language, ideology and discrimination in the united states
As is quite common, there was an opinion piece in the local paper in which someone argued for English Only legislation. Here’s the letter I wrote in response — which they offered to print if I could cut it down to 200 words. I declined, as I was already over my weekly time allowance for [...]
Sat, November 26 2011 » English Only, The subordination process » No Comments
At Language Log Mark Liberman writes now and then on the subject of public griping about language as a ritual of group identity formation (“The social psychology of linguistic naming and shaming“): Linguistic sins, real or imaginary, are not really what’s driving this process. And the original emotion of irritation, though sometimes expressed in colorful [...]
Tue, October 18 2011 » broadcast media, Claiming authority, The subordination process » No Comments
Arnold Zwicky has a recent post at Language Log on periphrastic versus inflectional comparatives and superlatives (commoner vs most common is the example that inspired the post to start with). For me the most interesting bit comes toward the end, with a good example of how the media claims authority in matters of language: Back [...]
Wed, December 2 2009 » broadcast media, Claiming authority » No Comments
