Exam Review Questions

Exam II Review Questions

3. Cognates are words in various languages that are very much alike in form and in meaning. For example, the word mutter in German is a cognate of the word mother in English, both meaning "a female parent".  Another example of cognates are bras (French), braccio (Italian), braço (Portuguese) and brazo (Spanish) which all mean "arm" and all derived from the Italic branch of Indo- European. Cognates help us identify what languages are related and if they share common ancestors.

11.  William Labov conducted a study of three department stores that varied in social status.  Labov tried to elicit the response "fourth floor" in order to listern to the pronounciation of the salespeople's postvocalic /r/ sound, to hear if it was present or not. This study helped identify the different types of socio-economic classes in New york City.  It resulted in that the higher the socio-economic status, the higher the percentage of the pronounciation of the postvocalic /r/. The lower working class postvocalic /r/ was barely pronounced.

"From English to Chinglish" Essay

         English is becoming the language of the world, that is, in combination with other languages. Two great articles that provides us with more detail on this global language transition are; "From English to Chinglish: The Globalization of Languages" and "How English is evolving Into a Language We May Not Even Understand" by Michael Erard.  Both articles reflect on how "Chinglish"(a combination of English and Chinese) is becoming a new language all on its own. Furthermore, we encounter as well a brief description of the spreading of the English language in other foreign countries, the rising of new languages and the disappearances of endangered languages.
       
        It was very interesting reading about the Chinese government's mission to remove and/or fix any traces and signs of Chinglish just before the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing.  Although Chinglish is becoming a big part of the Chinese Culture, the Chinese government may not agree, and thus, because of the bad translations, it is viewed as a way of receiving humiliation from the Westerners. The Chinese government goes as far as to not renewing taxi drivers annual licenses' if one fails the required English exam.  As both articles state, the reason for this continued use of Chinglish throughout China is due to a large number of Chinese people being able to read and write in English but not being able to practice the language enough, therefore producing in the new language, "Chinglish".  On the contrary, Chinglish does not seem to be going any where any time soon.  In fact, it is growing more and more as the number of users continues on increasing.  Erard proves Chinglish's rising popularity in the sentence, "It will be celebrated as a form of cultural identity, as the Hong Kong Museum of Art did in a Chinglish exhibition last year".  Chinglish is soon to be acknowledged more by the media in all ways such as with books, movies, games and is already popular in the world wide web!
        In addition, Chinglish is not the only language in combination with English, there are also plenty of other languages who have been using this mixed form of language to communicate. Other examples are: Ponglish,Singlish, and Hinglish along with many others. As Erard puts it, "Panglish", which he says will be known as the global tongue.  In the article "From English to Chinglish", the author writes about foreign countries often declaring English as a their "go to" language.   Deciding on English to be the main language is helpful for some countries, in which, negative outcomes may arise if the decision is between the local languages instead. The author of "From English to Chinglish" gives a great example of this when he mentions the officials in Iraq, and further writes, "English thus helps to muffle fears of cultural and political hegemony in both India and Iraq".
       Moreover, the two articles imply that globalization is one of the reasons for the development of new languages and as well as the downfall of others.  The Chinglish language is a great example of how a new language is emerging right before our eyes.  It can be viewed as a language that will not necessarily replace English, but instead  join as another version or form of English.  Erard states, "Someday, It may even be taught in school", in referring to Chinglish.  However, what about the languages that are no longer taught in school? These are usually the smaller indigenous languages which are in some cases only an oral language with no written form. Indigenous languages are at a higher risk of extinction as the languages of the world continue to become a part of the language melting pot.
       Reading the articles, "From English to Chinglish: The Globalization of languages" and "How English is evolving Into a Language We May Not Even Understand" enlightened me and helped me realize what the world will be like in a few years from now, language-wise.  I am a "victim" myself of speaking "Spanglish"(English and Spanish) so I can relate in many ways to this topic.  I can see how the combination of two languages alone can bring a whole new light to a culture and as well as how quickly the spread of new languages can develop in today's world, just as how fast languages can be forgotten.  It is also safe to say that globalization has a huge part in this development.  Good thing there are foundations and projects that solely work on the preservation of indigenous languages such as Enduring Voices.

Want to do brunch this weekend?

       By now, most of us have used or at least heard of the fun word, brunch.  So what does this word exactly mean? Breakfast and lunch of course! The etymology of this word is just as exciting as using the word.  Did you know that this word was coined in 1895 in Britain as a way to describe a late morning Sunday breakfast for the people who drank to their heart's content on Saturday nights festivities and parties? These people are known as carousers.   This new idea of eating at a later time of day eliminated the need to wake up early on Sundays, thus making one more happy and relaxed. To brunch, has also become a fashionable and social thing to do, were many chose to gather with friends and family to enjoy brunch together in a social manner. So, what time can be classified as the "right time" for brunch? There is not an exact time, but it has been said that if you begin to "brunch" before 10:30AM then it is to early to be described as such. The ideal hours for brunch are recognized to be between the hours of 10:30AM to 2:00PM.  In comparison to brunching in 1895, brunch in our current times is not an obligatory Sunday only event.  We are now known to brunch at any given day of the week.  Even some restaurants, colleges, hotels and etc. are known to offer brunch as part of the menu.  

This small word is packed with multiple word formation processes.  One of the process of formation for this word that we can quickly acknowledge is blending, and this is pretty obvious as we can see that the word was produced by two words(breakfast and lunch). The beginning of breakfast was joined to the end of the word lunch.  This word is also represented as coinage because it was an invented word.  Another word formation process we can identify in this word is analogy for the reason that this word is similar to the word lunch.  In addition this word is classified as a conversion word because although it is a noun we can also use brunch as a verb.  For example, I like to have brunch(noun) every day;  We brunch(verb) only on Sundays.  Finally, we can classify brunch as a borrowing word formation process since the root of the word brunch originated in Britain, yet is very much used world wide.  I chose brunch because I simply enjoy saying it as much as I enjoy doing it. In fact, I just may be having brunch this weekend.  :)

Excuse me! How do you pronounce your name?

Hello, My dear fellow linguists of Nagaland! I know my name can be rather difficult to pronounce but I'll make it easier for you to articulate by describing my name with the sound features you all are already familiar with. My name is Marianda and it is pronounced [Mə-ri-jən-də]. Lets explore each of the four syllables in my name. The first syllable [Mə] begins with a bilabial ,voiced nasal sound followed by a central mid vowel. The second syllable [ri] starts off with an alveolar voiced liquid and finishes with a front high vowel. The third syllable [jən] begins with a palatal voiced glide with a central mid vowel sound in the middle and ends with an alveolar nasal voiced sound. The final syllable of my name [də] begins with an alveolar voiced stop sound ending in yet another central mid vowel. Voila! that is how my name is pronounced!


Locals need not worry! I will explain what one must do to be able to produce the sounds in my name.My name is Marianda and so to begin and pronounce the [M] sound, both upper and lower lips must be pressed together and let the "mmm" sound be released through the nose. Followed by an "uhhh" sound which is created by opening the mouth and barely having to move the tongue at all. Then making an "r" sound by curling your tongue and then soon quickly after, form lips as if you were to smile, and produce the "eeee" sound. Next comes the "uhhh" sound again but this time ends in a nasal "nnnn" sound. Lastly, a "duhhh" sound completes my name. Good Job!

Where it All Began

Hello ELL 101 Class! Welcome to my Blog! Here's my language story. 

I came to the United States very young from the Dominican Republic, I believe I was 4 years of age. My family settled to live in New York City, I have been here ever since, I am now 21 years old. My first time attending a school or any learning institution was here in NYC.  As far as language goes, all I knew to speak was the Spanish language that I have been exposed to.  Unfortunately, speaking Spanish alone was not going to be enough for me to be able to truly take advantage of what the United States has to offer.  I had to learn English, and so my journey began. 

Luckily, the elementary school I attended was a great bilingual school.  I remember in my first few years of grade school, my classes were all taught in Spanish.  However, each day in the afternoon, an English as a Second Language (ESL) instructor would come pick up a few monolingual students including myself from the class to teach us English at a more personal, one-on-one level. Those precious one-on-one sessions, I believe were what truly helped me the most as with each an everyday I was adding new English words to my everyday use. The learning techniques the instructor had used were extremely helpful.  I recollect from my memory, learning the sounds for each letter of the alphabet, that alone helped me tremendously with tongue placement and mouth movement for the correct pronunciation for many words. 


      Sadly, the more my English improved, the less Spanish I spoke.  English is the language I mainly use to communicate in everyday situations, but I still hold on to Spanish dearly, for the reason that I always have and always will use it with my parents and family members. Every time I speak to my parents it definitely makes for good practice. It also helps that I watch Spanish television and read Spanish articles and books every so often. I consider myself fluent and literate in Spanish and English. I adore using my Spanish speaking skill to help translate for Spanish speakers who struggle with English, such as my parents.
I love that I'm able to speak more than one language.  But why stop at two languages? I am currently learning French and I absolutely love it. I'm taking French II this current semester at LaGuardia. Later, I am planning on learning Japanese. I am a true believer that knowledge of more than one language will open many doors for you in life. In conclusion, the Intro to language course will be a great class to learn about what is language itself.  I am definitely looking forward to what this class has in store for us.  


By Marianda M.

Thanks for Reading! Merci! Gracias!