Lexicon Language and Culture (Language Ideology), Dr R VISAN, Spring Term

1. Preliminaries Language Attitudes/Language Ideology

2. Attitudes to Early Modern English (I): From 1476 to the 1600s (From
RUDE to FAYR)
3. Attitudes to Early Modern English (II): The Seventeenth Century (From
COPIOUSNESS to COMMUNICATIVE CLARITY)
4. Attitudes to Early Modern English (III): The Eighteenth Century
(POLITENESS)
5. Attitudes to Early Modern English (IV): The Eighteenth Century (From
POLITENESS to CORRECTNESS)
6. Attitudes to English in the Nineteenth Century Proper English and
the grammar of an empire
7. Global English and its related myth/myths//The Ideology of
Globalization
8. Myths in the History of the English Language: Creolization, The Great
Vowel Shift
9. Recent developments/myths: What about Romglish?

Presentations

Students are required to make 10-minute presentations on the language myths in

the list below. Some of these myths relate to the English language, while others have
been created with reference to languages in general. These myths are discussed in a
work centring on the popularization of linguistics, Language Myths (Bauer, L and P.
Trudgill, eds), London: Penguin Books, 1998). The last two topics for presentations
(21,22) are based on English as a Global Language (David Crystal), Oxford: OUP,
2003), chapters 1 and 5. Students are advised to take this material as a point of
reference in their presentations, but are strongly encouraged to include further
critical references/examples/ personal interpretations in their presentations regarding
the creation/dismantling of these myths.

1. Some Languages are Harder than Others 23 March Voicu Ioana Mihaela
2. Italian is Beautiful, German is Ugly 23 March Porumbeanu Andra-Irina
3. French is a Logical Language 23 March Georgiana Negrea
4. Children Cant Speak or Write Properly Any More 23 March Florea
(Gheorghe) Georigana
5. Bad Grammar is Slovenly 30 March Nased Skukur Huesein
6. The Media are Ruining English 30 March Faqhreed M.H. Abbas
7. Women Talk Too Much 30 March uc Larisa-Elena
8. Everyone Has an Accent Except Me 30 March Moldoveanu Cristina
9. Double Negatives Are Illogica 6 April Burducel Andreea Laura
10. You Shouldnt Say It Is Me because Me is Accusative 6 April Nistor
Cristina Ioana
11. In the Appalachians They Speak Like Shakespeare 6 April Ibrahim
Ahmed
12. Some Languages Have No Grammar 6 April Mawj Saadi
13. TV Makes People Sound The Same 13 April Youssra Aassim Ali
14. America Is Ruining the English Language 13 April Olaru Adnana
15. English Spelling is Katastroffick 13 April Sahar Sharif
16. Black Children are Verbally Deprived 13 April Pruna Maria
17. They Speak Really Bad English Down South and in New York City 13
April Zainab Fouad Kadhem
18.Some Languages Are Just Not Good Enough 27 April
19.Aborigines Speak a Primitive Language 27 April
20.The Meanings of Words Should Not be Allowed to Vary or Change 27 April
21. Some Languages are Spoken More Quickly than Others 27 April
22. Why a Global Language? (three students are required to share the
chapter on which the presentation is based) 27 April
23.The Future of Global English (three students are required to share the chapter
on which the presentation is based) 27 April