Language MythsLaurie Bauer, Peter Trudgill The media are ruining English"; "Some languages are harder than others"; "Children can't speak or write properly anymore." Such pieces of "cultural wisdom" are often expressed in newspapers and on radio and television. Rarely is there a response from experts in the fields of language and language development. In this book Laurie Bauer and Peter Trudgill have invited nineteen respected linguists from all over the world to address these "language myths"--showing that they vary from the misconceived to the downright wrong. With essays ranging from "Women Talk Too Much" and "In the Appalachians They Speak Like Shakespeare" to "Italian Is Beautiful, German Is Ugly" and "They Speak Really Bad English Down South and in New York City," Language Myths is a collection that is wide-ranging, entertaining, and authoritative. |
Contents
Some Languages are Just Not Good Enough | 9 |
Italian is Beautiful German is Ugly | 12 |
French is a Logical Language | 23 |
Copyright | |
15 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Aboriginal languages accent African-American American analytic languages areas borrowed British English Cambridge University Press cent century clarity clear complaints consonant contexts culture David Crystal decline dialects dictionary discussed distinctions double negatives Elizabethan Elizabethan English England English speakers English spelling example expression fact Fanagalo French language functions further reading gender George Orwell German girl grammar Howard Giles idea Italian Jean Aitchison journalists Kunwinjku kurrija language change language variety large number Latin letters linguistic literacy logic London Maori markers meaning modern myth negation newspaper nouns Oxford patterns Peter Trudgill Phonetics plural political pronounced pronunciation question radio regional Romansh rules of usage sentence Shakespeare Shakespearean English social Sociolinguistic sounds Sources and further southern Spelitzian spelt spoken standard English status structure studies subject complement syllables teachers television things Thomas Lounsbury verb vocabulary vowel word order writing Zealand