Linguistics

Welcome to the Linguistics Arts & Letters course!

John McWhorter TED Talk: Txting Is Killing Language
Scroll down to #2 on this page to watch the video.



Interview with David Crystal on Internet Linguistics
Click here to listen to Nora Young (host of CBC radio program Spark) interview Dr. Crystal on the field of internet linguistics. Begin at 11:00 and finish at 22:10.
Go ahead, make up new words!  (TED lecture by Erin McKean)



Making up words is fun, but how would you go about making up a whole language? Listen to this interview with linguists Christina Kramer and Dragana Obradovic about inventing the language Lavinian for the play Butcher (shown at the Centaur Theatre in Montreal in November 2015). You can listen to the interview here and you can read about the experience here

Anne Curzan: What makes a word "real"?


Here is a link to my review of Anne Curzan`s Keynote Speech at TESOL 2016

The Many Voices of Meryl Streep


The English Language in 24 Accents



David Crystal: Should English Be Taught as a Global Language?





Global Language Network: Serious Science Interview with Cesar Hidalgo


Check out the Global Language Network website

Gobbledygook: language that is meaningless or is made unintelligible by excessive use of abstruse technical terms; nonsense.  Synonyms: bafflegab, double-talk, gibberish, rigamarole

Check out the Gobblydygook Generator at the Plain English Campaign website here
Watch Alan Siegel's short lecture "Let's simplify legal jargon!"

This video looks at simplifying legal jargon for online user agreements and other situations: 



How different are British and American English?
20 Words with Different Meanings in British and American English--with pictures!


Montreal's Word of Mouth Frenglish. Watch this video of Montreal radio, TV and online journalist Anne Marie Withenshaw talk about growing up bilingual and how knowing two languages helps with her work. (4:17)  After you watch the video, discuss whether you agree that slang in French and English are viewed differently. Also, check out this "dictionary" of Montreal English.


Accents in American English: This link provides 22 maps that show different pronunciations of various words across the United States.

How would you describe the level of language (register) of this performance?

What do you think "Subordination for verbal measures to tonal consideration" means? Why is this remark so humourous?


Bantu languages such as Xhosa, spoken in South Africa, use "clicks" as a consonant. Listen to Mirima Makeba (Mama Africa) sing the song "Qongqothwane" at a concert in Zaire in 1974.
Intro to Historical Linguistics: Languages, Dialects and Register
Intro to Historical Linguistics: Cognates, Borrowed Words and Chance Resemblances


Intro to Historical Linguistics: Comparative Methods and Language Family Trees

Intro to Historical Linguistics: Reconstruction of Lost Proto-Languages


  Sound Change: Phonological Rules, Rule Orders & Relative Chronology


The Story of English: Pidgins and Creoles


Deborah Tannen on Status and Connection in Conversation



Deborah Tannen on Conversational Signals, Devices and Rituals


As you watch the video, take notes on what Tannen means by Signals, Devices and Rituals of Conversational Style. Be able to give examples of each.





Susan  Colantuono: The Career Advice You Probably Didn't Get



Male-Female Speech from Friends
Vocal Fry and Uptalk (Upspeak)

Do you recognize this trend?



Read this article by Naomi Wolf that appeared in The Guardian in July 2015, and this response by Debbie Cameron.

Here's another video that discusses the use of Uptalk



Twins Talking to Each Other: Child Language Acquisition. Listen to the intonation: