LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY IN THE US

AN INTRODUCTION

Chapter 2

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Examples and Resources

Page # Callout # Link Description
24 2.1 http://www.bartleby.com/141/ The Elements of Style. Full text online.
26 2.2 http://english.fsu.edu/canterbury/knight.html The Knight’s Tale. Full text online.
29 2.3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azM6xSTT2I0 Scene from Good Will Hunting. Note the use of Standard American (rhotic) vs. Boston and British English (non-rhotic).
32 2.4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbqkjchOww8 John Simon, prescriptivist. From Do You Speak American.
33 2.5 a) http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/
b)http://www.lynnetruss.com/
a) Biography of William Safire with a link to his On Language column
b) Lynne Truss's official website
34 2.6 a) http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_good_word/2012/
b) http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4654
a) Steven Pinker’s Slate article, "False Fronts in the Language Wars"
b) Geoffrey Pullum’s response to prescriptivist Nevile Gwynne
34 2.7 a) http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5430
b) http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/preface.html
Both links go to Johnson’s “Preface to a Dictionary of the English Language.”
34 2.8 http://www.oed.com The Oxford English Dictionary.
35 2.9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbqkjchOww8#t=1m28s Jesse Sheidlower and descriptive views of language. From Do You Speak American. (starting at 1:28).
35 2.10 http://public.oed.com/the-oed-today/recent-updates-to-the-oed/ Recent updates to the OED.
35 2.11 http://ahdictionary.tumblr.com/post/74834243179/an-archivist-mines-the-usage-ballots The American Heritage Dictionary, "An Archivist Mines the Usage Ballots"
36 2.12 urbandictionary.com Urban Dictionary.
36 2.13 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/business/media/urban-dictionary- Urban Dictionary as an authority? "For the Word on the Street, Courts Call Up an Online Witness," from the New York Times.
37 2.14 a) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRED-vr_xFw&list=PL6089621A87373FBE&index=3
b) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFctP2zDMEI
English with subtitles:
a) Video of Tangier Island, VA, from American Tongues
b) Clip from the TV show Swamp People
38 2.15 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/14130942 Americanisms in the UK.

Flashcards

Suggested Reading

Grammar, Standardization, and Language Authorities

Curzan, A., & Adams, M. (2006). How English works: A linguistic introduction. New York, NY: Pearson Longman.

Lippi-Green, R. (2012). English with an accent: Language, ideology, and discrimination in the United States (2nd ed.). London and New York, NY: Routledge.

McWhorter, J. (1998.) Word on the street: Debunking the myth of a ‘pure’ standard English. New York: Perseus.

Milroy, J., & Milroy, L. (1999). Authority in language: Investigating standard English (3rd ed.). London & New York, NY: Routledge.

Wardhaugh, R. (1999). Proper English: Myths and misunderstandings about language. Maden, MA: Blackwell.