linguistics - All Comments

re: Transcribing British English

mike — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:30:37 GMT

It's amazing how different British English and American English have become. We all stemmed from a common ancestry and heritage just a few hundred years ago, yet our languages have evolved on completely different continents apart from each other. We still follow the same patterns, and still understand each other. But there are a great deal of phrases and dialects that are just hard to understand. When you compare Ebonics to Proper British English, you can see just how far we have grown apart. When I think about this multiplied by a few centuries, I can understand how languages like Spanish and Portugese can split from each other but retain similar traits.

re: Field linguistics

aorb1426 — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:09:22 GMT

this is an interesting topic .i'm looking for a summarry for this topic.do you know where i can find ?i'll check the book you mentioned above but i need something brief not so long .i'm new to this site .i wish i could benefit from .

thanks

re: So long Tallahassee!

willburns1 — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:38:18 GMT

Tallahassee is a black whole. People that leave don't typically stay away for very long. They tend to come back at some point in their lives. Either to have children or to continue school or just to be part of the good times that you had while in Tally. I love Tallahassee its great.

re: My first full day as a graduate student

willburns1 — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:32:30 GMT

I am not sure how you can take that much schooling. I have a bachelor's degree and I was so ready to leave school. I don't think that I could handle another couple of year of that kind of thing. I was so ready to leave but at the same time I valued the time that I was there. I was a 5 year undergrad kind of guy. I changed majors a couple of times and that set me back.

re: Tagged again!

willburns1 — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:25:46 GMT

that's really funny. I think that I'll have to try that sometime.

re: Doing nothing, and loving it!

willburns1 — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:15:14 GMT

I love doing nothing. I love those days that you can just take your time and relax and sit on the couch and just do nothing. I think that every once in a while that people need that kind of thing to keep them going. I need a day off where I can sleep in. I need that one day of the week that I can just sleep in and be lazy for at least the first part of the day .

re: One day until New York

willburns1 — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:11:59 GMT

I have never been to New York. People keep telling me that I need to go and that it's an experience that shouldn't be missed but I am not sure I can do it. I am not a fan of big crowds. I can't stand to be blocked in and restricted on where I can go and how fast. I think that New York would just bug the hell out of me. I am not sure I could do it. I have heard that its a great place and all but I think that the people that I have met for the most part from there are really rude. On the other hand I have met people from there that are really nice and genuine.

re: African Lingua Francas

wcbugs — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 01:13:54 GMT

When you say that the Swahili from Zanzibar is the "purest academic form of the language," what do you mean? It seems to me that this kind of statement is often bandied about, Arabic from Yemen, supposedly, is purest. But who decides and on what grounds? Does it mean the version that is least changed from some historic ideal? That to me would make it seem like the deadest form. Do we also believe somehow that English from England is somehow superior to the American, Canadian, Australian, and Jamaican versions (to name just a few). In fact, it seems to me that when a language becomes a lingua franca, it sort of ceases to belong (if you can use that word) to one group or another.