Welcome!

This blog will be my responses to topical issues about the English Language. Recently, I researched and explored Americanisms, and their effect on the English Language and people's responses to them. To do this, I listened to a BBC radio show called 'Americanize!', which discussed the positives and negatives of Americanisms in the English Language.

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2 txt, or nt 2 txt?

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2 txt, or nt 2 txt? Is texting really destroying our language? Imagine this: you’ve just been offered a job you really, really wanted, or you’ve passed an important exam with flying colours. And you’re thrilled! In your joy, you decide to share the good news with your friends and family – and reach for your mobile phone. And why? Simple – because in the world we currently live in, texting is the easiest, most efficient way of communicating quickly. In just a few seconds, you can send a text and your friends and family will have the good news sitting right in their pocket. Texting is fast and convenient – so why has it received so much hatred? A response heard far too often to this is as follows: Because of the ‘grotesque’ abbreviations! And what about the kids? They’ll become illiterate! They’ll fail their exams! These myths are ridiculous! It’s true that abbreviations are a common feature of text messages, and that young people do text a lot – but why is this assume...
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Infectious Disease or Linguistic Change?

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Is Multicultural London English really ruining the English Language? ‘No-one spoke this way in my day!’, ‘Teach children to speak properly!’. Both are common arguments everyone’s heard at some point from ‘concerned’ adults, who seem convinced that the English language has seriously declined in quality since the ‘Good Old Days’ – but is there any truth to this, or is this claim the result of stereotyping? Multicultural London English, or MLE, is a sociolect spoken mainly by young people in London which contains Jamaican Creole. This has caused stigma with adults because apparently, it’s ‘dumbing down’ the English Language, and will result in children growing up ‘thick’ and leave young people unable to get jobs. There are many reasons why this is ridiculous, but let’s start with the first: there is absolutely no proof that the quality of English Language is declining! This common prescriptivist view – meaning the opinion of a non-linguist – was explained by Jean Aitchison using...
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Women’s Language Rights!

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Women’s Language Rights! Why is the language women speak not taken seriously? Picture this: you’re a woman, about to sit that all-important job interview you’ve spent days preparing for. You’re highly qualified and perfect for the job, but you’re rejected because – drum roll, please – of the way you speak. How is it, in any way, fair that a man who is less qualified is more likely to get the job than this woman, because his language is more ‘assertive’? It isn’t, and it needs to change. Let me tell you a fact that might surprise you: men and women speak the same language. There is no such thing as one gender’s specific ‘language’ being superior to the other; they’re identical. So why is it that we still insist on pointing out the ‘differences’ in the language between men and women, and worse still, using it as a form of discrimination against women? The theory for looking at gender differences in language in the present day is called the Diversity model. This is the id...
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