Inventory Clearance! While Supplies Last!
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It's time once again for World Languages' popular annual summer clearance, the distribution of valuable links that didn't get into an article in the past twelve months . This year's pickings are particularly rich, and readers will surely enjoy them.
So let's get to it, shall we?
English linguistics sites
Few subjects are as colourful as the history and heritage of the English language, and I've had the good fortune to encounter a tonne of excellent sites on that topic.
'Way back in 1998 I wrote a column on the "Ebonics" flap. Now I find that linguist Geoffrey K. Pullum has done likewise, and his is longer and better. Refreshing, scientific commentary on Black English and the politics behind the Oakland controversy, Pullum's survey of street-level language issues is compelling reading whether you're interested in Black English or not. A pointed yet dispassionate argument.
Etymology (the history of individual words) is the Trivial Pursuit of language nerds, and often highly instructive for linguists of all stripes. Westeggs's English etymology site is a good place to start if you're a beginner, or to hang out if you've already been bitten.
The English Languages, by Tom McArthur, is a book I haven't read. But I'm going to, having much enjoyed Danny Yee's in-depth review of it. McArthur's hypothesis, that English is more a plurality of dialects than a single language, is fertile ground for enquiry. The author also counters the "universal language" canard with the contention that new lands are conquering English as fast as English is conquering new lands; his analogy to Latin is particularly well taken. Both book and review touch on several issues treated in past World Languages columns, including Ebonics, Scots, and Croatian, and Yee's lucid, well-informed prose make this an example of Internet writing at its best. (Remember, you saw it here first: a review of a review. How's that for academic navel-gazing?)
Two fun Oz sites are the Australian National Dictionary Centre's short list of Uniquely Australian Words, which changes periodically, and Ozwords, a newsletter that apparently hasn't been posted since October 1999. I don't know if it still exists (the page says it's still available free by e or snail mail), but two years' worth of lively back issues are available online.
