March 28, 2008
by Graham
4 Comments
Athel Cornish-Bowden in Marseille asks about the final -s in some French place names, and French versions of non-French place names (e.g. Douvres, Londres, Cornouailles). The final -s in these names is often the final remnant of the Old French … Continue reading
March 24, 2008
by Graham
11 Comments
In fact, French names cause all sorts of problems for English speakers, not least of where to put the stress. French, of course, has no lexical stress, but it would be impossible for an English speaker to avoid stressing at … Continue reading
March 20, 2008
by Graham
2 Comments
Now we get to the difficult ones. The fourth way of turning a foreign name into your own language is to look at it, and think, well it’s spelt Łódż, so I’ll call it /lɒdz/. This makes no attempt to … Continue reading
March 19, 2008
by Graham
7 Comments
The discussion about Beijing and/or Peking rumbles on, and leads to the more general question of how we can decide what to call geographical locations in foreign countries. This doesn’t just apply to English, but to any language. So far … Continue reading
March 15, 2008
by Graham
5 Comments
syz takes me to task for wanting people to follow the BBC (and John Wells’) recommendation for Beijing, and implies that as linguists should describe language, I am guilty of prescriptivism. Linguists are in a bind here: we all pay … Continue reading
March 14, 2008
by Graham
5 Comments
I was always taught that the word however is either surrounded by commas, in a sentence like If you do this, however, you will get into trouble, or else it must be either the first or last word in the … Continue reading
March 11, 2008
by Graham
3 Comments
John Wells’ blog today mentions the pronunciation of Beijing, and the BBC Pronunciation Unit’s recommendation to pronounce the -j- in the same way as in the English word ‘jingle’. He wonders how many people will heed the advice (and it’s … Continue reading
March 5, 2008
by Graham
8 Comments
I am very grateful to JJM who has answered my plea for information about what the French do with feminine nouns referring to masculine creatures (e.g. sentinelle, recrue) (see his note to “(s)he vs they”), and says that the French … Continue reading
March 2, 2008
by Graham
0 comments
The first dictionary definitions of essential are ‘vital’, ‘absolutely necessary’. However there is one place where we see the word every day when this is not its meaning, even if the users of the word would like us to think … Continue reading