Topic: English Language
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π E-Prime: English without the verb 'to be'
E-Prime (short for English-Prime or English Prime, sometimes denoted Γ or Eβ²) is a version of the English language that excludes all forms of the verb to be, including all conjugations, contractions and archaic forms.
Some scholars advocate using E-Prime as a device to clarify thinking and strengthen writing. A number of other scholars have criticized E-Prime's utility.
Discussed on
- "E-Prime β English without the verb βto beβ" | 2021-05-26 | 108 Upvotes 66 Comments
- "E-Prime English" | 2021-02-25 | 10 Upvotes 5 Comments
- "E-Prime: English without the verb 'to be'" | 2015-12-07 | 221 Upvotes 152 Comments
- "English-Prime - English without "is"" | 2009-01-05 | 108 Upvotes 76 Comments
π Antarctic English
Antarctic English is a variety of the English language spoken by people living on the continent of Antarctica and within the subantarctic islands.:βviiβ Spoken primarily by scientists and workers in the Antarctic tourism industry, it consists of various unique words and is spoken with a unique accent. During the 19th and 20th centuries, Antarctic English was influenced by Spanish-speaking South Americans and Northern European explorers who introduced new words that continue to be used today.
Discussed on
- "Antarctic English" | 2024-02-28 | 369 Upvotes 158 Comments
π Deseret Alphabet
The Deseret alphabet ( (listen); Deseret: ππ―π π¨ππ―π» or ππ―ππ²ππ―π») is a phonemic English-language spelling reform developed between 1847 and 1854 by the board of regents of the University of Deseret under the leadership of Brigham Young, the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). George D. Watt is reported to have been the most actively involved in the development of the script,:β159β as well as being its first serious user.:β12β
The Deseret alphabet was an outgrowth of the idealism and utopianism of Young and the early LDS Church. Young and the Mormon pioneers believed "all aspects of life" were in need of reform for the imminent millenniumand the Deseret alphabet was just one of many ways they sought to bring about a complete "transformation in society",:β142β in anticipation of the Second Coming of Jesus. Young wrote of the reform that "it would represent every sound used in the construction of any known language; and, in fact, a step and partial return to a pure language which has been promised unto us in the latter days," the Adamic language spoken before the Tower of Babel.
In public statements, Young claimed the alphabet would replace the traditional Latin alphabet with an alternative, more phonetically accurate alphabet for the English language. This would offer immigrants an opportunity to learn to read and write English, he said, the orthography of which is often less phonetically consistent than those of many other languages.:β65β66β Similar neographies have been attempted, the most well-known of which for English is the Shavian alphabet.
Young also prescribed the learning of Deseret to the school system, stating "It will be the means of introducing uniformity in our orthography, and the years that are now required to learn to read and spell can be devoted to other studies."
During the alphabet's heyday between 1854 and 1869, scriptural passages in newspapers, selected church records, a $5 gold coin, and occasional street signs and correspondence used the new letters. In 1868-9, after much difficulty creating suitable fonts, four books were printed: two school primers, the full Book of Mormon, and a portion of it titled the Book of Nephi.
Despite heavy and costly promotion by the early LDS Church, the alphabet never enjoyed prolonged widespread use and has been regarded by historians as a failure. However, in recent years, aided by digital typography, the Deseret Alphabet has been revived as a cultural heirloom.
Discussed on
- "Deseret Alphabet" | 2023-05-01 | 140 Upvotes 71 Comments
π Esquivalience
The New Oxford American Dictionary (NOAD) is a single-volume dictionary of American English compiled by American editors at the Oxford University Press.
NOAD is based upon the New Oxford Dictionary of English (NODE), published in the United Kingdom in 1998, although with substantial editing, additional entries, and the inclusion of illustrations. It is based on a corpus linguistics analysis of Oxford's 200 million word database of contemporary American English.
NOAD includes a diacritical respelling scheme to convey pronunciations, as opposed to the Gimson phonemic IPA system that is used in NODE.
Discussed on
- "Esquivalience" | 2013-04-15 | 96 Upvotes 25 Comments
π Euro English
Euro English or European English, less commonly known as EU English and EU Speak, is a pidgin dialect of English based on the technical jargon of the European Union and the native languages of its non-native English speaking population. It is mostly used among EU staff, expatriates from EU countries, young international travellers (such as exchange students in the EUβs Erasmus programme), European diplomats, and sometimes by other Europeans that use English as a second or foreign language (especially Continental Europeans).
Discussed on
- "Euro English" | 2020-10-04 | 39 Upvotes 27 Comments
π Useful Idiots
In political jargon, a useful idiot is a derogatory term for a person perceived as propagandizing for a cause without fully comprehending the cause's goals, and who is cynically used by the cause's leaders. The term was originally used during the Cold War to describe non-communists regarded as susceptible to communist propaganda and manipulation. The term has often been attributed to Vladimir Lenin, but this attribution is unsubstantiated.
Discussed on
- "Useful Idiot" | 2023-11-29 | 11 Upvotes 9 Comments
π Hello
Hello is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826.
Discussed on
- "Hello" | 2023-07-26 | 25 Upvotes 7 Comments
π Today a greater percentage of Dutch people speak English than Canadians
The following is a list of English-speaking population by country, including information on both native speakers and second-language speakers.
Some of the entries in this list are dependent territories (e.g.: U.S. Virgin Islands), autonomous regions (e.g.: Hong Kong) or associated states (e.g.: Cook Islands) of other countries, rather than being fully sovereign countries in their own right.
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- "Today a greater percentage of Dutch people speak English than Canadians" | 2016-10-28 | 13 Upvotes 5 Comments
π Exception That Proves the Rule
"The exception that proves the rule" (sometimes "the exception proves the rule") is a saying whose meaning is contested. Henry Watson Fowler's Modern English Usage identifies five ways in which the phrase has been used, and each use makes some sort of reference to the role that a particular case or event takes in relation to a more general rule.
Two original meanings of the phrase are usually cited. The first, preferred by Fowler, is that the presence of an exception applying to a specific case establishes ("proves") that a general rule exists. A more explicit phrasing might be "the exception that proves the existence of the rule." Most contemporary uses of the phrase emerge from this origin, although often in a way which is closer to the idea that all rules have their exceptions. The alternative origin given is that the word "prove" is used in the archaic sense of "test". In this sense, the phrase does not mean that an exception demonstrates a rule to be true or to exist, but that it tests the rule, thereby proving its value. There is little evidence of the phrase being used in this second way.
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- "Exception That Proves the Rule" | 2019-05-05 | 10 Upvotes 2 Comments