Death of a Language

The Guardian reports today on the death of Marie Smith Jones (above) in Alaska aged 89. Why is her death significant? Well, with her died her native language - Eyak. An indigenous tongue of southern Alaska, the language has no 'close linguistic relatives' and so with the death of its last speaker has no chance of any kind of revival. The event raises a whole number of questions and issues tied to language generally - most obviously concerning the impact of globalisation on local cultures. Indiginous languages are increasingly finding themselves 'extinct' and many more will be lost throughout the next century. But - is this a case of linguistic Darwinism (some languages survive because they are fitter than others) or, as Mark Abley in The Guardian suggests, a cultural disaster equivalent to the bombing of the Louvre? The issues are enormously complex but one can't help but feel that the world is a poorer place without Marie Smith Jones.



Useful for: Language Topics / Change

It's English Jim, but not as we know it.

Ever wondered what 'English' might have sounded like 1000 years ago? Well here is one interesting interpretation. Of course we can never know with any certainty how Anglo-Saxon would have really sounded. But we can guess. When I have played this clip to students here at CTK most have thought it to sound like German or Dutch, which given the Germanic roots of English is not surprising.


Useful for: Language Change

Taking Queen's English down under

The following is taken from today's Guardian travelogue. Written by Patrick Barkham, the piece offers an interesting insight into contemporary Australian slang - but of course, as is the way with slang, the terms may already be out of date.

Ever since a lunch when my Australian mate declared he could chew the leg off a skinny priest, I've realised that Australians are uniquely creative with the Queen's English.

Most Poms' hazy sense of the Australian vernacular stretches as far as strewth, dag or bonzer. But a competition by an online dictionary to find Australia's word of the year shows that the country is still chewing up English and spitting out something far more direct and interesting.

Have you always hated those tattoos hovering above the backside? Now you've got a name for them: arse antlers. Want a new euphemism for an obese person? Try salad dodger.

This kind of slang is not really surprising because Aussies have always excelled at insults, none more so than former prime minister Paul Keating, who liked to savage his parliamentary opponents as "gutless spivs" or "foul-mouthed grubs".

Most of the terms listed by the Macquarie Dictionary are gentler: tanorexics are people obsessed with sunbathing; Helengrad is the nickname for the New Zealand capital Wellington - implying it is dominated by their long-serving prime minister Helen Clark.

Many of Australia's 85 words of 2007, which you can vote for at the Macquarie Dictionary website, are typically dry observations about modern life, which apply across the western world. At work, we all suffer from password fatigue, having too many passwords to remember; infomania is that twitchy, distracted state brought on by constantly giving priority to the latest emails and text messages; pod slurping is the downloading of huge quantities of music or data onto an iPod or memory stick.

At home, you will find the floordrobe, an ironic term for that lazy kind of storage system which is actually a bedroom floor covered with discarded clothes; and Kippers, an acronym for adult children who refuse to leave home (Kids in Parents' Pockets Eroding Retirement Savings).

Some of these words are already gaining use around the world and may not even be uniquely Australian.

My friend who waxed lyrical about eating skinny priests and wrestling pigs in hallways has always worried that globalisation would herald the end of the Australian vernacular. He needn't be overly concerned, however. There are still plenty of new, uniquely Australian terms to play with - from toad juice, a liquid fertiliser made from crushed cane toads, to microgroms, those infuriatingly brilliant Aussie surfers who can't be more than 10 years old.

Useful for: Varieties of English / World Englishes

Speaking 'the Queen's Mother's Language...'

A fascinating comedic 'English Lesson' for Jamaicans, given by a taxi-driving Nigerian trainee-accountant called Natahniel (played brilliantly by actor and comedian Felix Dexter). Hilariously this clip reveals that culture, identity (and comedy itself) is intrinsically tied to language.

Radio One - Censorship or Responsible Broadcasting?

BBC Radio One have caused a stir by censoring FairyTale of New York by the Pogues and Kirsty McColl. Probably the greatest and most sublime Christmas track of all, the lyrics are uncompromising and contain references to 'faggot' and 'slut' - two derogatory terms that according to Radio One would offend at least some of their obviously very sensitive listeners. Amusingly, the only offence that seems to have been caused stems from their decision to censor the song in the first place. Confusingly, BBC Radio Two have taken the decision not to bother and happily play the original in all its glory. This article written by Brendan O'Neil, takes an interesting take on the issue by suggesting that what this is really about is a narrow-minded, snobbish elite showing distaste for street-lingo. Is he right? Or, as Pater Tachel argues in The Guardian is ignoring the homophobic connotations of the word hypocrisy? Perhaps, but one thing is sure. Attempts at controlling, restraining and washing language clean of anything that might offend tend to fail because those attempts are always clumsily prescriptive, and therefore ignored by the rest of us living in the real world.

Ye huv tae keep up language wise

Liz Lochhead's 'Kids poem/Bairnsong' offers an interesting interpretation of the relationship between schooling and language. In it she suggests that the price for learning 'standard English' was losing her daily use of Scots dialect. In a way this poem is rather like Helen Dunmore's wonderful To My Nine Year Old Self which was recently brought to my attention by a collegue here at Christ the King. (Thanks Dave!) Personally, I think it would be great if Gordon Brown would deliver his first speech as Primeminister in Scots. Now that would cause a stir, wouldn't it?

Kidspoem/Bairnsang

it wis January and a gey driech day
the first day Ah went to the school
so my Mum happed me up in ma
good navy-blue napp coat wi the rid tartan hood
birled a scarf aroon ma neck
pu'ed oan ma pixie an' my pawkies
it wis that bitter
said "noo ye'll no starve"
gie'd me a wee kiss and a kid-oan skelp oan the bum
and sent me aff across the playground
tae the place a'd learn to say

it was January
and a really dismal day
the first day I went to school
so my mother wrapped me up in my
best navy-blue top coat with the red tartan hood,
twirled a scarf around my neck,
pulled on my bobble-hat and mittens
it was so bitterly cold
said now you won't freeze to death
gave me a little kiss and a pretend slap on the bottom
and sent me off across the playground
to the place I'd learn to forget to say

"it wis January and a gey dreich day
the first day Ah went to the school
So ma Mum happed me up in ma
good navy-ble nap coat wi the red tartan hood
birled a scarf aroon ma neck
pu'ed on ma pixie and ma pawkies
it wis that bitter"

Language Change Snippet : Nice try, Ronald!

According to the BBC, The UK arm of McDonald's is planning a campaign to have the dictionary definition of a McJob changed. The Oxford English Dictionary defines MacJob as: "An unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, esp. one created by the expansion of the service sector." Macdonald's complain that this definition is "out of date and inaccurate" - sensitive of the negative connation of the neologism, MacDonald's countered it by spearheading an employment campaign last year entitled 'McProspects', stating that "over half of our executive team started in restaurants. Not bad for a McJob." Fine: it is their prerogative to do so, although whether anyone was convinced is another issue (they didn't specify which restaurants!). However MacDonald's has a lot to learn about the way language functions in the real world: even if the OED were to change the official definition under corporate pressure, the common meaning and use of the term MacJob would remain the same. Enforced language change is, happily, always doomed to failure - whether the clown likes it or not.

Terminology check: neologism