Polysyllabic | Ruminations on grammar, linguistics, standardized tests, and anything else that strikes my fancy

10 May 2006

'Many' vs. 'Virtually Every'

Submitted by Karl Hagen

I recently ran into a claim that seems to have risen to the level of folk linguistics. In this version, the claim runs either "in the vast majority of languages" or "in virtually every language" the word for mother begins with m. Google {"word for mother" begin m} and you'll see what I mean.

Topic:

Lexicon

7 May 2006

How much can a bare bear bear?

Submitted by Karl Hagen

Linguists often like to explore sentences that are grammatically well formed but hard for people to parse. Apart from provoking simple curiosity, they also suggest things about how the mind processes language. So, for example, there are "garden path" sentences such as "The horse raced past the barn fell." There are also sentences composed from homophones. Stephen Pinker (in The Language Instinct) provides one from Buffalo (the city), buffalo (the animal), and buffalo (to deceive or intimidate):

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

Which means "Bison from Buffalo (that other) bison from Buffalo intimidate (themselves) intimidate (other) bison from Buffalo."

Topic:

Morphology

Syntax

24 Apr 2006

How do you pronounce "Impress"?

Submitted by Karl Hagen

For the most part, I use OpenOffice, unless I am absolutely forced to do otherwise. I've found it to be a good replacement for Microsoft Office (apart from a few annoyances). One thing that has been bugging me, though, has nothing to do with its technical deficiencies. What I want to know is how are we supposed to pronounce "Impress", the PowerPoint equivalent for OpenOffice. In other words, are we suppsed to read it as a verb, with the stress on the second syllable, or a noun, with the stress on the first.

Topic:

Phonology

28 Feb 2006

Why I Hate Strunk and White

Submitted by Karl Hagen

On a forum that I frequent, I recently ran across a message lauding that crusty old favorite of high school English teachers: Strunk and White’s Elements of Style. Generations of students have had this slender volume inflicted on them. Personally, I can’t stand the book, and that so many people continue to praise it makes me testy.

Topic:

Prescriptivism

4 Sep 2005

Old English Profanity

Submitted by Karl Hagen

So one of the first requests I received in my capacity as expert on all things Old English was for a list of swear words. This is one of tasks that seems simple on the surface: hit the dictionary and find the equivalents, but there are all sorts of problems that come up in trying to produce anything adequate. In a project like this, of course, scholarly uncertainty is simply not an option. We might not know, but we still need to have something for the characters to say.

Topic:

Old English

6 Aug 2005

The Script is Here

Submitted by Karl Hagen

So I'm officially on as a consultant for Beowulf. My wife is jumping up and down with excitement. She's a Neil Gaiman fan--our koi are named after the seven immortals from the Sandman series. I had to sign a confidentiality agreement, so don't expect me to give you any juicy details. I will say that the script very much bears the style of Neil Gaiman. I think his fans will be pleased.

Topic:

Old English

31 Jul 2005

Butterflies and Beowulf

Submitted by Karl Hagen

Today I was forcefully reminded of how our inconsequential decisions can snowball--the proverbial butterfly wing that unleashes a hurricane. I received an e-mail out of the blue from a production assisstant for Robert Zemeckis. They are doing a major Hollywood film of Beowulf and want an Old English consultant who can translate into OE and coach the actors on pronunciation. They're filming in Culver City, and so they want someone local.

It sounds like a blast, but I can't help thinking about the chain of decisions that led them to me. Apparently they called the English department at UCLA and asked a medievalist there (Andy Kelly) for someone who had the necessary skills. He gave them my name.

Topic:

Old English

18 Apr 2005

First Post

Submitted by Karl Hagen

And we're off and running.

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