Language Myths Flashcards
Explain: Aborigines speak a primitive language
1000s of ALs, not all closesly related
whilst cultures can be technologically primitive, languages cant be
“no grammar” - some have free word order with a rich system of case marking
some have complicated pronoun/kinship systems
“limited vocab” - many different concise names for plants and animals
“Everyone has an accent but me”
possible to have the same as everyone else or the ‘standard’
accents have segmental properties and suprasegmental properties and voice quality (how we identify people)
Define and communicate identity
Auditory stream conveys information
What segmental properties do accents have?
How consonants and vowels are realised
What suprasegmental properties do accents have?
intonation and rhythm
What elements of our identity are conveyed through accent?
age, gender, class where we were born and raised -potential forensic application
What information does the auditory stream of our accent convey?
linguistic content
social/emotional variation
individual info
“TV makes people sound the same”
mass media diffuses catch phrases - “NOT” ephemeral and consciou
Glaswegians used cockney features (th fronting)
-strong psych engagement with EE played a role in accelerating the diffusion
“Eskimo Vocab Hoax”
reported to have multiple roots for the word “snow”
“Different languages have different grammar”
not all mark the same distributions:
- different forms of 1st person plural: English NP indicates # and definiteness
- some use different V forms for recent and distant past
- in Japanese every V indicates something about social relations
“Bad grammar is slovenly”
whom (creating social distance) vs who (casual)
different from/to
many examples of it in good authors of earlier periods
“H-Dropping”
often combined with a -> an
commonly regarded as sloppy or lazy (moral failing), failure to use standard features reflects that
frequent cause of hypercorrection - not limited to low status dialects
What are the three types of multiple negation?
Fuzzy, not un-construction and dialectal multiple negation
“Multiple Negation”
seen as illogical and uneducated
- arithmetic -> double negative = positive
Give an example of fuzzy negation
no curry is too hot to eat
- difficult to process
- emergency services are directed to give only positive instructions
What are the two types of the “not un-“ construction?
Predicative: this is not unattrative, can be used to negate a proposition “not it was not unfair”
Attributive: picks a point on a scale outside the -ve that is not fully +ve (a not unattractive idea)
