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All of us use language, but that alone does not make us, or any of the other ordinary language users, experts on the subject. The majority of times we hear about language related issues is from lay people, such as journalists, politicians, or our next-door neighbour. In fact, there exist a number of widespread and well-established myths connected to (the English) language that we frequently come across in conversations and are presented with in the media. In this course we address these common misconceptions and find out what lies behind commonly debated worries about, for example, the supposed deterioration of standards, the influence of TV and American English, that women are more talkative than men, etc. The name ‘myth’ implies that they are that well established that they are part of the Anglophone culture. And because of that this is a cultural studies seminar – albeit a very linguistic one. Please buy the book below and bring it to the first session.
Compulsory reading:
LAURIE BAUER and PETER TRUDGILL, eds. Language Myths. New York: Penguin Putnam. Inc., 1998. ISBN: 978-0140260236 |
