Friday 30 December 2022

the origin of place names

There is a fascinating book just out which looks at the origin of place names:

Found in Translation: The Unexpected Origins of Place Names | Stanfords

Here are a couple of excerpts, published in the i-newspaper:

Land of rabbits and the canoe – five amazing stories of how countries got their names

From one of our favourite holiday destinations to far-flung Australia, the names of countries reveal a fascinating insight to their history

While you may take the time to learn a bit about the country you’re off on holiday to, have you ever thought about its name – what it means and where it came from? The study of etymology and how places got their names is a treasure trove of extraordinary stories – invasions and rebellions, cultures and religions, adventures and disasters – that can tell us a lot about the countries we visit and the histories that shaped them.

Argentina – ‘silvery land’

Argentina’s naming is a story of adventure, misfortune and almost unfathomable derring-do. It concerns the travails of Portuguese conquistador Aleixo Garcia who, shipwrecked on the Brazilian coast in the early 16th century, became obsessed with the legend of a White King and his vast wealth hidden somewhere in the South American interior, most likely to be in the borders of the Inca Empire.

Garcia spent eight years planning his assault and building an army before marching into Inca territory and, amazingly, escaping loaded with silver booty. But on his journey home following the Río de la Plata, “river of silver”, into Argentina, Garcia was betrayed and killed by a supposedly friendly indigenous tribe. Those in his army who did escape survived to spread the story of the land of silver beside the river of silver.

The final linguistic twist in the tale comes from the switch in language – plata is Spanish but argentina is Italian for silver. For this we can thank the Venetian and Genoese cartographers of the time, whose Italian language maps became the mainstay throughout Europe and in doing so cemented Argentina as the name of the silvery land – much to Spain’s annoyance.

Spain – ‘land of rabbits’

Talking of Spain, the world’s second most popular holiday destination has one of the more curious meanings of any country, dating back to the time of the Phoenicians.

Arriving on the Iberian Peninsula around 1,000 BC, said Phoenicians were met with an unexpected sight – millions of rabbits running rampant across the landscape. Never having seen such critters before, they assumed them to be a type of hyrax, sphan in their language (a furry mammal native to their homelands in the Middle East), and so named the land for them, I-Shaphan, “island of the hyraxes (or rabbits)”. And yes, the Phonicians assumed, wrongly of course, that they had landed on an island rather than the peninsula of Iberia.

Despite the strange circumstances that inspired it, the empires and cultures that followed the Phoenicians stuck with their name, adapting it along the way until the Romans were using Hispania all the way up until the Spain of today.

...

Land of rabbits and the canoe - five amazing stories of how countries got their names

Of course, there is lots more:

Place name origins - Wikipedia

The History and Origins of Placenames

The origins of place names

How to Navigate by Nostalgia: The Linguistics of Place Names - JSTOR Daily

Origins of Canada's Geographical Names

Diversity in New York Place Names | National Geographic Society

Wednesday 28 December 2022

what are the new words in languages around the world?

Every language is taking in or inventing new words all the time:

FRENCH:

From covidé (infected with coronavirus) to confinement (lockdown) and éco-anxiété (climate anxiety) to verdissement d’image (greenwashing), the pandemic and the climate crisis account for most new French words, Le Monde has concluded.

But if 28% of recent additions are essentially English, according to an analysis by the paper, nearly half are French coinages, demonstrating what it called the language’s “great suppleness, as well as the creativity and humour of its users”.

New words in French dictionaries show ‘great suppleness’ of language | France | The Guardian

JAPANESE:

The term “Temaedori” refers to buying food products close to their sell-by date for immediate consumption. It gained recognition through efforts starting in June 2021 to reduce food loss, helmed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries with local governments and business associations.

What are Japan’s top 3 ‘words of the year’ for 2022? – The European Sting - Critical News & Insights on European Politics, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Business & Technology - europeansting.com

Taipa, an abbreviation of “time performance,” was selected by dictionary publisher Sanseidō as its word of the year for 2022, reflecting young people’s desire not to waste a second.

No Time to Waste: “Taipa” Chosen as One of Japan’s Words of 2022 | Nippon.com

GERMAN:

A jury from the German Language Society (GfdS) has named Zeitenwende as the German word of 2022. The term, which can be translated as “sea change”or “era change”, was used by Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a speech following Vladimir Putin’s February invasion of Ukraine. In his speech Scholz called the invasion, “eine Zeitenwende in der Geschichte unseres Kontinents” (“A sea change in the history of our continent.")

This is the German word of 2022

SPANISH:

Traditional Italian dessert 'Panettone' officially included in prestigious Spanish dictionary - Olive Press News Spain

REVEALED: The best new Spanish words added to the dictionary in 2022

RUSSIAN:

Russia bans the use of foreign words in the Russian language - Euro Weekly News

CHINESE:

Chinese buzzwords for 2022 unveiled - People's Daily Online

Tuesday 27 December 2022

what is the english word of the year?

Several dictionaries are saying different things as to what the 'word of the year' should be:

From 'Goblin Mode' to 'Gaslighting': Check out word of the year by different dictionaries

2022 Words Of The Year From Merriam-Webster, Collins, Macquarie, Oxford

Why 'Homer,' 'Permacrisis' and 'Gaslighting' have topped the 2022 Word of the Year lists | Euronews

Baseball, power and war - 2022's key words - BBC News

For example:

For the first time ever, the Oxford English Dictionary’s (OED) word of the year was left to the public to decide. Over 340,000 people participated, with ‘goblin mode’ receiving 93% of the total votes. The OED defines it as “a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations”.

Merriam-Webster dictionary chose ‘gaslighting’, after a 1,740% rise in searches for the term this year. According to the OED it means “manipulating (a person) by psychological means into questioning his or her own sanity”.

Dictionary.com crowned ‘woman’ as its word of the year, after a 1,400% spike in searches over 2022. The word was frequently searched as people explored what it meant amid debates over transgender rights.

Collins Dictionary describes ‘permacrisis’ as “an extended period of instability and insecurity”. The world has certainly faced a variety of crises this year, from the war in Ukraine to the cost-of-living crisis.

Japan’s kanji of 2022, decided by public vote, was the one denoting war or battle ‘戦’, the Guardian reported.

The 2022 'word of the year' according to different dictionaries | World Economic Forum

With a nice little English lesson from VOA:

What Is Your Word of the Year?

Monday 26 December 2022

new words in english are a gift

The English language has recorded lots of new words this year:

New Scrabble dictionary, 7th edition: New words—and its importance to American English.

2022's hottest words were peculiar and depressing, which makes sense | CNN

‘Goblin mode’: new Oxford word of the year speaks to the times | Language | The Guardian

Here's a very interesting piece on how new words get into the English language - which also raises the question of 'who owns English?' - as noted by the Oxford English Dictionary:

English is picking up brilliant new words from around the world – and that’s a gift

Danica Salazar

From ‘lepak’ to ‘deurmekaar’, terms borrowed from its 1.75 billion global speakers are enriching the language we share

Who owns the English language? The answer to this question is no longer as straightforward as “the English”. According to the latest figures from the British Council, English is “spoken at a useful level” by about 1.75 billion people. Counted among this vast anglophone population are not only the hundreds of millions who speak English as a first language, but also the hundreds of millions more who speak it as a second or foreign language in different parts of the world...

Today, the predominance of English as a language of science, technology, business, diplomacy and entertainment has given many people around the world a strong incentive to acquire the language. From Brazil to South Korea, Spain to Indonesia, millions of people are learning English, and they too are making their own mark on its development.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has documented many of the words that these new communities of English speakers have added to the vocabulary...

Speakers of world varieties of English are remaking its vocabulary to better express their identities, cultures and everyday realities. In Hong Kong, people exclaim add oil as a show of encouragement or support, an expression literally translated from the Cantonese gā yáu, with reference to petrol being injected into an engine. In the Philippines, many houses have a dirty kitchen, which is not actually a kitchen that is dirty in the sense you think, but a kitchen outside the house where most of the real cooking is done – a necessary convenience in a tropical country where it is best to avoid trapping heat and smells indoors. In Nigeria, a mama put is a street-food stall, and its name comes from the way that its customers usually order food: they say “Mama, put …” to the woman running the stall, and point to the dish they want so it can be put on their plate.

In Oxford University Press’s Gift of Words campaign this year, we have asked people who speak more than one language to “gift” a word from their first to their second language, and vice versa. The responses we have so far received highlight even more words that multilingual English speakers felt they had to borrow from their other languages for lack of a direct equivalent in English: words such as saudade (nostalgic longing) from Portuguese, gezellig (a sense of cosiness and togetherness) from Dutch, nomakanjani (come what may) from isiZulu, and apapacho (affection, comfort) from Nahuatl by way of Spanish.

Calling these borrowed words “gifts” is an important reframing, as many value language purity over diversity and consider external influences a threat to the integrity of a language. But this is in contradiction to how language works, as the borrowing of words is part of the natural evolution of all living languages. English is particularly notable for its ability to absorb elements from other languages, and the previously mentioned loan words join a host of others that English borrowed from Old Norse, Norman French, Latin and Ancient Greek much earlier in its history, including core words such as egg, fashion, universe and economy...

Changing our attitudes towards multilingualism and language variation is vital to fight the linguistic prejudice that causes people to be discriminated against for not using the “right” words or for speaking in the “wrong” accent. Despite all that they have contributed to the enrichment of English, many speakers of varieties other than standard British or American English still find themselves being mocked or losing out on educational or professional opportunities as they are effectively denied the right to use their own language in the way that they want.

It is only when we share ownership of English, and embrace the language in all its diversity, that it can truly be a gift that everyone can benefit from.

English is picking up brilliant new words from around the world – and that’s a gift | Danica Salazar | The Guardian

Sunday 18 December 2022

phonesthemes

A very strange sounding thing is all about what words sound like:

A phonestheme is a particular sound or sound sequence that (at least in a general way) suggests a certain meaning. The adjective form is phonesthemic. For example, in words like glimmer, glitter, and glisten, the initial gl- phonestheme is associated with vision or light.

Definition and Examples of Phonesthemes in English

A phonestheme (/foʊˈnɛsθiːm/;[1] phonaestheme in British English) is a pattern of sounds systematically paired with a certain meaning in a language. The concept was proposed in 1930 by British linguist J. R. Firth, who coined the term from the Greek φωνή phone, "sound", and αἴσθημα aisthema, "perception" (from αίσθάνομαι aisthanomai, "I perceive").[2] For example, sequence "sl-" appears in English words denoting frictionless motion, like "slide", "slick" and "sled".

Phonestheme - Wikipedia

Here's Peter Trudgill of the New European:

Speech sounds do not normally have any meaning of their own. Vowels and consonants as such do not signify anything, although obviously they do combine together to form words (and the grammatical sub parts of words which linguists call morphemes), which do mean something.

The meaningless sounds b, a and g can be combined to form the meaningful word bag. And the meaningless z sound can also be added as a morpheme on to the end of that word to provide the grammatical information “plural”, as in bags. But none of those four speech sounds carry any meaning in themselves.

There is also no connection generally between how a word sounds and what it means – the link is totally arbitrary. This arbitrariness of the sound-meaning relationship is a fundamental and rather wonderful fact about human language. There is no reason, as Shakespeare more or tells us, why a rose should be called a rose. It just is.

This arbitrariness can be illustrated in many ways. A book can equally well be called a llyfr, as it is in Welsh; or a knjiga, as in Slovenian; or a vivlío, as in Greek; or a raamat like in Estonian. The arbitrariness of the relationship between sound and meaning is also clear from the fact that mark means “marrow” in German, “worm” in Norwegian, “field” in Danish, and “mark” in English. In Bulgarian ne means “no”; but the same sequence of sounds in Greek means “yes”. Albanian jo is “no” but in Norwegian it means “yes”.

Sometimes, though, we do come across combinations of sounds which actually seem to have some kind of significance of their own. In English, the gl- element in glare, gleam, glimmer, glint, glisten, glitter, gloss, glow seems to indicate something to do with light, although it is not particularly clear why this should be. Words like sneer, sneeze, sniff, snigger, snitch, snivel, snooty, snooze, snore, snort, snout and snuff all have some connection with the nose. Equally, the fl- of flap, flash, flick, flinch, fling, flip, flitter, flounce, flourish, flow, flutter, fly and flurry indicates movement of some kind.

English words like bump, clump, dump, hump, jump, lump, stump, thump also all seem to have something – perhaps something rather heavy – in common. You will not find -ump in the dictionary, but its occurrence in so many items with somewhat similar meanings cannot be a coincidence – there is some kind of sound-symbolism here, with the sound–meaning relationship not being totally arbitrary.

Sound sequences carrying some kind of meaning, such as gl-, sn-, fland -ump, are referred to technically as phonaesthemes – a term first used in 1930 by the linguist JR Firth (the first British professor of general linguistics).

An interesting question for linguistic scientists is whether phonaesthemes may in some way be universal or are specific to particular languages. Swedish also has the phonaestheme gl-, as in glimma “glimmer”, glittra “sparkle”, glans “shine”, glöd “glow” – but Swedish is a language which is historically related to English.

It is perhaps more significant that English “mumble” translates into Czech as mumlat, Finnish mumina, Welsh mwmial, Lithuanian murmeti and Samoan muimui.

But arbitrariness remains the norm: there really is no reason for a rose to be called a rose, except that it just is.

A rose by any other name - The New European

Finally, here's something very academic:

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL REALITY OF PHONAESTHEMES

Saturday 17 December 2022

fun with english words podcasts

Playing with words on stage is no new thing - but here's a show where two people passionate about words have lots of fun exploring them:

Something Rhymes with Purple Live | Trailer - YouTube

Something Rhymes with Purple

Yes, they've got a podcast:

Something Rhymes with Purple (free but with ads)

And here are some more:

This is an extraordinary exploration of the english language:

The History of English Podcast | The Spoken History of a Global Language

This is the long-standing BBC radio programme with Michael Rosen:

Word of Mouth - BBC Radio 4 Podcasts

"Grammar Girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing and feed your love of the English language:"

Grammar Girl - Quick and Dirty Tips ™

Finally, here's an old favourite from the teaching and learning English world:

Luke’s ENGLISH Podcast | Learn British English with Luke Thompson

Friday 16 December 2022

the meaning and use of the word 'woman' is changing

The 'meaning' of words is not fixed: it's primarily about the 'use' of words:

The symbolic nature of our communication is a quality unique to humans. Since the words we use do not have to correspond directly to a “thing” in our “reality,” we can communicate in abstractions.

3.1 Language and Meaning – Communication in the Real World

For example, 'female':

1 a(1): of, relating to, or being the sex that typically has the capacity to bear young or produce eggs

b: having a gender identity that is the opposite of male

Female Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Or 'woman':

1a: an adult female person

Woman Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

The Cambridge Dictionary gives similar definitions:

an adult female human being:

an adult who lives and identifies as female though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth:

WOMAN | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

But the English-speaking world has suddenly got rather agitated:

Cambridge Dictionary expands its definition of 'woman' to include transgender women - ABC News

Cambridge Dictionary updates definition of ‘woman’

Cambridge Dictionary changes definitions of ‘woman,’ ‘man’ to now include trans people - The Washington Post

Cambridge Dictionary changes definition of 'man' and 'woman'

Cambridge Dictionary has an update on definition of 'woman', with examples | World News - Hindustan Times

Cambridge Dictionary Alters The Definition Of 'Man' And 'Woman'

Cambridge Dictionary accused of kowtowing to 'woke activists' after updating definition of 'woman' | Daily Mail Online

Fury as Cambridge Dictionary updates definition of word 'woman' | The Sun

Cambridge Dictionary changes definition of 'man' and 'woman': '1984 wasn't supposed to be a how-to manual' | Fox News

Cambridge dictionary expand definition of 'man and woman' to include transgender - BBC News Pidgin

The interest has been huge since the 'change' earlier in the week - so that the word is about to become 'the word of the year':

Dictionary.com 2022 Word of the Year is woman after 1,400 percent surge in searches | Daily Mail Online

In today's EL Gazette, Melanie Butler gives a very entertaining look at the story - and quotes the Cambridge Dictionary people - that it's all about 'use':

A spokesperson for Cambridge University Press and Assessment told The Telegraph, “Our editors made this addition to the entry for women in October. They carefully studied usage patterns of the word woman and concluded that this definition is one that learners of English should be aware of to support their understanding of how the language is used”.

Dictionary definition sparks global culture clash | E L Gazette

highlighting wonky translations gives language learners permission to make mistakes

We all know the language-learning app Duo:

Duolingo - The world's best way to learn a language

It's just opened a gallery in Tokyo:

Language-learning app Duolingo has opened a ‘Museum of Wonky English’ in Harajuku, Tokyo, and is giving mundane phrases that have been mistranslated new and surprising meanings. In one, viewers see a coffee pot with a sign next to it reading: “When coffee is gone, it’s over.” As well as the in-person event and hero film, Duolingo is inviting people to share their own mistranslations on Twitter, with the best submissions being exhibited in the museum.

Ad Of The Day: Duolingo Creates Exhibition Of Dodgy Translations In Tokyo | The Drum

Here's the short film:

Museum of Wonky English | Duolingo - YouTube

The advertising industry likes it:

Duolingo launches Japan’s Museum of Wonky English - More About Advertising

As does the design industry:

'urinate with elegance': duolingo exhibits wonky english mistranslations in tokyo

And the teaching of English industry.

Here's the ever-vigilant Liz Granirer:

UltraSuperNew is a creative agency in Tokyo and it’s recently opened a new exhibit sponsored by the language learning app Duolingo at its UltraSuperNew Gallery that heroes ‘bad’ translations of English into Japanese. Examples include ‘Please urinate with precision and elegance’ and ‘Please do not eat children and elderly’. In fact, you can giggle at 16 of these deliciously mistranslated statements and even submit ones you discover. The ones chosen to be exhibited alongside those already in the museum win a month’s free subscription to Super Duolingo. That’s because Duolingo has always championed wonky translations, believing that highlighting them gives language learners permission to make mistakes.

“Why do mistakes have such a bad rep?” asks UltraSuperNew’s associate creative director, Andrés Aguilar, as reported by lbbonline.com. “They’re the unsung language-learning heroes and we wanted this campaign to settle the scores. There’s a treasure trove of meanings you can only access when lost in translation and that’s what we wanted people to experience in the Museum of Wonky English.”

Tokyo has a new attraction for those who enjoy ‘bad’ translations | E L Gazette

upgrade english for speakers of other languages in the uk

Liz Granirer writing in the latest EL Gazette looks at how important teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages will become increasingly important in Britain:

The double whammy of Brexit and the Covid pandemic has conspired to leave the United Kingdom with a shortage of workers in a number of areas. Everything from hospitality to healthcare is being affected by the lack of those able to take up the jobs.

English key to tackling UK’s skills shortage | E L Gazette

The research is published by politics.co.uk:

Upgrade English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provisions to supercharge skills, says new report

A new report by the Lifelong Education Commission argues that enhancing English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) in the UK could be key to tackling national skills gaps and shortages. The research comes at a time when the country is facing acute skills crises in many sectors, which is constraining growth and productivity.

Fortunately, there is a ready source of skilled workers available: migrants already in the UK. In 2021, it is estimated that nearly 10 million people (16% of the UK population) were born overseas.

However, many migrants and asylum seekers are held back by their lack of English Language proficiency, especially in speaking and writing abilities that are essential for high-skilled jobs.

Andy Forbes, Head of Development at the Lifelong Education Commission who authored the report, outlines his solution to this problem: “In the face of an acute skills crisis in Britain, better provision of English for Speakers of Other Languages – ESOL – should be a key strategy for tackling skills gaps and shortages. In the UK, we have a growing pool of migrants, many of them skilled and experienced professionals, who are unable to access the labour market due to poor English proficiency. Greatly improving the delivery of ESOL is therefore the best way to tap this hidden reservoir of talent, and greatly improve economic productivity and growth in the process”

Upgrade English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provisions to supercharge skills, says new report - Politics.co.uk

As covered in the professional press:

Upgrade English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provisions to supercharge skills, says new report | FE News

Here's the full report:

ESOL-for-Skills-LEC-Report-1.pdf