language, ideology and discrimination in the united states
Phillip Milano writes a column called “Dare to Ask,” which runs in The Florida Times-Union‘s Life section. A recent entry: Why are white people so dogmatic about grammar? Good grammar isn’t linked to intelligence. — Nia C., 30, black, Chicago Dogmatic is an apt and diplomatic word, one that shouldn’t engender knee-jerk reactions. Unfortunately, the six [...]
Sun, October 23 2011 » Language ideology » No Comments
I’ve come across some … interesting definitions of ‘grammar’ over the years, but this one made my head spin. I had to rearead and reread to get any sense at all out of the passage. Among the ordinarily resisted disciplines is that of grammar. In some ways I’m not surprised because grammar is taught as [...]
Thu, October 20 2011 » written language, WTF? » 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
