Conservative

In linguistics, a conservative form is one that has undergone little change. For example, it is said that writing is a more conservative form than speech. With words, a word is conservative if it is closer to the older form from which it derived in comparison to cognate forms from the same original word. For example, the Spanish word caro and the French cher evolved from the Latin word cārum. Since the Spanish word is more similar to the common source, it is more conservative than its French counterpart.

The Indefinite Article & Juncture Loss

The English indefinite article "a(n" is derived from the same root as "one." (Think of how in Romance languages, the indefinite article is the same as the word for "one," e.g. "un" in French.) Originally, the article was "an" but the "n" would be dropped before a word beginning with a consonant. In Medieval English, the word "napron" existed. Yes, "napron." But, the use of both forms of the indefinite article led to the formation of the word as we know it today: "apron." This phenomenon is referred to as "juncture loss" in the field of historical linguistics and it occurs in other languages as well. A notable example in French is "une norenge" which eventually became modern French's "une orange."

Endangered Languages in Metropolitan New York

A recent article from The Economist on New York-based Endangered Language Alliance. The ELA has volunteer speakers of endangered languages; the Alliance works on figuring out each language's phonology and syntax, and in turn, help volunteers work on projects such as children's books in their language. Many endangered languages lack alphabets, or systems of writing, so the ELA also works to create sound-symbol systems for these languages using the International Phonetic Alphabet.

In order to determine whether a person is fluent in one of the endangered languages before taking him on as a volunteer, he is tested with a Swadesh List, a set of 207 high-frequency, slow-to-change words including body parts, colors and basic verbs such as eat, drink, and sleep.

According to the website, the ELA "...estimates that there may be as many as 400 endangered languages spoken in the metro area. If this is true, New York City could be the most diverse linguistic area of the planet, and have the highest density of endangered languages per square mile on earth. "

NYTimes: "My Family's Experiment in Extreme Schooling"

the New Humanitarian School in Moscow
While I found this article to be interesting, I also found the whole privileged slant of "oh, I left the comforts of Park Slope for the comparably comfortable life of a Times journalist in Russia" slightly irritating. Either way, these children are very lucky to have had this experience; hopefully they will maintain their Russian fluency now that they are back in the States.

Noam Chomsky Speaks at CUNY Graduate Center

Untitled from CUNY Linguistics on Vimeo.

Last semester, my professor informed us about this Chomsky lecture. Apparently, this marked the first time the ubiquitous linguist spoke at CUNY. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the event, and my boyfriend and I are still kicking ourselves for that.

More on the Advantages of Bilingualism - A NYTimes Interview with Dr. Ellen Bialystok

Come to think of it, I recognize her surname from my SLA textbook...

Are Em Dashes Overused?

Funny -- I never knew this punctuation was called an "em dash." It's like it's named after me! In a Slate article, Noreen Malone criticizes what she observes to be an egregious overuse of the em dash in writing nowadays. Malone thinks it makes for choppy sentences. I definitely think the em dash has its place, but like any seasoning, it is best used sparingly, reserved, much like the semicolon (which I am guilty of abusing), for special occasions.

I personally don't encounter a superfluous amount of em dashes in my reading, but I have read essays before that had too many of them. Every writer has his or her quirks -- these can be crutches or evidence of a unique style (i.e. David Foster Wallace's extreme footnotes [which are annoying]).

Bilingual Brain Power

This doesn't seem surprising, nor is it really news for those of us who have taken linguistics classes or read popular literature regarding bilingualism, but it's worth repeating: being bilingual is beneficial.

Aside from the obvious economic benefits of knowing more than one language, bilingualism is cognitively advantageous. Apparently, being truly bilingual, having "full command" of two languages, can set off dementia in elderly persons by four to five years, and bilinguals perform better than monolinguals at certain tasks that require mindful engagement.

I am already aware that bilingualism has tremendous perks, as I have taken a few classes that covered research in bilingualism and second language acquisition. However, news like this is important to emphasize, as there are still many people, even educators and such, who mistakenly think that raising children as bilingual will result in their having confusion and linguistic deficits. Janet Werker, a psychologist who studies LA at the University of British Columbia, dispels this myth: "'Growing up bilingual is just as natural as growing up monolingual,' said Werker, whose own research indicates babies of bilingual mothers can distinguish between languages even hours after birth. 'There is absolutely no evidence that bilingual acquisition leads to confusion, and there is no evidence that bilingual acquisition leads to delay,' she said."

Parents who have the advantage of being bilingual should not hesitate to adopt language planning that will ensure that their children too will be bilingual.

Spain Attempts to Increase its Citizens' English Proficiency, Starting with Children

With an unemployment rate of twenty percent, Spain is faring quite poorly economically. According to the New York Times, in an effort to prepare Spanish children to one day compete in this increasingly inter-connected world, the Madrid school system has made "about a third of the primary state schools bilingual [Spanish/English]" and plans to increase that fraction with time. I usually don't like instances where the primary motivation for learning another language is economical; however, so long as a nation or people continue to nurture their language in addition to acquiring and appreciating another, I don't see a problem with this. I don't say this coming from a nationalistic standpoint (that is the last trait I'd use to define myself), but from mentality that highly values linguistic diversity.

Noted Speech Pathologist Passes Away

Sam Chwat, renowned speech pathologist to the stars and regular people alike, died earlier this month at age 57. Chwat helped actors gain use of specific dialects for roles that required such accents through speech training. He also aided clients in losing accents that they believed were hindering their success. With a name pronounced schwa, this guy seems to have been destined for this profession.

Le President vs. L'academie Francaise

It feels good to know that even the French, particularly Sarkozy, struggle with the formalities of their own language.

Georgia Imports Teachers to Make Fluent English Speakers of Its Youngest Generation

In an effort to supplant Russian with English as the nation's second go-to language, the former Soviet nation Georgia has recruited 1,000 native English speakers to teach English in classrooms across the country. The government believes that having a strong segment of the population know how to speak English will make the nation more economically viable. The move is also symbolic of Georgia's desire to further distance itself from Russia and align itself more closely with the West.

According to the article, before the influx of these teachers, many Georgian students couldn't speak a sentence of English, despite years of formal instruction. This further proves the notion that in order to learn a language, input and memorization are not sufficient; the learner must be compelled to produce output. That is, in order to become a speaker of a language, a learner must practice speaking it.

Sasha Obama Practices her Mandarin with Chinese President Hu Jintao

Sasha Obama practiced her fledgling Chinese (Mandarin) with the president of China, Hu Jintao, at a state dinner on Wednesday night. I could barely learn French in middle school; it's quite impressive that Sasha, who is only nine, opted to take this language. As noted in a previous blog, Chinese is gaining popularity as the language to teach children in schools, both public and private, across the country (well, maybe not in West Virginia). Maybe seemingly precocious Sasha's choice to learn Chinese will make it even more of a hot commodity.