Linguists at the University of Sheffield have launched a project to create the UK’s first national repository of regional swear words. UK’s first-ever national swear word census to capture real use of English language | News | The University of Sheffield The researchers say they aim to preserve a record of regional and dialect words…… Continue reading Recording regional and hyper-local swear words before they disappear
Tag: Sociolinguistics
Language or dialect
Two language varieties are often regarded as separate languages if they differ greatly and if speakers of each variety cannot easily understand the other variety. They are often viewed as dialects of a single language if they differ little and if their speakers can readily understand each other. In between those extremes, there is no clear distinction between a…… Continue reading Language or dialect
Some traditional and simplified Chinese characters
Some Chinese characters have 2 versions, a simplified version (used particularly in mainland China) and a traditional version (used particularly in Taiwan and some overseas Chinese communities). TK Ann (1987) lists 13 of these pairs of characters. Ann lists them because they feature as parts of many other Chinese characters and for space reasons Ann…… Continue reading Some traditional and simplified Chinese characters
A Celtic language, just not the right one
A branch of the UK supermarket chain Tesco decided to put in some bilingual signs not just English but also the local language, a member of the Celtic family. A commendable and well-intentioned gesture. Unfortunately, the branch is in Cornall and the signs were not in Cornish (Kernewek) but in its Celtic relative Welsh. Apparently…… Continue reading A Celtic language, just not the right one
‘Based off’ again
I’ve commented before on people using the phrase “based off of” instead of the seemingly more logical “based on”. https://languagemiscellany.com/2022/08/what-is-this-like-based-on/ A recent (open access) paper in the journal English Language and Linguistics finds a rapid rise of based off (of) alongside based on and a similar recent increase in the use of off with 6 other verbs. The…… Continue reading ‘Based off’ again
Languages in Finland
A booklet called The languages of Finland 1917-2017 was written to celebrate Finland’s centenary as an independent state. The author, Fred Karlsson, Professor Emeritus of General Linguistics at the University of Helsinki, and author of Finnish: a comprehensive grammar (2018). The booklet is available online at Languages of Finland_1917-2017.pdf (helsinki.fi), along with Finnish and Swedish…… Continue reading Languages in Finland
English Grammar Day 2025
I went last month to an event called English Grammar Day, hosted by University College London (UCL), the University of Oxford and the British Library. This annual event has been held ten times, but I went for the first time in 2023. There were 6 talks, called: Puzzling linguists: olympians and others, Billy Clark 100…… Continue reading English Grammar Day 2025
Shapes of male and female English names
In English, male names differ from female names, and both male and female names differ from other nouns: male names tend to be shorter than other nouns. female nouns tend to be longer than other nouns. female names are more likely than male names to contain stressed vowels with [i] and less likely to…… Continue reading Shapes of male and female English names
Scottish languages make progress
A bill aiming to boost the use of Gaelic (Gàidhlig) and of Scots has passed another stage in the Scottish Parliament. If the Scottish Languages Bill becomes law, it will enable parents to ask for a Gaelic school to be established in their area. Local authorities would then be required to assess whether the request…… Continue reading Scottish languages make progress
Odd choice for a Swiss place name
Watching a movie on a flight recently, I was struck by an odd subtitling decision. The dialogue said the main protagonist of the German film Die Theorie von Allem was from Graubünden. The English subtitles said he was from the Swiss Canton of Grisons. Adding the Swiss Canton of in the subtitles was a sensible…… Continue reading Odd choice for a Swiss place name