What the Hell, English?

2021 ◽  
pp. 2-38
Author(s):  
Arika Okrent ◽  
Sean O’Neill
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Word Order ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Language ◽  
History Of ◽  
Dutch Language ◽  
Orderly System ◽  
The Way

This chapter provides an overview of the oddities of the English language. It begins by looking at the poem of Dutch writer Gerard Nolst Trenité and how he spent his career nitpicking defense of his own native language. Nolst Trenité saw that the Dutch language had its own inconsistencies. His complaints about the way his fellow citizens butchered the Dutch language were different from his complaints about English, but they came from the same expectation that language should be a logical, orderly system. The patterns are often overshadowed by what looks like randomness, and there are irregularities everywhere, not just in the spelling system. At every level of language, from spelling to vocabulary to grammar to word order to meaning there are violations of harmony and order. This book is thus a collection of answers to questions about English. It also presents a history of English that explores the tension between logic and habit in language development.

Word Order in Old and Middle English

Diachronica ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marit Westergaard
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Extended Version ◽  
Major Parameter ◽  
Language Data ◽  
Gradual Development ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mixed Systems

In the history of English one finds a mixture of V2 and non-V2 word order in declaratives for several hundred years, with frequencies suggesting a relatively gradual development in the direction of non-V2. Within an extended version of a cue-based approach to acquisition and change, this paper argues that there are many possible V2 grammars, differing from each other with respect to clause types, information structure, and the behavior of specific lexical elements. This variation may be formulated in terms of micro-cues. Child language data from present-day mixed systems show that such grammars are acquired early. The apparent optionality of V2 in the history of English may thus be considered to represent several different V2 grammars in succession, and it is not necessary to refer to competition between two major parameter settings. Diachronic language development can thus be argued to occur in small steps, reflecting the loss of micro-cues, and giving the impression that change is gradual.

Tensions and Challenges of Intellectual History in Contemporary Latin America

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-115
Author(s):  
Roberto Breña
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
English Language ◽  
Conceptual History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Way

This article provides an overview of some prominent aspects of intellectual history as practiced today in Latin America, especially regarding conceptual history. It delves into the way this methodology arrived to the region not long ago and discusses the way some of its practitioners combine it with the history of political languages, often ignoring the profound differences between both approaches. Therefore, the text stresses some of the most significant contrasts between them. In its last part, the article is critical of the purported “globality” of global intellectual history, an issue that is inextricably linked with the pervasive use of the English language in the field. Throughout, the text poses several of the challenges that lie ahead for intellectual history in Latin America.

Tensions and Challenges of Intellectual History in Contemporary Latin America

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-115
Author(s):  
Roberto Breña
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
English Language ◽  
Conceptual History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Way

Abstract This article provides an overview of some prominent aspects of intellectual history as practiced today in Latin America, especially regarding conceptual history. It delves into the way this methodology arrived to the region not long ago and discusses the way some of its practitioners combine it with the history of political languages, often ignoring the profound differences between both approaches. Therefore, the text stresses some of the most significant contrasts between them. In its last part, the article is critical of the purported “globality” of global intellectual history, an issue that is inextricably linked with the pervasive use of the English language in the field. Throughout, the text poses several of the challenges that lie ahead for intellectual history in Latin America.

Changing EPP parameters

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lieven Danckaert
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
The Core ◽  
History Of ◽  
Parametric Change ◽  
T Domain ◽  
The Way

This chapter starts with a description of the core facts concerning the VPAux/AuxVP alternation in the history of Latin. In the case of modal verbs and infinitives, there is a clear decline of the head-final order VPAux, whereas Late Latin BE-periphrases surprisingly prefer this order. Against the backdrop of these observations, the discussion then turns to the analysis of Classical and Late Latin clause structure. It is proposed that during the transition from Classical to Late Latin, a major parametric change took place related to the way the clausal EPP-requirement is satisfied. In the earlier grammar (‘Grammar A’), the entire VP undergoes A-movement to the high T-domain, resulting in the characteristic VPAux word order. In the later grammar (‘Grammar B’) the EPP-requirement is met by means of verb movement, with the VP staying in situ. In this grammar VPAux-orders are derived through roll-up movement, which is incompatible with the VOAux-pattern.

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND ITS DIALECTS

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 54-57
Author(s):  
O.V. Kostikova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
English Language ◽  
History Of ◽  
Qualitative Characteristics

Language has been continuously evolving and changing over the whole history of its existence which might as an integrated whole. For this purpose, linguists divide the history of language into sections or periods, each of which has its own grammar structure, phonetics and other qualitative characteristics describing a certain period of language development. Nowadays the history of the English language is traditionally divided into three periods each of which is closely related to peoples' history. This language separation is relative, but such classification is convenient for combining large volumes of English - language materials in order to study its history.

Charles Martin Robertson 1911–2004

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRIAN A. SPARKES
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Comprehensive Treatment ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Greek Art ◽  
The Way

Martin Robertson published the History of Greek Art in 1975, which has continued to hold its place in English language scholarship. It was the culmination of years of patient research that had started when he embraced the teaching of the history of the subject nearly thirty years earlier. Reviewers remarked on the way in which the book was both a personal study of Greek art and also a comprehensive treatment of the whole field. Through its measured structure and the grace and power of its style, it shows the author at the peak of his talent.

Analysing Language Exposure and its Consequences on Bilingual Development in Dutch–English-Speaking Children in Australia

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marrit Janabi ◽  
Alison Purcell ◽  
Elisabeth Duursma ◽  
Margot Bochane ◽  
Hans Bogaardt
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
English Language ◽  
Parental Influence ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
English Language Development ◽  
Language Assessments ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Dutch Language ◽  
Dutch Children

The purpose of this study was to determine if there are differences in overall language ability and vocabulary of either Australian or overseas born bilingual Dutch–English children and the possible parental influence on these children’s language development. The participants were 86 children aged 4–12 years living in Australia and either born there or overseas in the Netherlands. Standardized language assessments were used to assess children’s expressive and receptive language skills in Dutch and English. Children born in Australia scored significantly higher on English language assessments and lower on the Dutch language assessments. When children’s parents frequently spoke Dutch with their children, they had significantly better Dutch skills, and when parents spoke primarily English at home, their children had better English skills. Based on outcomes on the questionnaires, multivariate logistic regression identified that storytelling and reading books in the heritage language contributed significantly to children’s Dutch language development). The study could not identify factors that contribute to English language development in Dutch children in Australia. However, for the Dutch language, frequent storytelling and reading books in Dutch are both important factors for development of the native language.

Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Cresswell
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
English Language ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Previous Edition ◽  
New Findings ◽  
History Of ◽  
Oxford Dictionary ◽  
Language Students

Over 3,000 entries Newly updated to incorporate recent additions to the English language, this popular dictionary provides a fascinating exploration of the origins and development of words in the English language. Drawing on Oxford's unrivalled dictionary research programme and language monitoring it brings to light the intriguing and often unusual stories of some of our most used words and phrases. The A-Z entries include the first known use of the term along with examples, related lexes, and expressions which uncover the etymological composition of each word. Also featured are 22 expanded entries that give overviews of broad topic areas, 5 of which are completely new and that variously cover words from Oceania, word blends, eponyms, and acronyms. New findings in the OED since the previous edition have also been added including emoji, mansplain, meeple, meme, and spam. An absorbing resource for language students and enthusiasts, but also an intriguing read for any person interested in the development of the English language, and of language development in general. It also includes an extended introduction on the history of the English language.

scholarly journals Chinese Religion in English Guise: The History of an Illusion

2005 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 509-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. H. BARRETT
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Chinese Religion ◽  
Opium War ◽  
Valuable Study ◽  
History Of ◽  
Chinese Religions ◽  
Faulty Analysis ◽  
The Way

The purpose of the following remarks is to trace the way in which, for over a century from the time of the first Opium War to that of the emergence of the study of Chinese religions as a separate specialization in the 1970s, the English-language world sustained a description of religion in China that was at very considerable variance with the facts. The narrative is not designed to be definitive—the choice of materials drawn upon is restricted, and somewhat arbitrary—but I trust that it ranges widely enough to explain just how this faulty analysis not only came into being but also managed to survive for so long. More detailed studies of aspects of the problem are already under way, and will doubtless appear in due course, but an overview at this point may even so be helpful. It may indeed even be helpful in the wake of the appearance of one such extremely detailed and valuable study, Norman Girardot's weighty volume on the towering figure of James Legge (1815–1897). For while it is now possible to read an excellent study of Legge's views in the context of his own times—and no one interested in the topic treated here should ignore Girardot's research—a glance at the even broader context of the overall history of sinology in relation to Chinese religion suggests that Legge's views by and large fall into the more extended pattern outlined here. For rather than explore the outlook of any particular individual, the aim here is to illustrate, and to some preliminary degree explain, the persistence of a particular paradigm in the understanding of Chinese religion.

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