I am on vacation this upcoming week. In that time, I need to find and summarize a research article on dyslexia, write a paper about apraxia (including finding and summarizing 3 research articles), and make a list of internet resources for each of the 7 components of language (phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax, orthography, discourse, and pragmatics ). I have a feeling that I am missing something. Well, I have a final exam to study for-- maybe that was it?
Although I am feeling very busy (though not busy enough, apparently, given all the assignments that I have left undone), I am really enjoying this class. English seems so irregular to me-- I am amazed at how regular it is, albeit still confusing. Fifty percent of words can be spelled correctly just using phonics (bat, ram), another 36% would have just one error (knit). Ten percent more can be spelled accurately when word meaning, origin, and morphology are considered, which leave only 4% as "pure oddities." * It's mostly that 10%, I think, that are the hardest. Word meaning confuses the issue-- like 'sign' and 'signature.' They are related, hence the similar spelling; changing the spelling of 'sign' to be more phonetic would take away that visual clue to its meaning. The origins of English words being so varied, from Anglo-Saxon to French to Greek and Latin, further confuses things, too. (I never knew that the sound /f/ spelled with a "ph" meant that the word came from Greek).
Enough of linguistic geekiness for now.
*I wonder if that is true for other kinds of English besides American English. I dunno. Do the separate sounds b-a-t sound like 'bat' in the UK brands of English? For that matter, I don't know if it's true for all American dialects-- like those who would say "bat" as something more like "bay-ut."
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4 comments:
Bat is easy but put an aitch (or a haitch) on the end and you're in trouble.
Learning French has made me confused and almost upset with language in general. I guess it is because I am trying to learn grammar in French and I just don't know equivalent grammar in English. And I keep spotting the lack of sense in how people talk and it annoys me so much and I want to cry it is so confusing or have a tantrum or something. Argh.
Have you heard of Lojban?
I had never heard of Lojban. It looks much harder than learning French-- French has something in common with English already. Looking at Lojban reminded me of when I was looking into learning Korean.
When I took French in high school, I remember the grammar being hard, partly because I didn't know the grammar in English. In English, I know what sounds right, but I don't know when I am using the future imperative or whatever.
When you say you spot the lack of sense in how people talk, do you mean they don't speak in the way you are being taught?
No- I mean that in attempting to learn grammar for what feels like the first time (though I must have done it when learning French and German at school, surely?) I am noticing it or rather the lack of it in English. If I cannot understand grammar in a language I know, how can I understand grammar in a language I don't know? In looking at English with these new eyes, I just find myself hating the language for not being understandable in rigorous terms.
Which is where lojban comes. It isn't constructed to be easy to use, just to be rigorous in following rules of grammar.
Natural languages are rigorous in ways that make them learnable...by kids, and interpretable...by native speakers. When we are neither, it's JAM.
I'm sure you'll get the hang of French soon, Keppet. It's a jam you can handle.
Good luck, Emano. If you want help with the lingo websites, I've got loads of them. And welcome to the wonderful land of Linguistics !
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