P-assignment 12
The book that you purchased for this module, Language Myths, contains some remarkable examples of language awareness in practice. The first assignment for this chapter is a simple (but laborious) one: read the book, and choose and comment on 15 out of the 21 chapters. Create your own LA-reading journal. The number of words you use per chapter can vary from 20 to 200. Show us you read the chapters AND that you are capable of thinking critically. Feel free to (dis)agree, give your own examples or theories.
Myth 1:
I totally agree with this chapter, because it does proof that change is always occurring, even thought when “language purists” complain about it. Nowadays, there are too many people that complain about the change that is occurring at the very moment. The rapid use of English words in the Dutch vocabulary is being criticized by many people, whilst I see this as a natural process that has begun at the dawn of time. Some examples in the book are: All English speakers used to pronounce the K in Knee. People eventually accepted that change and got over it. More people need to do this in order to stop the headache of theirs and also their stress. “Language cannot be halted, nor should the worries feel obliged to try to halt it”
Myth 2: Some people believe that languages that do no fulfil a wide range of functions are in fact incapable of doing so. Some languages are not as good as others, that is what some people believe. An example, is that many people think that a language like Maori isn’t good because it borrows too many words from English, whilst English does the same. English has the biggest list of borrowed words. Inferior languages should be constructing new vocabulary in order to let its own people understand it in their own language and to make the language more competent.
It’s very common that a country has got more than one language. Most of the time there is a major and a minor language. When more and more people start speaking the major language, eventually the minor language will be forgotten and disappear. However, the myth says that some languages are just not good enough. But I think that’s not the reason why a languages disappear. It’s because people chose to use a certain language and they’ll pass it on to the next generation. The language which is not used enough will eventually disappear.
Myth 3: The media ruins everything… People must not be afraid of change and should not blame anything but themselves, because they are ignorant to adjust themselves.
Many people think that the media is using sloppy English on television and newspapers and many believe that this is ruining English. I don’t think that the media is trying to ruin English, but they are just using it to draw people’s attention. Sometimes new words will appear through the media, and old words disappear. The media is developing and so is the language.
Myth 4: French is a logical language. Some of us agree with this statement, and some of us disagree with this statement. Some people think that French is a logical language (For example, Rivarol's slogan: What is not clear is not French) and some will say that French is not logical at all. I think that every language has its own ups and downs and that every language has its own kind of logical way of using it.
People should stop making stereotypes about languages. People should not make these choices for others by saying this is pretty and that is not. Everybody got his own likes and dislikes.
What people also should do, is watch their own language instead of making fun of others. A good example out of the book is the following sentence by Raymond Barre: The first of fundamental values of our civilization is the correct usage of our language. People should pay more attention to that instead of mocking the other.
Myth 5: Not only speaking should be updated, but also the script. Because right now it is too Kattastroffik. What is wrong with “nee” instead or Knee? Words should be updated once the pronunciation changes over time. When the change is there after so many years, it has to be changed.
Of course there are some difficult words in the English language just like every other language. There are enough Dutch words which are very difficult as well but the only thing you have to do is learn the meaning of the word and how to spell the word. When you know both of them, it shouldn't be hard to spell it. Just try to memorize the word and you’ll see that you can spell it.
Myth 6: Woman are always the ones that speak too much. The reason why men talk more than women nowadays, is because the world is more feminine when compared to the past. ;D
We think that women talk too much. This is rather a cliché, because I think that we talk equally. It depends on the situation we are in. Men like to talk much about football amongst themselves, and women like to talk about other things. So It’s more a saying we came up with.
Myth 7: Some languages look the same and are easier to learn because of the similarities in the vocabulary. There is actually no language harder than the other. It depends on your attitude and previous knowledge. As mentioned on page 51 (The difficult thing about learning a language is vocabulary, whether learning one's native language or learning a foreign language.)Vocabulary is the toughest part to learn. Some languages got 100.000 words, these languages are German and English.
Myth 8: This is another case of people that demand too much. Illiteracy is when someone cannot read or write at all. Now they can and people still demand more. They assume that kids were better in the past, that is why you should never assume. Because you will make an Ass of you and me. In this case, they really make asses of themselves.
A language got two important elements, namely grammar and pronunciation. Especially with grammar. There are a lot of differences between different languages. For example, take a look to German. German has a very difficult grammar (der, die, das), if you compare this to English (the). For people who want to learn a new language the difficulty of learning depends on which country you are from. For Dutch people, learning German is easier than for English people. I do agree that some languages are more difficult. A good example out of the book is: Europeans have to spend a lot of time learning how to use the Arabic, Chinese or Japanese writings systems.
Myth 9: America is ruining the English language
I think that American English isn’t ruining British English. The only thing what is happening is that American words are being adopted more into the English language. That is because America and the American language is more in the spotlights than RP. For example on television (films and documentaries) and internet.
Myth 10: Having no grammar is having no mistakes. (If Spelitzian had no grammar, it would be impossible to make a mistake when speaking Spelitzian.) That means that there is no grammar and that there won't be any rules for the placement of words in sentences Grammar is more than just a few rules, common people always refer to that whilst linguistics always look at the whole. It is actually a nice contradiction that a language with no grammar exists. All languages have a similar grammatical device which in the end makes the same distinctions in sentences.
Myth 11: Another chapter that proofs that most people react before they think.They find other dialects to be negative, thus making the user of that dialect an idiot or better said, less intelligent. Whilst the other might do the same thing as well. Because of inequality, black culture is usually related to verbal deprivation. They don't receive any credit for the contribution they did and are still doing to the English language in America.
Myth 12: Unlike the figures of mathematics, words in language do have a meaning. An example: Computers react only negative or not negative data, that is because they cannot handle "complex" things. However, human being are not computers. They can make a distinction between what is meant and what is not.
Myth 13: The changes that occur in our speech is mainly because of the hype surrounding it. It starts at a specific place or person and is considered to be fun and many people use it and then that is the part where the media comes in. However, there are some influences from the media itself. For example, the annoying Dutch KPN commercial used many phrases which got poplar after its broadcast. For example, goeiemoggel. Media does have an influence, but not the main role of influences.
