Texting

Overheard in my English class today, a student brought up that texting was the topic of her research paper. It got me thinking. There is a lot on the subject of texting, how it came to be and the drawbacks that currently come with it. Today, there is a lot of heated issues regarding texting. Obviously, texting and driving laws are being put into action currently in society today. The amount of accidents that occur with this large population including teenagers while driving have sky rocketed. I feel as though the language in which we use for texting is changing drastically as well. We abbreviate the littlest things such as "U" for "you". This has started to bug me in a sense. It has really made me appreciate that I have been brought up in a school setting where curriculum was rigorous and English was a big necessity. This has also extended on to my previous journal entries about children being uneducated more in grammar now that texting has become available for them. Looking around, I can guarantee you that there are numerous children from ages 12 and up that include "U" and "4" in their grammatical ]writing in the classroom. This has lead me to believe that it is from the phenomenon of texting. It is almost supposed to be "cool" for the students to write that way and therefore it carries over to the classroom. Babysitting and being around the atmosphere of young children has really lead me to believe that a serious problem is being dealt with when it comes to grammar in the classroom. I do not know what needs to happen to maybe help the children get away from their technology way of writing but I feel like it definitely has become more of a growing problem as the years progress.

Reading English is More Difficult Than Writing English

Coming across a debate that took place over the weekend was that when it comes to the English language reading it is more difficult than actually writing. I can say myself that I highly agree with this statement. I think I can take a firm stance on this because luckily I was gifted with the ability to be a good speller. In Elementary School I can say that I was a pretty good speller. I loved spelling, rarely needed to work on my spelling list for homework. It was just a natural ability that I believe my family gene has. Reading English today, especially with younger kids can be more of a challenge than writing because of all the rules that come along with it. Being as I will most likely become a teacher some day, I am ready to be aware of understanding that there will be a challenge when it comes to children picking up reading as opposed to writing. I feel like with the writing system, they are introduced that first and with that comes letters which sounds, the alphabet. When writing to someone or making a picture for someone, kids are most likely going to put their name or someone else's name on it and they will have no trouble asking how to spell it and are able to write, it is the reading problem that many kids struggle with. In today's society, we look at a lot of different grammar rules when it comes to learning how to read and write. The silent E for example, the "f" sound for "ph" and many more rules. With all of these rules, many students struggle with reading and that being said, making it harder to comprehend. Eventually getting this, students will then master both. Many can say this is a debatable topic, saying writing is more difficult. With an important stance taken, reading is definitely more difficult, especially for young children to master above writing.

English as The Official Language

Reading an article online, I came across one that stated that English is the official language of the United States. Only according to the year 2009 when the senate voted for it to be the official language here. I bet you reading this are like me, going "Isn't English the official language anyway?".. Yes. I definitely was confused as well. To me, this made little to no sense. How is it, that the United States was not declared the official English language anyway? It is kind of crazy to me that this just happened recently. With the immigration levels at a soaring high level, I realized that this is just beyond crazy. It is almost as if I am now the minority in my own country. I have noticed that everywhere I go now that I feel like I am in a different country where numbers of people are increasing that are not from America. There is definitely nothing wrong with that I guess I was just in utter shock to come to find out that English was just recently passed as the official language. It is America, and when many people think of it already, they already are aware of it being the country's main language. In any event, It made me think about other countries like Italy, for example, or Germany. You automatically know that the languages spoken there are Italian and German. It is nice to know now that our official language is English, I just hate that it took so long.

Problems With the English Language

Today, I came across this issue while noticing that a lot of things since I have grown up have changed drastically. Today, I look around in the world and see many children getting a hold of the newest technology available for them. I think that what we really need to reconsider today is that the English language among our youth is currently being destroyed. Reading in chapter thirteen almost made me think of this in more depth. The author was talking about reading a job application from his son and the words/grammar were absolutely dreadful. Using terms like "stuff" or "latr", has changed the way that children are now acquiring English. The computer being a relative tool for kids is also causing a drastic change for the worse with children. I think about growing up, I did not really mess with a computer until about middle school/high school. Today, kids know more about computers than I think we college kids do now. It almost scares me in a sense. Thinking that when I become a teacher in 4 years, will kids be talking to each other different? Their writing be poor, etc. It really makes me think. The generation of today is soaring with technology. The technology can be good but also carries a lot of negatives along with it. I believe that parents can be to blame for this issue at times. Don't buy your kids a cell phone in 2nd Grade. They should be outside, socializing, interacting with one another. Not adding friends on facebook or tweeting on twitter. It will be interesting in times to come but I think that there needs to be a foot to set down because today I definitely see some leniency.

English Spelling

After reading chapter thirteen I have become extremely thankful for the spelling system that we have today. I had absolutely no idea the history that English carries. Especially when it comes to Old English, Middle and Modern. These past two weeks with the histories of each period of English have been really fascinating. Overall, making me appreciate this more. Starting with the Old English period, I found that with the scripts from the Roman Empire, and the Romans invading the Celtics which became the British was something I had no idea about. The Romans were the ones who introduced Latin writing and the Latin alphabet. After the Romans had disappeared, the Germanics then arrived. Being largely illiterate, when the Germanics did speak, it was clear that it was from the Latin alphabet. Time had passed and the Middle English spelling came into play and the impact of the French came in and certain letters were added. Fast forwarding to Modern English, many things changed and the Great Vowel Shift greatly affected this system. I feel as though without knowing about the importance of our spelling history, it is almost as if you are missing something. There are many questions in today's life that I sit there and ponder and this was one of them. Our spelling system has a deep rooted history that many are unaware of. Without the help of certain people like Johanes Gutenburg or Melville Dewey, our spelling system would not be possible. It has changed drastically with the help of our French friends, but while reading chapter 13 it really made me gain a sense appreciation to our spelling system. 

Why Be Bilingual?

Today while coming across the New York Times, a story crossed my eyes. After doing my research paper on Bilingualism, the article discussed how being bilingual can be beneficial. Looking around in today's world we can see that there are many different ethnicity's  that shape it. We have many coming to America where their dominant language is Spanish. This definitely has been the controversial subject across the continent but I feel as though we may benefit from learning a second language. Today, we see many people in school, especially children, being required to take a language, and Spanish is the first choice of many. I believe that by taking Spanish, it allows you to gain a little more independence that you are not just familiar with your main language but also another one. It gives your freedom. Just like the Immigrants being taught English over here in America, we also must take initiative and develop a second language so that we can gain knowledge about where they came from and have a conversation in another language. This would be extremely beneficial for many. My younger cousins in Elementary school are starting a language in 1st grade! Times have really changed. I think it is awesome. I know many are struggling and fighting to not win this battle but I believe that as a soon-to-be teacher, we must enforce our kids of the future to pick up another language. Heck, why not minor in it. It may look better on a resume if you have a second language of Spanish under your belt because of the fact that the Spanish population comes in second in America, especially in schools!

Shooter Upset About Teasing

In a recent article I read I became horrified. Because of an Asian man unable to speak English very well, he got teased. This teasing had caused him to shoot leaving six students dead and and three wounded. I think a lot of what went on is more common than we think. Not the shooting but people getting made fun because of their English skills or lack there of. This just shows how absurd this is. People get made fun of every single day rather it be because of their speaking or not. I think the fact that people died because of this has really caused a lot of grief and sadness among the community. I believe that times are so different now that back then if someone were to get made fun of because of English skills lacking, a shooting were to not of been the case. This Korean man must of been that angry about his English skills. To me, this is rather frightening. I think this goes to show that everyone needs to watch what they say and be careful of this because before we know it someone can take it very offensive.

Bilingualism

While finishing up my research paper, I guess I never really knew how heated some of the debates are over bilingualism in schools. Many people have stated that this is America, you only speak English here. While others are saying that in the job field, being bilingual may help in the long run with businesses. Since I cannot speak my opinion really in my paper, I decided that this would be a great journal discussion. While more and more schools are being fed with immigrants these days, it has become a drastic change since even my parents' generation. It is crazy now that even states like California and Arizona are still up for debate whether bilingualism schools should be allowed. Down south, it is definitely more of a heated subject then in the northern part of the country, but still it is caused a lot of frustration. Immigrants are taking over the USA. Now, in public places, I feel like the minority. Just the other day while I was home we had walked into this restaurant near our home, "Buffalo Wild Wings", and we walked in and it was over populated by the Asians. Thinking back to growing up I find this extremely crazy! Living in a country where whites or Caucasians dominate, I feel like the minority half the time now. I do not want to sound racist here in any case, I guess I am just a little confused as to why this is happening. I believe in the education department, bilingualism with the ESL program (English as a second language), is completely acceptable. This program teaches the children outside of their normal class and helps them specifically with English so that they can understand what is going on in their class taught in English. Overall, the United States of America has become tossed in this subject when it comes to immigrants and bilingual education in the classroom. I believe that since this is an English dominated country,we should keep it that way for the better of our citizens and remembering where we came from.

Milk or Melk?

It was funny, a couple days ago one of my teammates told me to pass the "melk" pronounced just like that! I kinda chuckled and began to correct her saying, "Its milk". It made me laugh because that sounds so foreign to me. Well, she is from California. It is soda over there, definitely not pop. She laughs every time I say pop. It cracks me up! I think it is crazy that how in other parts of the states, they can pick up new so-called lingo that we find strange. I am certain that they think that what we say is also weird. Just like "pop". Our pronunciations and words that we use are constantly changing. It is definitely assumed that we speak and have accents to others even if we think we do not. Just like the myth book, it is so true that we think "everyone has an accent but me". I find that fascinating when talking to friends and they say a word that sounds foreign to us and we instantly call them out on it because it sounds so strange but to them it sounds completely normal. I think the southern accent is also really funny. We find it funny and amusing but the southerners can definitely tell we are from "MinnesOta"! Overall, there are many words that differ in the English language that we come across and others pronounce differently. I notice it more and more since I read that myth in our book!

Class or School

It is funny how, when I was younger, would think my college siblings would say "class" and I would say "school". It makes me laugh because now I cannot picture saying "I got school in about twenty minutes". I think when one gets to college it really does change. In the college life, rarely do you ever here anyone say school, but class. I think it makes the most sense because it really does fit the college stereotype. It makes me think how the times have really changed. Even when I was reminiscing in my tenth grade classes about going to "school" back then, not class. The times have sure changed.

Go Cougars!

In Utah, the mascot "cougar" was deemed too risque for a high school mascot due to double meaning that it has in today's culture. I find this extremely unnecessary for them to act like this. I have heard of cougars being mascots at not only high schools but colleges as well! I am extremely shocked in this sense. We live in a society where swearing is the norm on television and sexual acts are performed even on television shows. It boggles my mind. This is a prime example of  just how much our language has changed and gets twisted. Words having double meanings, acting risque. Almost anything today can get twisted into something sexual or make a joke, but when do you draw the line? This is a high school mascot we are talking about. It honestly is crazy.

It is "I" not "Me"

I came across something in our book today that made me think back to the 1st grade. My teacher really was a stickler about this and as I read what our book entails, I feel she may be wrong. "My sister and I went to the store" she would always say. "My sister and me" was absolutely wrong. Many of my friends even growing up were taught this. It is really something that these teachers may be wrong. We were taught this because we are supposed to use I, the nominative case form of the first person pronoun, rather than the accusative form, me. According to Emonds (1986), this logic is not really logical. Does this make sense: We went to the store/Jane and we went to the store/Jane and us went to the store?  When we were told that My sister and I, it really does not have enough logic behind it to use it. This cannot be generalized to pronouns other than I. Pronouns show case in English, and prescriptive rules of them depend on the "correct" case in English. These rules are often inconsistent. So the next time we say My sister and me went to the store, it really is not logical to say that it is wrong.

Who is this "Jack" Character?

This topic was brought up today in the locker room before our practice. I thought to myself "who is jack anyway?". What I mean by this is sayings like "this person knows Jack shit". Also, there is a "high jack" you can use by high jacking a plane, is what comes to my mind. We have an exercise of the"jumping jack" and maybe you have a neighbor names Jack. What is just so great about this "jack" piece that we decided to use it vulgarly. While researching a bit on this topic, I think I am about the only one who thinks that this is worth researching because I did not really find anything. :/ . Is it just that Jack is that common in an English name that then has been added to words or phrases ever since? It really makes you wonder. Is it the ease of articulation when you do say something is "jack shit"? I guess we will not really know. I found it extremely interesting!

Slang and Profanity

While coming across my reading chapter 6, I would definitely say that it made me think of things that I guess I have not really thought about before. Starting with the topic of the vocabulary word slang, which is an informal word or expression that has not gained complete acceptability and is used by a particular group. When I think of slang, I think of me and my friends using "sweet" for something that is just awesome that happened. We also use that when being sarcastic. It is crazy that indeed there are words that are around today that have been used hundreds and hundreds of years ago. When it comes to slang I also think of the word "rubbish", which my grandparents always use when, in my vocab term, is "silverware" , fork, knife, etc. It is crazy that many words that we do use today are referred to as a "slang" type of word. Also, while reading this chapter I came across jargon, a specialized vocabulary term associated with a trade, sport, ect. I totally thought of my sport here at Bemidji State, soccer. We use so many jargons that are associated with the game that I thought of. "juggle, nut-meg, cut, scissors", are all examples are my jargons in my life. The final section I ended with today in chapter 6, was the use of taboo words, or forbidden word or expression interpreted as insulting, vulgar, or rude. Substitutes for taboo words really caught my attention. It is so true that we substitute shoot for shit or heck for hell. Heck, I say them a lot in my daily conversations. I will definitely remember that next time I am using those words and remind myself that those words that I am using are taboo words! This chapter really has me thinking about what exactly is profanity and why we use it. It is definitely interesting because in a daily conversation of people around campus, just by listening I heard the word "fuck" a lot. I feel like that word today is definitely being tossed around a bit lackadaisical. In NBC's 2003 broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards, the lead singer of the U2 band quoted "fucking brilliant" on air. I feel as though others would argue that this is not really in fleeting context because it is used as an adjective here, which is what the press said. Overall, I feel as though profanity today in being misused and from when I was a kid, it was almost awe when you hear profanity around. Today, it is extremely laid back and It is getting out of control.

The Battle of Who or Whom

Coming from old Norse and old German, whom has been quite the controversy on when to use it. This is actually quite interesting because I recently took the MTLE, (MN Teaching Licensure Exam) and that was one of my test questions on the test. A sentence was given with the word who and it was asked if I should replace it with "whom". I began wondering and I honestly do not even remember what we were taught about it. I go on what sounds better but I do know that I cannot do that! There is actually a grammar rule on this. While reading our text, I came across a language alive section and the debate of who or whom was actually the hot topic of discussion. Are you most likely to say "whom did you talk to" or "who did you talk to" ? I am going to be straight up and say that I would prefer (from daily conversation) to go with "who" in this case. Of course, if this were on a homework assignment, I would probably use whom because it is more precise and accurate of how it sounds. We do not ever use whom in conversations, however. Beginning in England, by using who for subjects and whom for objects, has been around since the seventeenth century. This is definitely interesting because the use of whom has definitely been declining for centuries. It definitely is interesting to me that the use of whom is declining, but using me and him is not. I believe a lot of this has to do with the media. What we see and use on a daily basis has influenced our input of how we speak. It is crazy. Never do we hear news reporters talking about "a man whom.." , it would definitely just sound weird. This makes me wonder that when we have kids, maybe the news reporters of their generation will start to sound uneducated...

Slips of the Tounge and Soda or Pop

While reviewing over some material I noticed that coming across the Slips of the Tounge part of chapter 4 made me think "i tend to do that" . It is crazy because we do definitely talk very fast, us Americans, and we tend to say things that slip! Instead of black boxes, I said black bloxes. It is quite common. I cannot think of any others off the top of my head but I do notice that now when I say that type of slip, I just remind myself "oh slip of the tounge!" It is funny when you hear others say it as well. On to another note I got into an argument (a funny one, not serious) when it comes to the word pop or soda. Up north, I noticed, it is most definitely pop but of course my aunt down south definitely says soda. It is quite fascinating because even in restaurants up here it will say refreshments or pop. Down south it is soda. While researching, I was pointed to a site which showed a map demonstrating that down south you also here "coke" while out east it is soda! Very interesting. I feel like it definitely has a lot to do with your upbringing of the battle of soda or pop. My parents had always taught me pop while my aunts parents did as well. When she moved down south she said that she got ridiculed for saying pop so she began using soda. Your upbringing and the environment in which you speak also demonstrates the proper use of soda or pop.

Children and English

As I was coming across a child in the grocery store today, I heard her look at her mom and say "Mom wa wa". The mom then handed her the bottle of water. A light bulb went on in my head because I knew exactly the stage of speaking that this child was in. The early multi-word stage. Learning from my English class, it was interesting being able to distinguish what was actually going through this child's brain when it comes to speaking the English language. Also, when it comes to the child using the word "wa wa" instead of "water", we can distinguish reduplication is playing a role in the child's language. Many children go through this, when they repeat the beginning of the word or double in the syllable. As a job I do in the summer as a Nanny, I realize that many kids who are going through this are in the multi word stage. I feel that the specific child I saw at the store was kind of being given by the parent in the wrong way. Without correcting the child, saying "please" was extremely crazy to me. Of course I am aware of many families being different but manners was emphasized a lot by my family. I would not say that children are also ruining the English Language, but because of our generation with the advancement of technological devices, it has been crazy, expecially with kids and their cell phones how they spell U or R and do not spell it out and it probably carries into the class room. As for now, it will be interesting to see when I have kids later in life, how their friends talk or what kind of technology they are using.

R Deletion and so forth

While pondering about the assignments we received in class last week, my roommate and I came across how fascinating it is that when we talk, the "R" does tend to delete in certain areas of speech. It is crazy because we live in a society where our speech is very fast-paced. When we come across other languages when we flip through, say, a Spanish channel, we tend to think that they talk very fast. In all actuality though, we talk very very fast compared to them. Back to the topic of the R deletion, we say a sentence with words that include "library, February, particularly, veterinary. When we come across these words, many say that Febuary without that R in the middle of it. It is crazy because as a child I was taught that the R is silent in that month. On to another note, I feel that as I read more into chapter 5, I am starting to understand things more and more. There is a lot of information regarding the issues in chapter 5 but I am starting to grasp it. When we come across things such as Infixes, I noticed that my friends and I tend to use these quite a lot. Abso "freaking" lutely. It works when it comes to two syllables before the infix, so a 3 syllable word. I really like chapter five so far and I feel like I will tend to grasp it a lot better than normal.

Morphemes and Syllables

As I began reading chapter five, I began to confuse myself with morphemes and syllables. I began to understand it more and more as I kept reading but I can definitely see anyone confusing these two terms easily. A morpheme , simply put to me is a distinctive feature in a language that means something, which is different than a syllable. I look at the word pancake, pan and cake are both recognizable meanings and have two syllables. The word transmission can have a distinctable morpheme being trans. Everyday as I come to class I literally do learn something new each day. I am almost in awe that I have never heard of these terms before in high school. It is crazy . I read a lot of poetry and plays which made sense but never have I heard of these terms. I kind of get anxious about all of this material because in all honestly, I feel like it is a lot to know but as I go more and more each day it is starting to click a little better. I really like it. While discussing assimilation,  it also started to click and realize that "hey, I do assimilation on a daily basis!" Just crazy. The word hamburger, I say hambager. The r is being assimilated. It rolls off of our tounge a lot easier because it is combined with a nasal, which I think has a lot to do with it. Little kids do a great job of assimilation. Since I nanny in the summer, it makes me think of the little boy Jack that I watch. He says "bobble" instead of "bottle" a pretty good example of assimilation. Overall, this is starting to click a lot easier than day 1 and I feel like I am learning a lot when it comes to the english language.

Being Thankful For Proper Use

Today after class was done I was asked to look over a friends' paper. I said "of course!". It made me just become thankful after all was said and done for being taught the right ways to spell certain things. Starting out reading it, I was sure that it couldn't be that bad. After reading it I began to think oh no.. here comes the marks. My biggest pet peeve, ever since I was taught this in middle school is the differences between the uses of "there, their and they're". I cringed when reading a sentence in the paper saying "I got there shoes from a local Macy's". Oh my word. I was just in such shock! If we notice it changes the complete context of the sentence structure. It just blows my mind. I then was forced to teach my friend the different uses of there, their and they're. I said that thEIr shows ownership where as thERe shows direction. That sentence was a major correction. I felt bad but at the same time I felt as though my friend should know because when it comes to papers in college, I felt as though that was a big deal. Also, the use of (') was needed in some things that showed contractions and ownership. Thank goodness for Mrs. Raymond, my middle school English teacher for emphasizing that. When reading a sentence "We then went to Johns house" also made me cringe. One thing I remember from middle school also is the need for ownership on something. I explained to my friend that when something shows ownership, there must me a (') to show it. John's house, because the house is Johns. After all was said and done, I did not want to seem like too much of a weirdo for knowing this stuff. I felt like I saved my friend from a lot of corrections that could have been wrong on her paper.I hope that she thanks me too :) .

Grammar Makes a Huge Difference

I recently saw something today on facebook that made me laugh. It was quite funny. I came across it on my friends' page saying that grammar does, indeed, make a difference. Let us take the sentence "Let's eat grandma!" or Let's eat, Grandma!" It made me laugh so hard. Almost in a sense where I am so thankful that I was taught that. Those sentences can mean two different things. Either saying that we should eat grandma or telling grandma that we should eat some food! That just makes me almost in a sense to be thankful for the comma because it can change a sentence meaning, so easily. Sometimes, however, one can get confused on certain occasions when to use the comma. It is one of those things that maybe we should think about. For example, the comma used after the word "and" makes many wonder what is the appropriate time to use it. The sentence structure I found to be correct would be "He hit the ball, dropped the bat, and dropped the bat", many here would get confused on whether or not to put a comma before "and" and I came to find out this to be known as a series comma which identifies things in a list. It makes sense because in something like "macaroni and cheese" because it is just two articles, no comma is necessary. This makes me kind of in a sense, proud that we have something like the comma. It helps a lot of people out when trying to describe meanings and also to list things. :)

Phonology Fun

Wow. What a crazy week it has been in the English Language classroom. I had absolutely NO idea that there was a chart about all the sounds that we humans make when we talk! I cannot believe it at all. Things like the labial which are sounds that involve the lips, the dentals involve the teeth, alveolar involves the area behind the teeth, the palatal involves the hard palalte and the velar the soft palate. It just really makes you think when speaking now what type of articulations and manners of them you are exactly using! I found it so fascinating that we do speak with our nasals and you can hear the distinction when it does happen. I was currently looking online because I cannot comprehend the difference between voiced and voiceless. I came to understand that with the vibration of your vocal chord you can actually tell if it is or not. I noticed the difference when making the sound "ch" it is voiceless, while things with the "b" are voiced. It makes me think that our language has a lot to it. I had absolutely no idea before this class that there is such a thing with the consonants chart to help one understnad it. Also, the flow of air that comes out of your mouth when saying a letter is labeled as well. It is absolutely crazy. As I was sitting here at work a lady came up to me and noticed I was working on some English homework. She asked "what is that anyway?" I had told her that it is a consanant chart which I have to work on memorizing... :/ . She was in awe! It just goes to show you that many people today are still unaware what exactly the English Language is capable of. I am starting to like this as I find more information about it :) .

"Hanged or hung?"

While organizing some laundry, I had said that this shirt needed to be hung. My friend had interrupted telling me that "hanged" was what I had meant.Sitting there in awe I began to really think about it. I began to look it up and I was right! "Hanged" was the word used in past tense, and is referred to a person that is literally "being hanged", or put to death. Therefore, when it comes to the word "hung", the way I used it, was completely accurate. In all other senses of the word, hung is the preferred form as past tense and past participle, as in I hung my child’s picture above my desk. Basically, when is comes to hanged vs hung. A person is hanged where as everything else is hung. I found this extremely interesting and I actually seemed to grasp which one I would use in a certain situation. There has been a lot of debate regarding the issue of which one is correct but all in all , if it is not a person, refer to hung. I came back to my friend and told her what I had found out and she happened to learn something also!

Bilingualism

While doing my homework last night. I began to think how crazy it is that schools are against bilingualism in their classroom. It makes me wonder what the big deal is about that. While finding that yes, it can be costly, I sure do not agree with schools, especially California, being against it. Why exactly? It makes me question because we live in a society today, where jobs are in demand for people and the requirements needed to work are rising. I would not be surprised if in five years it is required to speak a second language. Looking back into our society when we were younger, of course it was easy to get a job right out of high school for our parents. Today, it is extremely rare to even make a steady income with just a high school degree. Requirements are getting stricter and stricter. Emphasizing college for a well paid job. I can see in the future some places requiring a minor in a second language. Also, while watching a video about a class in London, being taught English as a second language was extremely interesting. Listening to these 3rd graders discuss how learning English as a second language has been a fun experience was just awesome. The video showed the approaches that the teacher took when teaching grammar. A lot having to do with matching expressions with words, which I thought was pretty cool. I, in all honesty, never have thought of how children acquire English as a second language before. It was pretty cool to see that my everyday language is being taught in countries across the globe. If you think about it also, there are many ways in which the English language would be tough to comprehend if you are just being taught it. Things like "ough" in through or tough are pronounced completely different that each other yet are spelled the same. It is so crazy how many words we have like that today. It is very impressive for such a young aged child to learn that and pick it up. The English language is so great yet so complicating!

"& she's like.."

It is crazy today the overuse of a lot of words. Is it texting or what that many girls today when talking tend to say " and then she was like..." instead of "she said" ? I will be the first to say that the launch of texting has took a toll on many people young and old for grammar. I believe that it is no secret, myself included, we tend to use she's like or she goes, when talking to someone. When digging down into the web for a little more info on maybe where and when this came from, I actually received a lot of information. Apparently, this use of like in a sentence actually came from a Valley Girl speech in the 1980s. Which was, of course, long before texting. Instead of using the verb "say" we replace that with "she's like" "she goes" or "she's all". I can recall even a time when I was younger, my older sister (at the time she was in high school) heard me telling my mom a story and she corrected me saying "no! She said" and I was kinda like "oh, yep, that does make more sense when I talk". Overall, this phrase has gone global and it is rare when someone is telling a story (unless they are our grandparents) to use say. It can be annoying at times when hearing others but then I gotta think that I say it too! A LOT!

Ketchup or Catsup?

While at the grocery store this week, I overheard a family in the condiments section say "catsup". Now, growing up I was never taught to say that. I mean it says right on the bottle ketchup! It just didn't make sense to me at all. I get kind of frustrated about this little issue (haha) when of course I should not at all. I guess I just do not know where they even come up with that?! While searching I came to find out that the word ketchup was in Charles Lockyer’s book of 1711, An Account of the Trade in India. Then, later in his other book he writes catchup which was used much more in North America then Britain. We can definitely blame a fellow named Jonathan Swift for coining "catsup". First used in 1730. Now that I have found out how the heck we even came across getting that term it makes me a little more at ease. It is crazy how words can get changed around starting with one person and then happening to carry from the 1700s to now. It makes me wonder.. can we change a little bit of a word and see when our kids have kids if it was picked up? :) Overall, I found that extremely interesting that the term catsup was used by one person and then was passed. How awesome is that? Well.. kinda. :)

Second Week Discoveries

Throughout my encounter with the David Crystal "Encyclopedia of English Language",  discovering how different words came to be and how some of their meanings have changed over time really caught my eye. From the Christian Missionaries not only was the introduction of literacy came to be but also a huge Latin vocabulary. I guess I never realized that words played a huge role when it came to the Christians. Onto another topic, over the summer while babysitting the little girl I was watching asked me while she was on the internet if it is "colour" or "color" and was confused how in some magazines she reads "colour" when in school she is taught the "or". It kind of made me think about this because I can even recall the time when I was reading in "Seventeen" magazine and they would talk about "colours" or lipsticks. I got so into this that I even looked it up online. I found out that "colour" is actually used in the United Kingdom. I also found that Americans do definitely like simplicity in language so we decided to drop the "u". To me, I find that when written "colour" you almost want to say it different but then you do realize that it simply means color in an American's viewpoint. Overall, when looking on google the different explanations from the U added it really does make you think about how crazy just one letter can make it seem!

Chapter 2 Discussion

When reading chapter 2 in Linguistics, I came across many terms that I had never heard before. Words like "pidgin" or "creole", really were weird words to me in the beginning. As I read more about chapter two, I learned that pidgins are simplified, nonnative "contact" languages that develop to enable speakers of distinct languages to communicate. When thinking about this, I did remember a time when I feel that pidgins would be used, and that would be the time of slavery. Think about all the people that were brought together from different parts of the world and now have to communicate in a variety of ways, using the "pidgin" way and interacting with one another. Creoles, however, evolve from pidgins and instead develops into a more fully formed language and has native speakers. When also discussing second language acquisition, one can argue, is it learning or acquisition? Well, I believe it is learned. Yes, there are many people out there today who are bilingual but many are also taking a french or spanish class, being taught it. Yes, as one would say, travel abroad, they aquire a whole new language and ways of speaking it as well. The social aspects of learning this second language is crucial, and takes motivation.

Children and Language

I found it extremely fascinating today that while reading in my "Linguistics for Everyone", the beginning of chapter 2 focuses on how children can aquire a mastery of language skills by the age of five and that is not directly from being taught, it is by being heard. They tend to overgeneralize information when they talk. Saying things like goed, bringed , mouses. Eventually, it will turn into went, bought, or mice. One thing that happened to catch my eye was the misperception of teenagers ruining the english language. At first, I can totally see this happening. One of many reasons I have include the reason being of my generation being the huge texting generation. It is so true though. We sit there and we abbreviate things on our phone and then we happen to shorten things like "u" for "you" and we become very lazy. It is amazing how our generation has so much going for them with the technology, but I would not say that it is true. It can be argued (especially by our parents) , that our generation is totally ruining it, when, in fact, I feel that our generation is improving the knowledge and changing the English language for the better.

Words and Their Changed Meaning

I found that throughout this class period, it was hard when asked to list some words that have changed over time at first, but then it became a lot easier to me. We started with a word like "goes". One would think in a sentence we can be sure that "She goes to the store" would be acceptable. Now, in conversation, we can be sure that especially when telling a story, we tend to say "Mike goes 'are you kidding me?' ", when, in fact, it can be said as "Mike said.." and so forth. In the "Myths" book, it is  crazy to me that the word "awful" used to mean "inspiring awe", now has a changed meaning to "very bad". When deciding in class if "Pig Latin" would be considered a legitimate language, accoriding to Linguistics for Everyone, it must follow a list with specific requirements. We learned words such as semanticity, arbitrariness, discreteness, displacement, productivity, duality of patterning. These phrases define characteristics if "Pig Latin" would be an acceptable language.

First Week of English

Beginning my first week of the class, I slowly but surely began to engage more and more into class discussions. Language is, indeed, constantly changing. I found it interesting when discussing throughout the class about the forces that language from changing. Things like the society, the media, the acts of history really made sense. Another interesting phrase, which I will admit that I have never heard before this class is the idea of "Received Standard". Received standard comes into play when we began discussing in class the idea of is it "ask" or "aks" and it is quite funny to me because I have definitely heard of people say aks and it now makes sense because they may have been taught to say it that way. This class period really made me think, specifically about "is it octupi? Is it syllabi?" It really makes you think outside of your box.