Topic 85 Bits & Pieces of Language
15 November 2019
1. An 'acronym' is a new word made from the letters of some old words.
For example, 'U.S.A.' means 'the United States of America'. Usually,
acronyms drop the full stop after each letter, as in 'USA'. How many
acronyms can you think of?
2. "btw, imho u 4got". This means, "By the way, in my (humble) opinion
you forgot". Phrases just written as the first letters in a word are
'abbreviations'. They are very common in text messages. How many
abbreviations can you think of?
3. Here are two technical words: 'denotation' and 'connotation'.
Denotation means the surface meaning. Connotation means the hidden
meaning. For example, if a man asks a woman "What are you doing
tonight?" the denotation is the simple dictionary meaning. The
connotation here is usually "Will you come out on a date with me?". Now
you try to think of some examples of denotations and connotations.
4. When a phrase or idiom is very common, sometimes the speaker will
leave it unfinished in speech. For example, "Well, you know what I mean
.." Sometimes a person says this when he/she doesn't want to speak
something clearly, but expects the listener to understand. For example,
"Jones is a risk. Well, you know what I mean ..". This might mean (for
example) that Jones can't be trusted, so we had better not tell him XYZ.
Try to think up some situations where you might say "Well, you know what
I mean ..."
5. Sometimes new users of a language get the social level wrong. For
example, I once heard a Korean official say to some English teachers in
South Korea, "Everyone can get out now". He meant, "Everyone can leave
now". "Get out!" is a very rude phrase to say when you are angry.
Foreign teachers of English often make this kind of mistake. Can you
think of some examples of this problem in English, or another language?
[ The technical name for social levels of language is "register". So
foreigners might confuse language registers].
6. In some cultures (e.g. Japanese), people might be quite comfortable
to have a lot of silence when they are together. In other cultures there
is strong social pressure to keep saying something and have little
silence. Do you think long silences are OK in a conversation? What is
your experience on this topic with English speakers?
7. Swearing (cursing) is very common in some cultures, and among
different groups of people. Swearing has different 'jobs' to do (e.g.
showing strong feelings, breaking taboos, being part of a social group
etc). Swearing patterns change over time also. My father swore a lot,
but never in front of a woman. Now in Australia that doesn't usually
matter (and women with no men around sometimes swear a lot). When do you
find swearing OK (if at all)? How often do you swear? Why or why not?
8. Every language changes all the time. Sometimes language changes
slowly. Sometimes language changes quickly, especially when there is a
lot of social & political change. Words change more quickly than grammar
or pronunciation, but they all change. What are some examples of
language change in English, and/or in your first language?
9. The biggest problem of being socially accepted by most Australians is
not WHAT you say, but HOW you say it. How you speak comes in INTONATION,
RHYTHM and STRESS (the 'music' of your speech). Adults find it much
harder to learn intonation than children. (Also most language teachers
don't know how to teach intonation). How is the intonation, rhythm and
stress of your first language different from English? How can you fix
this problem?
10. English has thousands of dialects. How many different English
dialects can you recognize? [Two dialects may have different
pronunciation, words, or sometimes grammar. If you can understand the
other speaker, it is a dialect. If you cannot understand them, it is a
different language. (Dialect Vs language is not a clear black & white
question).
Extra: see "Features English is missing - but most other languages have"
https://youtu.be/5iLpKFA1ADQ
85 Bits & Pieces of Language ©Thor May 2019