Saturday 6 May 2017
STANDARD AND NON-STANDARD LANGUAGE
With his habitually clear and direct style, Professor David Crystal sheds light on our concepts of what standard and non-standard English are. Should we expect standard English to be universal?
WHY ARE HUMANS SO SMART? HAS THIS SOMETHING TO DO WITH LANGUAGE? FASCINATING!
Why are we so smart? (supposing we are smart, of course :)
Listen to Professor StevenPinker's lecture addressing such fascinating topics such as evolution, cognition, language and cooperation, on occasion of the bi-centenary of the publication of Darwin's "The Origin of the Species".
Listen to Professor StevenPinker's lecture addressing such fascinating topics such as evolution, cognition, language and cooperation, on occasion of the bi-centenary of the publication of Darwin's "The Origin of the Species".
Monday 1 May 2017
HOW DO WE DECIDE WHAT'S RELEVANT IN OUR CONVERSATIONS?
The answer: we pick up what is really reeeeeelevant!
Relevance theory may be seen as an attempt to work out in detail one of Grice’s central claims: that an essential feature of most human communication is the expression and recognition of intentions (Grice 1989: Essays 1-7, 14, 18; Retrospective Epilogue). In elaborating this claim, Grice laid the foundations for an inferential model of communication, an alternative to the classical code model.
Relevance theory may be seen as an attempt to work out in detail one of Grice’s central claims: that an essential feature of most human communication is the expression and recognition of intentions (Grice 1989: Essays 1-7, 14, 18; Retrospective Epilogue). In elaborating this claim, Grice laid the foundations for an inferential model of communication, an alternative to the classical code model.
JOHANNES GUTENBERG AND THE PRINTING PRESS
The invention of the printing press was such an important turning point in world history that I think it well deserves a post on this blog. How did it work? how did this new invention and its introduction in Britain in 1476 influence the dissemination of London English? What were its consequences not only Europe, but in the whole world? Click here to read more and watch this video:
WHY IS ENGLISH SPELLING SO STRANGE?
When you begin to study English and you compare its spelling to your own language it often seems weird. If you keep on studying English for a few more years, then things become ever worse and you begin to wonder: why the hell is this word spelled like that? Here is the answer:
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