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  • in Linguistics

    You Left Your Rs in the 1700s: Received Pronunciation Versus Extra-Insular Englishes

    When the Royal Society unsuccessfully attempted to establish a formal language academy in England in 1664, lexicographers and grammarians from the London area alternately formed a Grammarian Class with the aims to refine, fix, and ascertain the English language (Smith “Scientific”). From the language prescriptions and proscriptions imposed by the wealthy white English male hegemony […] More

  • in Linguistics

    Witchy Speech

    Witches and wizards found in fantasy literature reveal themselves as magical not only through their actions and outward appearances but also through their speech. In The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, Gandalf adorns his head with a pointy gray hat and carries a wooden staff. The witches in Whispering to Witches by Anna Dale dress in […] More

  • in Linguistics

    I Type How I Sound: E-Language and Phonetic Spelling

    The English language changed dramatically with the introduction of the printing press into England in 1476 because of the development of a written form made possible by wide-spread printing (Smith “Early”). Not until roughly five hundred years later at the end of the twentieth century with the advent of the computer and the Internet would […] More

  • in Linguistics

    Viking and Norman Influences on the English Language

    During the eighth and ninth centuries, Vikings from Scandinavia from the North attacked the Germanic tribes living in England (Smith “External”). Around the same time period, Danish Vikings assailed and conquered the northern area of France, which became the dukedom of Normandy (Baugh and Cable 92). Only two hundred and fifty years later in September […] More

  • in Linguistics

    Greek Loanwords in English

    The English language has borrowed extensively from the Greek language beginning during the Germanic period when many words borrowed from Latin were originally borrowed into Latin from Greek. English continued to borrow from Greek through Latin during the Old English period. However, most of the Greek loanwords in English were borrowed during the Early Modern […] More

  • in Linguistics

    Latin Loanwords in English

    The English language has borrowed extensively from the Latin language beginning during the Germanic period before English was English through the Old English period and up to the early Modern English period. The earliest Latin loanwords date from the period before the Germanic tribes invaded England under invite from the Britons. Latin borrowings continued throughout […] More

  • in Linguistics

    Borrow or Develop?: Enriching the English Vocabulary

    When William Caxton introduced the printing press to England in 1476, English developed into a physical entity (Smith “Early”). Language no longer disappeared as the sound waves of speech diminished but rather became a social institution that could be held, used, wielded, and owned (Smith “Early”). Although an interest in classical learning existed in England […] More

  • in English Conjunctions, Linguistics

    The Subordinator in English Grammar

    Subordinators in English grammar are words that introduce subordinate or dependent clauses. The three dependent clauses in English are noun clauses, adjective clauses, and adverb clauses. Subordinating conjunctions including relative pronouns perform the grammatical function of subordinator. Noun Clauses Subordinating conjunctions that introduce noun clauses are also referred to as noun clause markers. Some of […] More

  • in Grammatical Function, Linguistics

    The Correlator in English Grammar

    Correlators in English grammar are function words that are the first word or words in pairs of conjunctions that also join or link two or more words, phrases, and clauses. Function words perform definite grammatical functions but lack definite lexical meaning. Only one grammatical form can perform the function of correlator in English. The one […] More

  • in Grammatical Function, Linguistics

    The Coordinator in English Grammar

    Coordinators in English grammar are function words that join or link two or more words, phrases, and clauses. Function words perform definite grammatical functions but lack definite lexical meaning. Only one grammatical form can perform the function of coordinator in English. The one grammatical form that can function as the coordinator is the coordinating conjunction. […] More

  • in Linguistics

    English Vowels: Pronunciation of Vowel Sounds in American English

    American English has sixteen vowel sounds—ten monophthongs and six diphthongs—but only six vowel letters. A monophthong is a single vowel sound. A diphthong is a vowel that glides between two other vowel sounds. English Monophthongs [i] high front unrounded {beat} [ɪ] near-high near-front unrounded {bit} [e] high-mid front unrounded* [ɛ] low-mid front unrounded {bet} [æ] […] More

  • in English Nouns, Linguistics

    Using Nouns and Noun Phrases as Determinatives

    In traditional treatments of grammar, nouns are defined as words that denote a person, place, thing, or idea. A noun phrase is a phrase that consists of a noun functioning as the head of the phrase plus any modifiers, complements, or determiners. A pronoun is a word that stands in for a noun or noun […] More

  • in English Nouns, Linguistics

    Using Nouns and Noun Phrases as Indirect Objects

    Nouns are traditionally defined as words that refer to a person, place, thing, or idea. A noun phrase is a phrase that consists of a noun plus any modifiers, complements, or determiners. A subcategory of nouns, pronouns are words that take the place of nouns and noun phrases. In grammar, an indirect object is word, […] More

  • in English Nouns, Linguistics

    Using Nouns and Noun Phrases as Direct Objects

    Nouns have traditionally been defined as words for people, places, things, and ideas. A noun phrase consists of a noun plus any modifiers, complements, and determiners that provide more information about the noun. Pronouns, which are a subcategory of nouns, are words that take the place of nouns and noun phrases. In grammar, a direct […] More

  • in Linguistics, Punctuation

    English Punctuation

    Learn about the rules for using punctuation marks in written English: apostrophes, braces, brackets, colons, commas, dashes, ellipses, hyphens, italics, parentheses, periods, question marks, exclamation marks, interrobangs, quotation marks, semicolons, and slashes. More

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