Researching the Etymology of Australian English Colloquialisms in the Digital Age: Implications for 21st Century Lexicography

English Today ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 40-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Donlan
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Language Resources ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
Methodological Problems ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Australian English

In the December 2012 issue of English Today, Philip Durkin argues that lexis is currently a ‘Cinderella’ subject: he suggests that the methodological problems generated by the study of lexis have led to it being marginalised in contemporary linguistic research (2012: 3). Nevertheless, Durkin notes that ‘lexis (or vocabulary) is probably the area of linguistics that is most accessible and most salient for a non-specialist audience’ (2012: 3). Thus, one cannot overestimate the importance of lexical research with regards to engaging a wider audience in linguistic discourses. Prior to the advent of the internet, however, researching etymology was a laborious process for English language enthusiasts, especially when the lexical items of interest were considered to be colloquialisms or slang. Indeed, ‘non-standard’ lexis, historically, has been marginalised and sometimes even excluded from dictionaries (Durkin, 2012: 6); however, the rise of the internet and social media has led to the increased visibility of ‘non-standard’ lexis, making information about language use more accessible to researchers outside of the local speech community (Browne & Uribe-Jongbloed, 2013: 23). Moreover, the internet has given language enthusiasts unprecedented access to a range of historical and contextual information which proves invaluable when considering etymology. This article demonstrates how more conventional language resources such as the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) can be used alongside a variety of other online resources and fictional and nonfictional texts to identify the etymologies of contemporary English lexical items. Specifically, this essay explores the etymologies of three Australian colloquial nouns (bogan, cobber, and sandgroper) taken from travel website TripAdvisor's (2011) user-generated glossary of Australian English colloquialisms.

scholarly journals Diglossia

Pragmatics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-216
Author(s):  
Helge Daniëls
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Ideological Attitudes

Abstract Diglossia is, as far as the Arabic language is concerned, a concept that has been taken for granted, as much as it has been criticized. First, based on Ferguson’s article on diglossia and subsequent interpretations and ramifications of the concept and with a special focus on how language variability is discursively deployed and how it is perceived in the Arab speech community, I will argue that diglossia does not so much describe actual language use, but rather how language variability is ‘read’ in the Arab world. In the second part of the article, an analysis of labeling in a 19th century debate will show how the dichotomy between fuṣḥā and non-fuṣḥā varieties (ʿāmmīya),1 which is the basis of diglossia, was already taken for granted long before the concept and the term existed, and even before fuṣḥā and ʿāmmīya were used as independent lexical items. The analysis in both parts of the article shows how much diglossia is taken for granted by most native speakers of Arabic, even if it defies linguistic descriptions of actual language use. It is exactly this ‘common-sense-ness’ that suggests that diglossia is a useful tool to describe language ideological attitudes.

An intonational change in progress in Australian English

1986 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Guy ◽  
Barbara Horvath ◽  
Julia Vonwiller ◽  
Elaine Daisley ◽  
Inge Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Local Identity ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Sociolinguistic Variation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Motivations ◽  
Australian English

ABSTRACTMany speakers of current Australian English often use a high-rising intonation in statements. This usage, which has been termed Australian Questioning Intonation (AQI), has a nonpropositional, interactive meaning (checking for listener comprehension) and interacts with the turn-taking mechanism of conversation. A quantitative study of the use of AQI in Sydney reveals that it has the social distribution characteristic of a language change in progress: higher rates of usage among working-class speakers, teenagers, and women. Real time data confirm this, showing that the form was almost nonexistent in this speech community two decades earlier. The social motivations of this innovation are examined in terms of local identity and the entry of new ethnic groups into the community, and possible linguistic sources are discussed. The utility of quantitative methods in studying meaningful linguistic variables is demonstrated. (Australian English, language change in progress, intonation, sociolinguistic variation, social class, social motivation)

An historical analysis of species references in American English

Corpora ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-349
Author(s):  
Craig Frayne
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Sentiment Analysis ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
American English ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
The Past ◽  
Corpus Studies ◽  
Google Books

This study uses the two largest available American English language corpora, Google Books and the Corpus of Historical American English (coha), to investigate relations between ecology and language. The paper introduces ecolinguistics as a promising theme for corpus research. While some previous ecolinguistic research has used corpus approaches, there is a case to be made for quantitative methods that draw on larger datasets. Building on other corpus studies that have made connections between language use and environmental change, this paper investigates whether linguistic references to other species have changed in the past two centuries and, if so, how. The methodology consists of two main parts: an examination of the frequency of common names of species followed by aspect-level sentiment analysis of concordance lines. Results point to both opportunities and challenges associated with applying corpus methods to ecolinguistc research.

scholarly journals Lex-Pos Feature-Based Grammar Error Detection System for the English Language

Electronics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Agarwal ◽  
Mudasir Ahmad Wani ◽  
Patrick Bours
Keyword(s):  
Error Detection ◽  
Network Architecture ◽  
English Language ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Detection System ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Systems Model ◽  
Part Of Speech ◽  
Induction Technique

This work focuses on designing a grammar detection system that understands both structural and contextual information of sentences for validating whether the English sentences are grammatically correct. Most existing systems model a grammar detector by translating the sentences into sequences of either words appearing in the sentences or syntactic tags holding the grammar knowledge of the sentences. In this paper, we show that both these sequencing approaches have limitations. The former model is over specific, whereas the latter model is over generalized, which in turn affects the performance of the grammar classifier. Therefore, the paper proposes a new sequencing approach that contains both information, linguistic as well as syntactic, of a sentence. We call this sequence a Lex-Pos sequence. The main objective of the paper is to demonstrate that the proposed Lex-Pos sequence has the potential to imbibe the specific nature of the linguistic words (i.e., lexicals) and generic structural characteristics of a sentence via Part-Of-Speech (POS) tags, and so, can lead to a significant improvement in detecting grammar errors. Furthermore, the paper proposes a new vector representation technique, Word Embedding One-Hot Encoding (WEOE) to transform this Lex-Pos into mathematical values. The paper also introduces a new error induction technique to artificially generate the POS tag specific incorrect sentences for training. The classifier is trained using two corpora of incorrect sentences, one with general errors and another with POS tag specific errors. Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural network architecture has been employed to build the grammar classifier. The study conducts nine experiments to validate the strength of the Lex-Pos sequences. The Lex-Pos -based models are observed as superior in two ways: (1) they give more accurate predictions; and (2) they are more stable as lesser accuracy drops have been recorded from training to testing. To further prove the potential of the proposed Lex-Pos -based model, we compare it with some well known existing studies.

English language schooling, linguistic realities, and the native speaker of English in Hong Kong

Multilingua ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jette G. Hansen Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Government School ◽  
The Impact ◽  
At Home

AbstractThe study employs a case study approach to examine the impact of educational backgrounds on nine Hong Kong tertiary students’ English and Cantonese language practices and identifications as native speakers of English and Cantonese. The study employed both survey and interview data to probe the participants’ English and Cantonese language use at home, school, and with peers/friends. Leung, Harris, and Rampton’s (1997, The idealized native speaker, reified ethnicities, and classroom realities.TESOL Quarterly 31(3). 543–560) framework of language affiliation, language expertise, and inheritance was used to examine the construction of a native language identity in a multilingual setting. The study found that educational background – and particularly international school experience in contrast to local government school education – had an impact on the participants’ English language usage at home and with peers, and also affected their language expertise in Cantonese. English language use at school also impacted their identifications as native speakers of both Cantonese and English, with Cantonese being viewed largely as native language based on inheritance while English was being defined as native based on their language expertise, affiliation and use, particularly in contrast to their expertise in, affiliation with, and use of Cantonese.

scholarly journals Inclusion, Contrast and Polysemy in Dictionaries: The Relationship between Theory, Language Use and Lexicographic Practice

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 319-340
Author(s):  
Anu Koskela
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Lexical Item ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
National Corpus

This paper explores the lexicographic representation of a type of polysemy that arises when the meaning of one lexical item can either include or contrast with the meaning of another, as in the case of dog/bitch, shoe/boot, finger/thumb and animal/bird. A survey of how such pairs are represented in monolingual English dictionaries showed that dictionaries mostly represent as explicitly polysemous those lexical items whose broader and narrower readings are more distinctive and clearly separable in definitional terms. They commonly only represented the broader readings for terms that are in fact frequently used in the narrower reading, as shown by data from the British National Corpus.  

Merging the Internet and Hypermedia in the English Language Arts

1997 ◽  
Vol 13 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 75-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Michael Reed ◽  
John G. Wells
Keyword(s):  
Language Arts ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
The Internet

Vietnamese–Australian children’s language proficiency and use

2021 ◽  
pp. 136700692110345
Author(s):  
Van H Tran ◽  
Cen Wang ◽  
Sharynne McLeod ◽  
Sarah Verdon
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Associated Factors ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Demographic Factors ◽  
Language Practices ◽  
Language Management ◽  
Factors Associated

Aim: To explore Vietnamese–Australian children’s proficiency and use of Vietnamese and English and identify associated factors that are related to demographics, language practices, language ideologies, and language management. Methodology: Vietnamese–Australian parents ( n = 151) completed a questionnaire (in English or Vietnamese) regarding their child’s language proficiency and use, demographic details and a range of factors as conceptualized by Spolsky’s language policy theory: language practices; language ideologies; and language management. Data and analysis: Bivariate analyses (Pearson’s correlation and analysis of variance) and multiple regression models were conducted to explore associations between language proficiency and use and associated factors and identify the most significant factors. Findings/conclusions: Factors associated with children’s Vietnamese language proficiency (oral/written) included: demographic factors; language practices; language ideologies; and language management. In contrast, children’s English language proficiency (oral/written) was linked to demographic factors and language practices. Children’s Vietnamese language use was not significantly correlated with demographics but rather with language practices, language ideologies, and language management. Children’s home language use and proficiency did not have a negative impact upon their English proficiency. Originality: This study is the first to consider factors associated with Vietnamese–Australian children’s language proficiency and use. Significance/implications: Demographic factors, language practices, language ideologies, and language management were associated with children’s language proficiency and use. The results can be used by parents, educators, policy-makers, speech–language pathologists and other professionals to support Vietnamese–Australian and multilingual children around the world to develop and maintain their home and majority languages.

scholarly journals Illness perception and high readmission health outcomes

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 205510291984450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda T Sawyer ◽  
Stephanie L Harris ◽  
Harold G Koenig
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcomes ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Hospital Readmissions ◽  
Illness Perception ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Inclusion Criteria ◽  
Multifaceted Approach ◽  
The Relationship

This review identified associations between illness perception and health outcomes of patients with a medical diagnosis included in the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program. Inclusion criteria were English language, use of quantitative methodology, health outcomes specified, and identifiable effect size and statistical significance of the relationship. Most of the 31 studies in this review showed that favorable illness perception has been associated with better health outcomes, while unfavorable illness perception has been associated with worse outcomes. A multifaceted approach might include behavioral, clinical, educational, and psychosocial components to improve one’s illness perception through educative, cognitive-behavioral, or psychodynamic counseling.

Language and Its Everyday Revolutionary Potential

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Mallinson
Keyword(s):  
Gender Bias ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
Language Reform ◽  
Gender Neutral ◽  
Third Gender ◽  
Linguistic Practices ◽  
Naming Practices

Centering on the English language reform movement, this chapter describes three main strategies through which feminists have targeted language, both as an object to reform and a platform for revolution. First, it describes the strategy of challenging man-made language forms, exemplified in debates over masculine generics. Second, it discusses the strategy of creating and institutionalizing egalitarian naming practices in order to reclaim the power to name and define. By tracing such forms as Ms., it becomes evident that even small shifts in language use can contribute to cultural change. Third, it describes the strategy of linguistic disruption, illustrated through such neologisms as herstory and womyn, gender-neutral forms such as singular they, and third-gender forms such as zie and zir. By using language creatively and sometimes radically to reject patriarchal language, respond to gender bias, and empower women, feminist activists and everyday speakers alike can employ linguistic practices to promote equality.

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