Where Does Dialect Stop and Grammar Begin?

Examining dialect and grammar in emails.

Here's the scenario. You work with someone who is from the south, where the spoken dialect includes words such as ya'll and ain't. You are trying to sell something to this person, so in order to appear friendly, you adopt their lingo. The usage of these dialectal words shows up in emails as well. If words such as ya'll and ain't are used in an email, is it poor grammar (in this scenario, you are someone who is a prescriptionist) or is it an extension of dialect?

My argument is that it is an extension of dialect. Even within a business setting, many people write emails as if they were talking to the recipient - more informal than "professional." And if they write as if they were holding a conversation, then it makes more sense that using dialectal words is an extension of dialect rather than poor grammar.

What do you think?

The Great Vowel Shift

Have you cursed the English language for its difficult spelling? Have you ever wondered why the spelling seems so messed up? A story from Sara's introduction brings to mind this idea. Here is what she said:

For seven months, I lived in Santiago, Chile teaching English. It made me realize how fortunate I am to have been born speaking English because if I hadn't I probably would never learn it. English, like French is not phonetic and that drives me crazy. It's why my Spanish speaking students doubted me when I told them about spelling bees. Why would anybody stage a competition around spelling when it's sooo easy? They had forgotten for a moment their own struggles to spell and pronounce some of our more difficult English words.

I cannot imagine how difficult it would be to learn English and attempt spelling. The languages that I've learned - Spanish and German - are both pretty easy to "sound out" (Spanish more so than German). This makes it easier to learn spelling and pronunciation. But English, not so much. A lot of English's "crazy" spelling can be explained by the Great Vowel Shift.

So what is the Great Vowel Shift? It is something that happened back between the years 1400 and 1600 C.E. (common era). Side note: My linguistics text book states 1400-1600 CE, but Wikipedia states this change happened between 1200 and 1600 CE. You see, languages tend to evolve over time. They change. The Great Vowel Shift is an example of one such change that has affected the way English speakers pronounce certain vowels. Evidence of this vowel shift remains in certain pairs of words. For example: please/pleasant, serene/serenity, sane/sanity. Do you hear the difference? The first word in each pair have been affected by the vowel shift, whereas the latter word has not.

So what does this have to do with spelling? At one time, English speakers DID pronounce words as they were spelled. Because spelling was pretty much already established at the time the Great Vowel Shift occurred, the pronunciation changed while the spelling did not. And that is why English has such "crazy" spelling.

Want to learn more about the Great Vowel Shift? Try starting here. You can also easily google it.

The Cyrillic Alphabet

Hello лангуаге нердс! Аманда here!

The Cyrillic alphabet is the alphabet used by many countries in Eastern Europe (and Asia). For a list of languages that use this alphabet and map of the countries, you can go here. I was first introduced to the Cyrillic alphabet by a friend who is from Bulgaria, who showed me how to convert my name. And because languages fascinate me, the Cyrillic alphabet caught my attention. It is fun and different. Which is why you can see me now using Аманда for my Blogger name (this is also good in avoiding confusion with other Amandas).

If you're interested in learning more about the Cyrillic alphabet, you can check out its Wikipedia page or to convert your name or other text check out this site.

Ok, now for something fun! What does your name look like in the Cyrillic alphabet? Convert your name (first name or nickname only), and post it here.

Bushisms

Whether you loved him or hated him, former President George W. Bush definitely had his own way of using the English language.




Are there any Bushisms that you remember that weren't in the video?

Word Buzz Friday

The language nerds, in words.

Tasha, for reasons that are probably obvious: wanderlust - a strong desire to wander or travel.

Miyaunna, for her film-making, website designing, and lovely songs posted on her blog: virtuoso - a person skilled in the techniques of an art, esp. playing a musical instrument; by extension, a person with a cultivated appreciation of artistry.

Kyle, because I know he does it: quaff - to drink a beverage, esp. an intoxicating one, copiously and with hearty enjoyment.

Sara, for being one of the few blonds in Chile: recherche - uncommon; exotic; rare.

And myself, because I once used this word to describe myself and in some ways it is still true: fastidious - hard to please; extremely refined or critical.

(all definitions were taken from dictionary.com)

It's Pop, Not Soda

In Minnesota, we use the word pop for what most people call soda. We often "go up" to see someone or vacation at our cabins, even if the direction we are headed has nothing to do with "up." And, if you go deep enough into Central Minnesota, where the Germans immigrants settled and flourished, you may even hear "yous guys" as the plural of you. In the south, you plural becomes, "Ya'll!" People in Wisconsin call drinking fountains "bubblers."

Every regional dialect has words that are unique to its speakers (and this is true for every language). And often times, using words like "pop" when one is not in Minnesota can result in confusion or good-natured teasing. So here are a couple things for you to share: What are some words that are only used in your city/state/region/country? And have you ever been in a situation where using a word that is unique to your regional dialect has caused confusion or misunderstanding?

Improve Your English!

A commercial. Reposted here for your enjoyment.

(credit to my friend Adrian for suggesting I should post this here)

Your vs. You're

The inability to differentiate between your and you're is probably one of my biggest pet peeves. While I'm not a strict prescriptionist - I think language does change over time and we have to be aware of this - using your for you're (or you're for your) is one grammar mistake that I cannot condone. I have heard the argument that as long as you understand what the other person is trying to convey, then it does not matter how that person chose to express their point.

However, I recently came across a very poignant example of why you should never mix up your and you're. As you may recall, we language nerds had a blog called The Grammar Vandal as one of our blogs of the week. Well, the Grammar Vandal published a post called, "She got what she deserved." This is only a part of what she wrote (please visit her site for the full post, and a chance to vote on whether this person really got what she deserved):

This is my new favorite entry on my new favorite Web site, fmylife.com:

Today, I was flirting via text with a coworker. Things started getting heated, and I wanted to send her a sexy picture. I asked if she had any suggestions. She said, “Your nuts!” She meant, “YOU’RE nuts.” I sent her a photo of my junk. I offended a co-worker with incriminating evidence. FML

Okay. We know this guy isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Anyone knows you don’t send naked pictures to someone you barely know. And I’m going to assume that these two people are over the age of 18, because if not, that’s a different issue altogether. Assuming they both are above the age of consent,

That girl got exactly what she deserved.

She mixed up “your” and “you’re” and thus was blinded with an image of the least attractive part of the male anatomy, an image that will likely stick in her mind for quite a long time.

The vast majority of the time, using "your" when you mean "you're" probably won't produce a result such as the above example. But I think it offers a quality reason why you should practice proper grammar - if you're not careful about what you say, it could take on an entirely new and unintended meaning.

Does the mistake of using "your" for "you're" bother you? Also: what do you think has contributed to using your (possessive) for you're (contraction of you are)?

Comic Strip Thursday

Tasha is still on spring break, so yet again, I give you a Pearls Before Swine comic for your enjoyment. And yes, in case it's not completely obvious by now, I'm a huge fan of Pearls Before Swine. But not only that, this comic goes really well with our blog of the week. Please note that if you are unable to see the entire comic, clicking the picture will allow you to view the full comic.




PS. If you like Pearls Before Swine as much as I do, you can read the comic strip daily here or you can check out the blog of Pearls Before Swine's creator, Stephan Pastis.

Technology and Language: Spell Check

First, a poem from "Candidate for a Pullet Surprise," The Journal of Irreproducible Results:

I have a spelling checker
It came with my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.
A checker is a bless sing,
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles to reed,
And aides me when aye rime.
To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should bee proud,
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaws are knot aloud.


What really is spell check? That spell check actually checks your spelling is a misnomer, because when you run spell check on your computer, you are asking it to compare the words you have typed to the computer's internal dictionary. That means if a word is not in the computer's dictionary, such as places, last names, and unique first names (like our own Miyaunna) the computer will consider it misspelled, even though it is correct. My last name is considered spelled incorrectly on OpenOffice.org (running on my Linux computer). Suggestions for correct spelling include Shortener, Softener, Schooner, and my favorite, Shotgunner. However, as I am just noticing, on Windows XP/Mozilla Firefox/Blogger, Shortener and Shotgunner are spelled "incorrectly."

As with the poem above, it is apparent that spell check does not check content. Using an incorrect word (due for do, sew for so, knot for not and so on), will escape the notice of a spell checker - like when I meant to type ganging up and typed gaining up instead, and didn't realize it until Kyle so "graciously" pointed it out. Being able to check grammar in a word processing document may be one way to make sure that your grammar is correct, but it is not fail-proof, just as spell check is not. Computers do not think for themselves - they have been programmed to process information in a specific way. Grammar and spelling are not always cut and dry - consider Kyle's post about a vs an, and how under different circumstances, both an historic and a historic can be correct. Grammar evolves, new words are born, and computers may not have this updated knowledge. There is no substitute for human proof-reading - whether we realize it or not, we instinctively know more about own language than a computer does.

With all the negatives of spell check out of the way, I will say that used with the correct frame of mind, spell check can be very beneficial. As Miyaunna said in her comment about the poll results for what kind of influence you think spell check has had on our knowledge of language, spell check keeps her on her toes. When you are already a decent speller, spell check serves more as a time saver to clue you in if you have misspelled a word, or if, as it happens to me often, typing too fast causes you to mix up letters within a word. And spell check also allows you to see how a word should be spelled, which can help you with spelling in the future as long as you learn from your mistakes (as opposed to just letting the spell check correct your spelling without bothering to learn the correct spelling).

Spell check has had an influence on language - whether it is perceived as negative or positive is debatable depending on how you view the situation. Could you imagine a world without spell check? How would it affect you?

Word Buzz Friday

Hello all. Since Sara is currently on vacation in Montevideo, you get me. I'm a poor substitute, but bear with me and I'm sure you'll survive.

For last week's word buzz, Sara featured snarf, a word which I thought sounded like a combination of sneeze and barf. Coincidentally, my linguistics assignment for the week was to read a chapter on language processing, in which word blends were covered. Have you ever tried to say two words at once and it came out mushed together? I know I have. Those mushed up words are called blends. One fine example of a blend? Spanglish.

Here are my two favorite blend words, both of which I mangled all on my own:

Rememory: a combination of recall and memory. Example: "I would do better on my tests if I had good rememory, because those cheat sheets are hard to recall with my poor memory."

Dipsy: a combination of ditsy and tipsy. And yes, I was dipsy when I came up with this word.

What are some word blends that you know of, or have come up with?

Comic Strip Thursday

Even though Tasha is on her spring break and won't be posting a comic of her own, I thought it would be nice to still have a comic this week. And since I am not a drawer, I found an old Pearls Before Swine comic for your enjoyment.

(click to view the entire comic)

Poll Number 5 Results

What kind of influence has spell check had on our knowledge of language?

4 people said positive influence.
1 person said neutral or no influence.
1 person said negative influence.

I was the lone dissenter who chose negative influence. Even though spell-check has made our lives easier, I think it has actually decreased our knowledge of language. With spell-checker, we don't have to bother with learning how to spell words and we spend less time reflecting on our word choice, because we think that the spell-checker will catch our errors. I believe this is negatively influencing our knowledge of language.

Which influence did you choose, and why?

The Clbuttic Mistake

Are you confused with the breastle of this post? It's an example of what happens when profanity filters go awry.

I was recently doing some research for my upcoming post about the effects of spell-check on language when I came across something called The Clbuttic Mistake. Unless you happen to be familiar with technology and this particular phenomenon, you may be asking yourself, what the make love is Clbuttic? Clbuttic should be Classic, but as you can see, there is a word contained within the word classic that some may find offensive.

Now, the idea of profanity filters is to get rid of offensive words by selecting a word that is less offensive. For example, ass becomes butt and tit becomes breast (and I changed the "f" word to read make love). It is like parental controls for web surfing, I am guessing. The Clbuttic Mistake, therefore, happens when an offensive word is contained within another perfectly acceptable and unoffensive word, such as classic, and rather than leaving the word the way it is, the profanity filter automatically replaces the offensive section of the word with something it considers less offensive and ultimately produces a nonsense word (classic --> clbuttic). Admittedly, I do not know much about computer programming, but I would say that this perhaps represents a lack of foresight and poor development by the creators of these profanity filters.

The sentence that is featured by the article that I read is: "President Abraham Lincoln was buttbuttinated by an armed buttailant after a life devoted to the reform of the US consbreastution." Am I the only one who finds this sentence hilarious?

There were also some articles/comments that mentioned that some words have been changed into "politically correct" terms. A couple clbuttics here include the sprinter Tyson Gay becoming the sprinter Tyson Homosexual, and some places have [financially] gone from in the red to in the African-American.

And what do you think would happen to Dick Cheney? Or Dick van Dyke? What other words can you turn into a clbuttic? I challenge you to come up with the best clbuttic word or sentence!

Poll Number 4 Results

How many words does it take to read a newspaper or magazine fluently in English?

No one chose 400-500 words
One person chose 800-1,000 words
One person chose 1,500-2,000 words
Two people chose 3,000-4,000 words
And no one chose 8,000+ words

The correct answer?

3,000-4,000 words.

Congratulations to those who guessed correctly!

This quiz was brought to you by this site, which breaks fluency down into different levels according to how many words and/or phrases a person knows. If you're interested in reading more about these other levels, have a little look-see!

Our next poll is: What kind of influence has spell check has on our knowledge of language? This poll will preview an upcoming series about language and technology. Don't forget to vote now!

What is Fluency?

The first question someone usually asks me after learning that my bachelor's degree is in German is: "So you're fluent?" My answer is usually, "No." But I had a very interesting conversation some months ago with man from Scotland, who challenged my idea of what it means to be fluent in a language. I do not consider myself to be fluent. I understand a good deal, I can write in German, but I am not an eloquent speaker by any means. I can, however, think in German - that is, understand something said or written in German without having to translate it into English in my head. And this, he said, was being fluent in a language. Would you agree?

At the time I had this conversation, I was only in the beginning month of my Spanish instruction. I am now in my second semester. When the professor speaks in Spanish, I have moments of being able to know what is being said without doing any translating into English in my head. Am I on the road to fluency so early in the game? I am not so convinced. But because I want to teach abroad in a Spanish speaking country eventually, I am hopeful.

Dictionary.com defines fluent as, "spoken or written with ease" and "able to speak or write smoothly, easily, or readily." I feel that this is close to what I believe fluency to be, though this dictionary definition lacks one very important component of fluency – comprehension. While fluency does not mean understanding every single word that is spoken or written, it does mean being able to understand the vast majority of what is conveyed, as well as being able to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words based on context. What do you think fluency in a language is?

I found this page called "How to judge your foreign language fluency" which breaks down fluency into four parts: the understanding and expression of information presented orally and in written form. You can then rate your own foreign language fluency based on four questions, one for each aforementioned parts (also: are four questions enough to judge fluency?). When judging my German skills, I found my score to be relatively accurate. It is interesting to note that the way fluency is rated it is impossible to be 100% fluent. If you know a foreign language, trying rating your knowledge. Do you think your score accurately represents your level of fluency?

Also! Don't forget to take our current poll located to your left: How many words does it take to read a newspaper or magazine in English fluently? Stay tuned for the results! They will be posted on Saturday.

Tongue-Twisters

Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis

On Twitter* I follow germanlanguage, which is an extension of German Words of the Day. Each day, a new German word is posted with its English translation. Occasionally, links to their blog entries will be posted. A few weeks ago, a link to Zungenbrecher, anyone? was posted, and being the curious person I am, I had to read it. Zungenbrecher is a German word meaning tongue-twister, though literally translated it means tongue breaker (which is an interesting spin on the concept, I think). As I was reading the entry, I found a version of the tongue-twister we recited in the Ausspracheübungen (pronunciation practice) class I took while studying in Germany. My interest was piqued and the idea for this post was born.

To be quite honest, up until this point, I have never been much of a fan of tongue-twisters. My writing has always been far better than my speaking skills - and it shows - so I have never felt it necessary to throw tongue-twisters into the mix. I can twist my tongue on my own, thanks. But the more I searched the Internet for information about tongue-twisters, the more I came across non-native speakers using tongue-twisters to learn pronunciation of their target language. A couple things clicked in my brain at this point. 1) It explained why my Ausspracheübungen teacher had us recite a Zungenbrecher. And it was not, as previously believed, to make things as difficult for us as possible. And 2) as a future ESL teacher, I was curious as to whether using tongue-twisters as an aid to teach pronunciation actually works. This question was never really answered, so I pose the two-part question now to anyone who is an ESL (or EFL or whatever) teacher: Do you use tongue-twisters to help with pronunciations? If yes, do you think it works?

One thing I wanted to find out was what makes a tongue-twister a tongue-twister? Besides the obvious "It's really hard to pronounce this danged thing!" of course. An important feature of tongue-twisters is the alternation of similar sounds within a phrase. Take the Pearls Before Swine comic for example: the sounds /s/ and /sh/ are used in "She sells seashells by the seashore." Said quickly, it is easy to mix up the sounds. Tongue-twisters can also consist of rhymes and alliteration. "Say that three times fast!" is a common statement used when a phrase is difficult to pronounce and these difficult phrases are often tongue-twisters.

Did you know they also have naughty tongue-twisters? There are some twisters out there specifically designed so that a mispronunciation or mistake will result in a swear word or something of that sort. Take a moment to ponder the phrase "Pheasant plucker" and how it could be messed up.

Now onto the tongue-twisters!


Three English Tongue-Twisters

--->She sells seashells by the seashore

--->Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

--->The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick (this is supposedly the hardest tongue-twister in English - what do you think?)
_____________________________

A German Zungenbrecher



The above tongue-twister is the one I recited in my Ausspracheübungen class. It basically means: Fisher's Fritz fishes for fresh fish, for fresh fish fishes Fisher's Fritz.
For more Zungenbrecher check out Zungenbrecher, anyone? They have a couple other German tongue-twisters, as well as a fun video from a German game show of a man reciting a bunch of tongue-twisters in one minute.
____________________________

Dos Trabalenguas in Spanish

Thanks to CancunCanuck for suggesting:
--->Yo vi en un huerto un cuervo cruento comerse el cuero del cuerpo del puerco muerto.
(I saw in an orchard a bloody crow eating the hide of a dead pig's corpse)

Both Sara and CancunCanuck suggested versions of:
--->Tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal en tres tristes trastos.
(Three sad tigers swallowed wheat on three sad platters)
____________________________

What are other tongue-twisters? Which is your favorite? Which never fails to trip you up? Please share! And you can also click here for a list of tongue-twisters.


*Don't know what Twitter is? Twitter is an awesome social networking tool which allows you 140 characters to answer the question: What are you doing? In addition to me, Sara, Tasha and even CancunCanuck are all on Twitter! Kyle is too, but he doesn't update his, so he doesn't get a link (sorry Kyle). Check us out, say hi, and don't worry, we're friendly. :)

McGurk Effect

What do you hear with?

This is my favorite video that I can find on the McGurk effect. Ignore the German, and listen to what is being said. When you see the man speaking, what do you hear? Da da or ba ba? When you no longer see the man, what do you hear?



The McGurk effect says that we hear with more than just our ears. A majority of people will hear da da when they are watching the person speak, and ba ba when they are not watching the person speak. Did you hear a difference?

Interested in learning more? Start here.

I Love You vs. Love You

The great debate: Is there a difference?

Let me first preface this post by saying that the only reason I call this a debate is because I had Kyle tell me this is just a "female thing" and that there is no difference between the two phrases. Obviously, I disagree. And to date, everyone I have asked seems to agree with me. So while I will be asking for completely honest opinions, you may find this to be a poorly disguised attempt to garner support for my position. Your assumption would be correct, but I ask you to please play along and humor me.

Ayn Rand is one of my favorite authors/philosophers. While some of her ideas seem bizarre, I have also found a lot of comfort and self-esteem in some of her [more realistic] ideas regarding the self. One such idea that Rand wrote about goes as follows: "To say 'I love you' one must first be able to say the 'I.'" This concept, I think, is similar to proverb/quote: "You must love yourself before you love another." I actually find this to be very true. I was always very cordial with myself before I met Kyle, but I do not think that I would have said that I loved myself. After two and a half years of dating Kyle, I have begun to get along with myself much more - I love myself and my life more than I ever did before. And I also find that the more I love myself, the more I love Kyle as well - even when he gives me responses such as the one in my first paragraph (in retrospect, his response gave me a good thing to blog about, so haha on you, Kyle). When it comes to loving another person, the "I" is very important. I mean, if a person were to omit the "I" in "I love you," it would leave the question: who loves you? The answer: I do! Unless of course, the answer is "They love you" in which case it might behoove one to specify who is doing the loving as to avoid confusion or opportunity for misinterpretation. Trust me. There are those of us out there who enjoy purposely misinterpreting things if the mood so strikes.

I had a high school creative writing teacher who said that love is a word with no love in it. Saying that I love potatoes has a different meaning than saying that I love Kyle, and yet I used the same word for both. Saying "Love you" has less meaning and emphasis than saying "I love you." I am more likely to say, "Love you" to friends in a somewhat off-handed fashion. "Oh by the way, love you, bye!" On the other hand, "I love you" denotes a higher degree of seriousness, and is therefore often more difficult to say.

Now it's your turn. Do you, my dear readers, think that there is a difference between saying "I love you" and "Love you" ?

Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis

Shitty Habit #1: Of vs. Have

Once upon a time in a small village called Grammarville, there lived two families. The Of family and the Have family. The Of family had three sons. Could, Should and Would. These three brothers were the bullies of the village, picking on any unfortunate soul. Their favorite victims however, were the Have brothers.

There were three brothers in the Have family also. Their names were Might, Ought to, and Must. They had been very sad ever since the Of brothers began picking on them two years ago.

One day while in English class, the Of boys were stricken down with a terrible case of the Grammar Plague. The Grammar Plague is a peculiar disease indeed! It strikes only those who have horrible grammar skills. And, boy, did those Of brothers have horrible grammar skills! Just by writing their full names they violated the Holy Book of Grammar!

The Have brothers felt no sympathy towards the Of brothers. Laughing, the Have brothers celebrated the Of brothers' misfortune. Everyone knew the Grammar Plague caused death in 100% of its victims.

The poor Of brothers died soon after contracting the Grammar Plague. They were sent to grammar Heck where they are currently changing their last names. The Have brothers story remains much happier. After the Of brothers died, the Have brother were no longer oppressed and could finally be known as the “Proper Grammar Boys.” They lived happily ever after.

The moral of this story is to use "have" after could, should, would, might, ought to and must in order to avoid Grammar Heck.