How often do you see ligatures? Do you think we should use them today?

Medieval scribes combined letters that shared some part, so they could write faster and conserve space on the page.

Ligatures

Gender, Identity, and Language Use in Teenage Blogs

http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue2/huffaker.html

http://www.english.wisc.edu/rfyoung/336/id.pdf

Spaghettification and the problem of scientific jargon

Scientists use language to give authority to their work, but if the words become jargon, they can end up alienating the audience instead of convincing them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12663432

The tragedy of dying languages

The death of the last speaker of an ancient language in India's Andaman Islands highlights the fact that half of the world's 7,000 languages are in danger of disappearing. Linguist K David Harrison argues that we still have much to learn from vanishing languages.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8500108.stm

“OMG,” “LOL” and the symbol for “heart” have all been added to the Oxford English Dictionary Online

So what do OMG and LOL mean to the OED? In the electronic realm, they’re merely shorthand for surprise and mirth. In the real-world space — according to the OED’s blog post — “The intention is usually to signal an informal, gossipy mode of expression, and perhaps parody the level of unreflective enthusiasm or overstatement that can sometimes appear in online discourse, while at the same time marking oneself as an ‘insider’ au fait with the forms of expression associated with the latest technology.”

http://mashable.com/2011/03/24/oed-omg-lol/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/8708448/Woot-Retweet-and-sexting-enter-the-dictionary.html

Standard English in decline among teenagers

Many GCSE English students did not realise that phrases such as "get off of" and "she was stood" were grammatically incorrect.

It comes amid fears that the use of social networking websites and mobile phone text messaging is undermining children's literacy skills.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/3254407/Standard-English-in-decline-among-teenagers.html

Post-colonial reading

Post-colonialism (postcolonial theory, post-colonial theory) is a specifically post-modern intellectual discourse that consists of reactions to, and analysis of, the cultural legacy of colonialism. Postcolonialism comprises a set of theories found amongst anthropology, architecture, philosophy, film, political science, human geography, sociology, feminism, religious and theological studies, and literature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postcolonialism

Language and Power: Rhetorical Speeches

One obvious feature of how language operates in social interactions is its relationship with power, both influential and instrumental. Neither rule nor law, neither discipline nor hierarchy sanctions influential power. It inclines us or makes us want to behave in certain ways or adopt opinions or attitudes, without obvious force. It operates in such social phenomena as advertising, culture and the media. (Strictly, we are not coerced into buying what the advertiser shows us, nor will we suffer any penalty for our "sales resistance".) Instrumental power is explicit power of the sort imposed by the state, by its laws and conventions or by the organizations for which we work. It operates in business, education and various kinds of management. (In many, but not all cases, if we resist instrumental power, we will be subject to some penalty or in trouble.)

http://www.teachit.co.uk/armoore/lang/power.htm

The socio-linguistics of SMS

Since the late 1990’s the use of short messaging system (SMS) or “texting” has seen phenomenal growth. Statistics show that on average there are more than 280 000 SMS messages sent every hour in Norway, that is more than 6.7 million per day and this in a country with only 4 million inhabitants (Sandvin, Dagfinrud and Sæther 2002).

http://www.richardling.com/papers/2005_SMS_socio-linguistics.pdf

2b or not 2b?

Despite doom-laden prophecies, texting has not been the disaster for language many feared, argues linguistics professor David Crystal. On the contrary, it improves children's writing and spelling.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jul/05/saturdayreviewsfeatres.guardianreview

CNN effect

The CNN effect is a theory in political science and media studies that postulates that the development of the popular 24-hour international television news channel known as Cable News Network, or CNN, had a major impact on the conduct of states' foreign policy in the late Cold War period and that CNN and its subsequent industry competitors have had a similar impact in the post-Cold War era.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN_effect

Is Technology Altering the Construction of News?

We are interested in event-driven news, defined as coverage of activities that are, at least at their initial occurrence, spontaneous and unmanaged by officials within institutional settings. Most news most of the time has its origins in official proceedings and pronouncements. That may be changing. We want to know if event-driven news stories, facilitated by technological advancements such as the videophone, are becoming more numerous, and if they are changing the reliance of journalists on officials in selecting and cueing their political content. In particular, we are interested in coverage of international events as an interesting test of whether technological changes are liberating journalists to report far flung world developments with more emphasis on live feeds and less emphasis on officials in highly managed institutional settings providing the framing. An alternative hypothesis suggests that even if live event coverage is on the rise, journalists may quickly bring officials into the news frame, continuing the familiar gatekeeping practice of “officiating” (news management and cueing) those live events. We find that event-driven news stories are indeed more common, but that officials seem to be as much a part of the news as ever. When an unpredicted, nonscripted, spontaneous event is covered in the news, the one predictable component of coverage remains official sources.

http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/pmt/exhibits/2012/livingstone&bennet.pdf

Steven Pinker on Noam Chomsky's theory of Linguistics & Politics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piGbuSTckr8&feature=related

Monty Python - Language Lab

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l4g5QWEgVI

Routes of English - Melvyn Bragg

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/routesofenglish/

Language and Class

Stephen Fry's idiosyncratic meander along the byways of English takes him into dangerous territory: Language and Class. Is it still the contentious issue it used to be?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00jjfkk

Local Language Link - BBC

Word 4 Word was a new programme about language - local language. It was part of the BBC's Voices season which ran through 2005.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/word4word.shtml

China bans English words in media

China has banned newspapers, publishers and website-owners from using foreign words - particularly English ones.

China's state press and publishing body said such words were sullying the purity of the Chinese language.

It said standardised Chinese should be the norm: the press should avoid foreign abbreviations and acronyms, as well as "Chinglish" - which is a mix of English and Chinese.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12050067

Learning lessons in a 'deficit' language: Aboriginal English

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2004/jul/22/tefl

Should we believe in "Global Warming"?

Compelling opinions made to sound like compelling evidence:

Reginald D Hunter's take on "Have I got news for you!"

How does language shape how we think?

How does language shape how we think? | The Hot Word | Hot & Trending Words Daily Blog at Dictionary.com

Jokes and Taboo

Have you heard the one about the Jews?

As a writer on The Ali G Show I can do insulting jokes. But the anti-Jewish sentiment at Edinburgh is shocking.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article609132.ece

How to Read a Painting

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/how-to-read-a-painting.html

Press myths - Asylum Seekers

According to opinion polls, asylum continues to be one of the most important issues for the British public. It is rarely out of the newspapers and is the subject of intense political and public debate.
 
Reporting and commentary about asylum seekers and refugees is often hostile, unbalanced and factually incorrect. Just look at the contrast between the headlines and the facts:
http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/campaigning/takeaction/campaigners_pack/press_myths

Covers aimed at the chick lit market

Novelist Polly Courtney has dropped her publisher HarperCollins for giving her books "condescending and fluffy" covers aimed at the chick lit market.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/15/novelist-ditches-publisher-book-launch

Salman Rushdie's Twitter debut

"Why are you pretending to be me? Release this username. You are a phoney. All followers please note."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/20/salman-rushdie-twitter-debut

Social Networking Stories

See the Guardian link for the latest stories concerning social media:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/socialnetworking

BBC News - Coverage or Construction?

Viewers' opinions on the coverage of events by BBC News, addressed by the editors and decision makers in charge. Each week the programme looks at how the BBC is covering major stories and puts viewers' criticisms to the powers behind the presenters.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qjrk2