linguist quotes Flashcards
taboo
“All taboos serve different human interests by avoiding those things which threaten to cause offence or distress”
- Kate Burridge (linguist)
identity / australian english
“‘Bloody’ has now become an important indicator of Australianness and of cultural values such as friendliness, informality, laid-backness, mateship- and perhaps even the Australian dislike and distrust of verbal and intellectual graces”
- linguist, Kate Burridge
identity
“Because without our language, we have lost ourselves. Who are we without our words?”
- Melina Marchetta (writer)
identity (questionable)
“The gay voice is a symbol- of homosexuality, of femininity- and symbols are very powerful”
- David Thorpe (co-creator of documentary, ‘Do I Sound Gay?’)
idetity
”.. an ethnolect, like a community language, offers a means of expressing linguistic identity, of demonstrating solidarity with one’s ethnic group. Importantly, it provides a means for those who may no longer be fluent in their ethnic language to express their identification with, and sense of belonging to, their ethnic group.”
- David Blair and Peter Collins, writers of book ‘English in Australia’
identity / Taboo language
“The continual use of ‘fck’ and cnt’ in conversations [amongst tradesmen] work as a marker is in-group membership”
- Lauren McLeod (linguist)
identity / Taboo language
‘Social swearing and annoyance swearing… social swearing was intended to be friendly and a sign of being “one of the gang”… while annoyance swearing was a reaction to stress’
- Helen E. Ross (author)
Standard vs Non-Standard
“A Non-Standard dialect is as valid a communication system as the standard.”
- Kate Burridge (linguist)
Standard vs Non-Standard
“Although many texters enjoy breaking linguistic rules, they also know they need to be understood.”
- David Crystal (linguist)
Standard vs Non-Standard
“Standard English has an enormous legacy of overt prestige. It has been regarded as a symbol of British nationhood..”
- Janet Holmes (businesswoman)
Standard vs Non-Standard
“Texting has added a new dimension to language use, but its long-term impact is negligible. It’s not a disaster.”
- David Crystal (linguist)
slang
“Slang works much like Masonic mortar to stick members of a group together- and, of course at the same time, to erect barriers between them and the outside.”
- Linguist, Kate Burridge
slang
“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, and next year’s words await another voice.”
- T.S. Eliot (essayist and poet)
slang
“Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.”
- William Butler Yeats (poet)
slang
‘Slang is a perpetual whirlwind of creativity among the young and avante garde’
- Muhammad Shuaibu
Language variation
“At any one time, language is a kaleidoscope of styles, genres, and dialects.”
- David Crystal (linguist)
Language variation / identity
‘Men’s talk tends to be more referential or informative, while women’s talk is more supportive and facilitative’
- Janet Holmes (businesswoman)
social attitudes
“Rap and spoken word have reawakened the country to poetry in itself. Texting and Twitter encourage creative uses of casual language, in ways I have celebrated widely. But we’ve fallen behind in savouring the formal layer of our language.”
- John McWhorter (author)
jargon
“Jargon is making it increasingly hard to understand what a public figure is actually trying to say”
- Don Wantson (author)
jargon (questionable)
“The language of management.. is language that cannot describe or convey any human emotion..’
- Don Watson (author)
Prestige
“Linguistic prestige is not an indication of intrinsic beauty in languages but rather of the perceived status of those who speak them.”
- Sarah J. Shin (linguist)
Prestige
“Social and linguistic prestige are interrelated.. the language of powerful social groups usually carries linguistic prestige; and social prestige is often granted to speakers of prestige languages and varieties”
- Michael Pearce (writer)
Euphemisms
Euphemistic expressions: ‘designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind’
- George Orwell (novelist)
Euphemisms
‘Some of you will be familiar with euphemisms associated with deliberately befuddling language, weasel words and puffery. The sort of language that turns loss of human life into “collateral damage”.’
- Kate Burridge
