In "The New Language of the Old West," "Deadwood"'s creator and executive producer David Milch offers an extended exposition of the television show's language: "Language--both obscene and complicated--was one of the few resources of society that was available to these people.... It's very well documented that the obscenity…

An Internet search tool, Google Alert, was used to survey the global English-language press July-December 2005 for references to deaf people. The survey found that such references focus on people who are deaf rather than the disability itself, thus demonstrating how well deaf people fit into the mainstream. Derogatory terminology such as "deaf and…

Two experiments are reported that examine how manipulations of visual attention affect speakers' linguistic choices regarding word order, verb use and syntactic structure when describing simple pictured scenes. Experiment 1 presented participants with scenes designed to elicit the use of a perspective predicate ("The man chases the dog/The dog…

In a significant work, "Metaphor in educational discourse", Cameron has suggested that we study metaphor as "prosaics" (i.e. as a feature of mundane talk). In this paper, by means of some brief examples, we point to instances of such talk in the setting of preschool. We also discuss opportunities for learning that such talk could offer children,…

This account of my extended conversation with a high school mathematics class focuses on voice and agency. As an investigation of possibilities opened up by introducing mathematics students to what Fairclough (1992) called "critical language awareness" (p. 2), I prompted the students daily to become ever more aware of their language practices in…

Marble games, or pitch, are among the most widely played of traditional boys' games in Trinidad and Tobago and have declined in the last two decades. Nearly 200 marbles terms found in Trinidad and Tobago English Creole are documented. Although most are British in origin, there are East Indian, French Creole, and possible African influences on this…

This book examines Americans' obsession with grammar and usage, and how the flexibility and fluidity of the English language affect notions about what is and is not "correct" English. Confronting the popular image of the English teacher as a card-carrying member of the language police, the book takes a critical look at past and present…

Missing apostrophes, misplaced apostrophes, and unnecessary apostrophes are all common occurrences in many forms of written American English. The fact is there is no adequate explanation--in traditional grammar or in any other grammar--that accounts for all the functions and transformations that grammarians have crowded under the heading of the…

Defining doublespeak as language which pretends to communicate but really does not, this concept paper contains two essays, the first an introduction to doublespeak by Walker Gibson, which offers information on the formation and activities of the 36-member Committee on Public Doublespeak, and considers the history and nature of doublespeak. The…

Describes the basic characteristics of a good copyeditor who serves on a high school or college publication. (RB)

Examines language in a factory. Results include the following: (1) within a building, different terms for the same thing may be found; (2) the major boundary is spatial, between types of work; and (3) operational links, proximity and mobility between departments are major determinants of agreement and difference in usage. (Author/RM)

A total of 271 items--words, phrases and affixes--were added to the common Spanish dictionary in the period between October and December 1974. This article lists the principal additions, each organized within a larger semantic category. (Text is in Spanish.) (TL)

Discusses the derivation and use of several Spanish figures of speech featuring animals--the ox, the cow, the calf and the bull. (Text is in Spanish.) (CHK)

Concludes that despite instructional emphasis on one correct spelling, a large segment of the sample populations in this study spell differently from that usually thought correct and that a number of students, teachers, and parents recognize the existence of equally correct alternatives. (RB)

Differentiates between "hipobolicos", i.e., people lacking in a feeling for hyperbole; and "hiperbolicos", people with a feeling for hyperbole. (Text is in Spanish.) (DS)