles didn’t used to get “triggered”. Instead, they were “invoked”. But we now take as obvious that Article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union is “triggered”. In linguistic terms, this is known as a “collocation” – the idea that words are commonly used together. So, just as in English (but not in some other languages) one brushes one’s teeth rather than cleans them, one now “triggers” Article 50 in stead of “invoking” it. These patterns show that language is a system of conventional habits of expression more than a system governed by strict, logical rules. After all, there is no strict rule that says you can’t use the word “activate” or “invoke” before “Article 50”, and yet hardly anyone says that.

These new patterns have entered the grammar of English and need to be part of speakers’ linguistic knowledge if they wish to discuss Brexit (although some of these patterns might well fall into disuse once we talk about Brexit less). This shows that language can change very fast if required, despite the fact that the traditional view of language change is that grammatical patterns take hundreds of years to change.

Forced to pick sides

Language is also often far from neutral. With “trigger” becoming the usual verb to pair with Article 50, speakers are nudged into a metaphor that might well influence not only how they talk, but also how they think about this matter. This works via linguistic relativity and its conscious deployment is sometimes referred to as framing. Once something is triggered, it cannot be untriggered – the outcome is final. Compare with the invoking of something, which leaves the option of revoking it, or the activation and deactivation of something.”

#brexit #language #linguistics #english #language change #language relativism #language patterns

just-shower-thoughts

“Horrible”, “horrifying” and “horrific” describe negative experiences. So do “terrible” and “terrifying”. But “terrific” is used positively.

drlinguo

… the relation between signifié and signifiant is arbitrary and conventionalised (de Saussure) … [and sometimes „terrific“ (me)]

#horrific #horrifying #terrific #negative #positive #de saussure

How’s everyone doing? Self-quarantining? Social distancing? Catching up on podcasts/the New Yorker/housecleaning? Drinking quarantinis and c

#coronapocalypse #coronavirus #covid 19 #neologisms #new words #coinages #coronacoinages #language change #linguistics

My test for the correct use of “who” or “whom” in a relative clause...

Mary Norris on the proper usage of “who” and “whom” and why the distinction matters.

#who #whom #relative clause #copy editing #proofreading #english #english language #grammar

dailywug

dependsoncontext

There isn’t another one.

Now it is social distancing.

Be like a wug and #stayathome.

#wug #coronavirus #covid-19 #linguistics #stay at home #social distancing

kropotkindersurprise

March 15 2020 - Dutch sign language interpreter telling people to stop panic buying, or “hamstering“ as it’s called in Dutch.

#dutch sign language #sign language #interpreter #panic buying #sign

Source: https://twitter.com/brucel/status/1239859812059557888?s=21

“A friend in Germany tells me everyone’s panic buying sausages and cheese. It’s the Wurst Käse scenario.”

#coronavirus #pun #german #cheese #sausage #wurst käse #english #panick buying #twitter #recession #greece

prokopetz

We say “English doesn’t make any sense” because saying “English is unusual in that, when it borrows vocabulary from other languages, it tends to partially retain the morphology of the originating language group rather than adapting the word in question to English morphology, which is why we have twelve different ways to construct a plural” takes too long.

#english #english language #morphology #linguistics #language #language change #borrowing

sociolingarticles

After extensive research, reference publisher is quietly replacing examples that ‘unnecessarily perpetuate stereotypes’ – while also reflecting how language is used

#oxford #oxford dictionary #bias #definitions #examples #dictionary #language #linguistics #sexist language #gender bias

„Język nie jest przezroczysty. Można niechcący kogoś obrazić lub wywołać niepotrzebne napięcie, używając słów, które uważamy za neutralne. D

„Language is not transparent.”

The University of Warsaw has just developed language recommendations promoting inclusion and non-dscriminatory language. It is aimed at removing bias (both conscious and unconscious) from every day and academic language.

The recommendations are published in an online guide (free access, Polish language version).

The guide is prepared by the Chancellor’s Committee for Preventing Discrimination and the University’s most prominent linguists.

#polish #university of warsaw #warsaw university #nondiscrimination #inclusion #bias #academic language #academic #inclusive language #language #language guide #uw #warsaw #polish language #linguistics #polish philology #polish linguistics

Learning numbers in a European language has probably affected your early maths ability. It turns out there are better ways to count.

Learning numbers in a European language has probably affected your early maths ability.

(…) And in English, words like “twelve” or “eleven” don’t give many clues as to the structure of the number itself (these names actually come from the Old Saxon words ellevan and twelif, meaning “one left” and “two left”, after 10 has been subtracted).