Abercrombie, David 172
ablative 79–80
Académie Française 135
afeared 70
aggravare 1
alphabets see scripts
alternative 1
analytic 54
Appalachians 66–76
Arabic 39, 53, 85, 90, 120, 154
Arawak 39
Aristotle 115
Austen, Jane 134
Bantu languages 50
beauty of language 12, 28–9, 85–93, 136, 177
Bhutto, Benazir 45
bluff 176
Bogarde, Dirk 61
borrow 6
borrowing (see loan words)
Brontë, Charlotte 134
Bushman languages see Khoisan languages
case 79–80, 94–95, 100, 132, 161
views of 17–18
Chaucer, Geoffrey 68, 69, 71, 110, 119, 179
Chinese 41–2, 53, 81, 82, 135, 151, 173
Chomsky, Noam xv
Church, Roman Catholic 9
clarity 23–31
classroom language 43, 44, 47–8, 75
Clinton, Bill 100
collective noun 64
conjunction 78
doubling 34
voiced v. voiceless 36
converse terms 6
Cook, Capt. James 159
corn 180
Danish 135
dative 79–80
Decker, Thomas 95
declension 79
definiteness 82
Defoe, Daniel 134
Deliverance 70
Demiin 165
derivation 54
Descartes, René 29
Dharuk 160
Dickens, Charles 134
different from/to 94–5
discrimination on grounds of language xvii, 65, 99
double negative 109–10, 113–22
Douglass, Frederick 103
Dravidian languages 50
Du Bois, William 103
Dyirbal 137
Ebonics see English, African-American Vernacular
education
and spoken language 63
language denigrated in 87
system 74
tertiary 60–1
English passim
affixes 4
African-American Vernacular 86, 92, 109, 120
American, 40, 42, 45, 127, 128, 153, 172
American v. British 32, 85, 176–82
as an official language 88
bad 139–49
Belfast 99
Birmingham 85
borrowing in 14
compared with other languages 50
East Anglian 150
Estuary 94
in decline 15–22, 58–65, 176–82
Norwich 87
Old (Anglo-Saxon) 13, 38, 69, 81, 119, 178
pronunciation 1, 16, 19, 54, 63, 85, 172, 177, 179–80
rhythm 154
Southern (US) 139–49
South-West (UK) 150
speed of 155
standard 63, 75, 87, 96, 99, 106, 109, 120
structures of 1, 52, 53, 54, 55, 81, 82, 109
syllables 152
Eskimo (see also Greenlandic) 39
Esperanto 52
Fanagalo 54–5
feminism 47
Fijian 83
Flintstone, Fred 125
fortnight 180
French
as a source of English words 37, 38, 39
as clear and logical 23–31
Breton 86
compared with other languages 52
connotations of 85
lacking compounds 11
Old 2
puns 28
rhythm 154
structures of, 51, 55, 109, 120, 135
vocabulary 27
French Revolution 30
functions of speech (informative v. facilitative) 45
funny 8
Garig 160
gay 18
gender
genetic origins of linguistic
differences 105
genitive 89–80
German
compared with other languages 50, 52, 54
structures of 26, 51, 55, 134, 151
Germanic languages 50
gotten 179
government 64
grammar
acquisition of 54
definition 77
descriptive 96
learnt early in acquisition 51, 63
lessons 58
part of linguistic knowledge 51, 53–6, 77
grammatical differences between languages 82, 135–6
grammaticality 108–9
Classical π, 24, 25, 38, 39, 177
Greenlandic 54
Gunwinygu 160
Guugu Yimidhirr 159–60
Hagège, Claude xv
Hakluyt, Richard
harmonic v. disharmonic relationships 162–3
Harris, Joel Chandler 21
Hawaiian 53–4
hesitation 151
high rising terminal 127
Hollywood 70
holp 68–70
homograph 36
homophone 36
Hopkins, G. M. 59
Hottentot languages see Khoisan languages
Huxley, Aldous 134
Ilgar 160
imply 5–6
impoverishment 99
inadequacy of dialects 87
Independent, The 64
infer 5–6
inferiority, linguistic 9–14, 104–7, 140, 148
initiation language 165
insecurity, linguistic 92, 146, 148
intelligibility 87
interpersonal function 45
Irish 52
Italian 11, 12, 29, 85, 91, 152, 153, 154, 156
Iwaidja 160
Jackson, Jesse 103
James I 71
Japanese 41, 53, 152, 153, 172
Jonson, Ben 134
Jordan, Barbara 103
journalism see media
Kentucky 66–76
Khoisan languages 53–4
kilometer 19
King, Martin Luther 103
Labov, William xv, 17, 126, 141, 148
language
as a self-regulating system 8, 19
Lardil 165
Larkin, Philip 113
Latin
as a high prestige language 96, 136–7, 165
as a low prestige language 10–11, 14
as a source of English words 1, 2, 14, 37, 38
as a source of English grammar 95, 100, 136
current uses 9
structures of 26, 79–81, 82, 132, 134, 135, 161
vocabulary development 14
legislation on language 89
lend 6
lexical <-e> 36
literacy 59–63
loan words 10, 14, 30, 97, 166
logic 23–31, 109–10, 113–22, 140
look-and-say 61
Lounsbury, Thomas 15
Lovelace, Richard 68
Lowth, Robert 96
Major, John 118
Managkari 160
Mandarin see Chinese
Maori 9–10, 13, 56, 81, 82, 83, 135
Marrgu 160
me see I
meaning
change in 1–8
extension 166
socially negotiated 7–8
media 15–22, 62, 69–70, 74, 85, 123–31, 170
mentalese 26
Milton, John 37
mini–18
Mitterrand, President F. 25
Mparntwe Arrernte 164
Murray, Lindley 117
Mussolini, Benito 62
My Fair Lady 174
National Curriculum 58
New Statesman 62
New Zealand 10
Newton, Sir Isaac 11
Nkrumah, Kwame 103
non-standard varieties 64, 87, 89, 92, 109, 140
North Carolina 66–76
Norwegian 50
object, direct 80, 132, 135, 161
Ojukwu, Odumegwu 103
Ontario 128
orthography see spelling
Ozarks 66–76
parental role in language acquisition 107–8
participation markers 101
passive 26
past tenses of verbs 27, 68–9, 180
pause 151
person 80
phonics 61
pidgin 54–6
Pinker, Steven 26
Plautus, Titus M. 134
pleasantness of speech 85–93, 147
Polish 50
polysynthetic 162
prefix 78
Press-Herald (Lexington) 70
Prince of Wales 176–7
Prior, Richard 173
Private Eye 117–8
harmonic 163
interrogative 137
relative 95
second person 52
trial 83
Pulp Fiction 125
Pygmalion 174
Python, Monty 125
quantifier, universal and existential 114–15
Ralegh, Sir Walter 66
reckon 180
Rivarol, Antoine de 23–4, 26, 28, 30
Romansh 11–12
RP (Received Pronunciation) 170
rules
of grammar 16, 77, 83, 96–8, 108
of usage 51–2
written v. spoken 64
Russian 12, 50, 52, 110, 120, 154, 161
Saturday Night Live 125
Scotsman 18
security, linguistic 142
self-hatred, linguistic 87
sex see gender
Shakespeare, William 16, 64, 66–76, 98, 120, 134
Shaw, George Bernard 174
Shipley, Jenny 45
Sidney, Sir Philip 68
Slavic languages 50
social confidence 47
solidarity 147
South Africa 54
Spanish 29, 88, 91, 109, 120, 154, 155, 172
speaking rate v. articulation rate 151
speed of articulation 145, 150–8, 173
spelling 32–40, 52–3, 58, 61–2
standard variety/language 29, 63–4, 75, 87, 92, 95, 96, 100, 108, 140, 170
stereotyping 29, 85, 91, 145, 148, 171
Stevenson, Adlai 21
stress-timing v. syllable-timing 154
subject 80, 97–8, 132, 135, 161
subject complement 133
suffix 78
Swift, Jonathan 59
Switzerland 11–12
Sylvester 125
synthetic 54
tag question 181
Tamil 50
Tarzan 55
task orientation 45
Tatar 50
teach 6
television (see also media) 10, 85, 123–31
Telugu 50
Tennessee 66–76
Thai 110
Thatcher, Lady Margaret 17, 45, 100
Turkic languages 50
Turkish 53
Tutu, Desmond 103
ugliness see beauty
Ulster Scots 71
Uncle Remus see Harris, Joel Chandler
uninterested 2–5
uptalk see high rising terminal
Vaugelas, Claude Favre de 23
auxiliary v. lexical 97
verbal deprivation 103–12
Vietnamese 54
Vincent 126–7
spread 124
vocative 79–80
voiceprint 174
obscure see schwa
Warlpiri 166
Waugh, Evelyn 20
Wayne’s World 125
Welsh 52
West Virginia 66–76
wimp 18
word class 77
writing systems see scripts
Xhosa 50
!Xóõ 53