Tag Archives: Linguistics

English Conundrums

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A long time ago I found the following poem, and I believe it is the best indicator that the English language needs to be reworked.

The first poem is a modern reincarnation of “The Chaos” (1922) by G. Nolst Trenite, a.k.a. “Charivarius” (1870-1946). The original (which you can read below this one) was a little more Shakespearean.

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh, hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

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Diffusion as Evidenced Through the English Language

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I think this selection of words shows evidences the many ways words enter into the English vocabulary.
Itinerary:
Itinerary began as the word itinerarium from Latin which means “account of a journey”.

Mouse:
Mouse began as the Greek word m?s it the evolved over time to be (in chronological order) m?s in Latin, maus in German, m?s in Old English, then finally as mous in Middle English. This word is interesting for two reasons the first is that it has a rather long etymology and the second is that English first borrowed the word directly from Latin and then later borrowed it in a different form from the Germans.

Algebra:
Algebra began as the Arabic word al-jabr and then when introduced into Latin it was rewritten into Algebra where it remains.

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The four fields of anthropology

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The four fields in American anthropology are usually classified as physical, cultural (or ethnology), linguistics and archeology.

Cultural Anthropology deals with the aspects of human lives that are learned. It examines the way different groups keep societal control, delegate responsibilities and other such learned behaviors.

Physical Anthropology studies the way humans have evolved over time and how different environmental and cultural influences affected human evolution.

Archeology is the study of things humans have created in the past.

Linguistics is the study of how languages are formed, evolve and how culture and language interact with each other.

The divisions are made this way for three main reasons. The first is obvious in that it is impossible for a single anthropologist to be well versed in all four at the same time.

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