Module 6: Bushisms

Former U.S. President George W. Bush is rather infamous for his unique way of speaking. One of the most noticeable things that made George Bush's speech unique was his choice of words. He often invented or combined words when speaking in the heat of the moment. The term "Bushisms" has been coined to refer to the distinctive words and phrases used by the former President (Harley, 2006).  

One of his more recognizable Bushisms is the word "misunderestimated." He used this word on November 6th, 2000 to describe a situation where his opponent both misunderstood and underestimated him (Time Inc. Online, 2016). 

In using the word misunderestimated, George Bush created a blend word. A blend word occurs when two or more phonologically separate words are combined to form a single new word. Often this blend is achieved by attaching morphemes from one word to the other.

Misunderestimated is made of 4 morphemes. They are (in order of attachment) as follows . . 

Estimat - The root morpheme derived from the verb estimate

-ed - an inflectional suffix used to mark the verb estimate as past tense

under- - a derivational prefix that changes the meaning of the verb estimate to a verb meaning "to guess/assume a valuer lower than the actual value."

mis- - a derivational prefix from the word misunderstood used to change the meaning of the verb underestimated to a verb representing George Bush's meaning of being both misunderstand and underestimated

In this way it can be seen that to create the Bushism misunderestimated, the two morphemes from the word estimated (estimat- and -ed) must be combined with the shared morpheme under- (from both misunderstood an underestimated) as well as with the morpheme mis- from misunderstood. 

Although at first they may sound silly, Bushims often are linguistically correct and follow the rules of affix attachment in English grammar. 

References

Harley, Heidi. 2006.  English Words: A Linguistic Introduction. Malden, MA. Blackwell.

Time Inc. Online. (2016). Merriam Webster Online. (2016). "Top 10 Bushisms". Time Inc.. http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1870938_1870943_1870945,00.html (accessed September 28, 2016)

Module 5: German Loan Words

English is a language that has  evolved greatly over time in response to the influences of other cultures/languages with which English speakers have come into contact. As a result, English is largely a compilation of words taken from other languages. 

English is traditionally a Germanic language and evolved in tandem with the languages of the Saxon, Angle and Jute Germanic tribes in the mid to late 400's (Harley, 2006). As such, many of the words in the English language have Germanic origins. Some of these words are more obvious than others and stand out as noticeable loan words (Bratwurst, Gesundheit etc.). Other words are so commonplace that the average individual may not even realize the word in question has a Germanic origin.

One loan word I find particularity compelling is the word doppelganger (Not only is the etymology of the word interesting but it is also fun to say:). This word is used to describe an individual that looks identical in appearance to another individual you may know. It originates from the German word doppelgänger which is composed of two smaller words Doppel (which translates to double) and Gänger (which translates to a person walking/going to a destination). As such doppelgänger literally means a double walker. It was first coined in 1796 when an German author was describing the German mythological concept that every individual has a "spiritual equivalent" version of themselves that is their constant companion throughout life (Merriam Webster Online, 2016). It was then picked up by English speakers after the book was published. 

Doppelgänger of actor Matthew Mcconaughey

There are many more such examples of German loan words in English. I am constantly fascinated by the changes that occur to a language when different people and cultures interact. 

T

References

Harley, Heidi. 2006.  English Words: A Linguistic Introduction.  Malden, MA. Blackwell.

Merriam Webster Online. (2016). "Doppelganger". Merriam Webster. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/doppelg%C3%A4nger (accessed September 19, 2016)

Module 4: British vs. American Stress Patterns

One of the first things an Americans notice when travelling to Great Britain is that people there just don't say words the same way as as speakers do in the United States. But what accounts for this easily observable difference?

One of the biggest reasons speakers of the two dialects sound different is that speakers of the British dialect place the stress on different parts of words than do speakers of the American dialect. Stress patterns describe which syllable in the word receives the greatest emphasis when spoken. An iamb refers to a two syllable word where the stress is placed on the second syllable resulting in a weak-strong pattern. A trochee refers to a two syllable word where the stress is placed on the first syllable of the word resulting in a strong-weak pattern. 

Speakers of the British dialect tend to pronounce many two syllable words differently. Below are some examples where speakers of the British dialect pronounce the words as trochees whereas speakers of the American dialect tend to pronounce them as iambs. The symbol - is used to denote a syllable boundary. Bold indicates which syllable is stressed. 

Ballet

British: /ˈbæl-ej/

American: /bæl-'ej/

Cafe

British: /ˈkæf-ej/
American: /kæf-'ej/

The examples above were chosen because they illustrate differences in pronunciation purely due to stress pattern variation. Other differences arise based on phonetic variation as well. 

It is worth noting that within each of the two dialects (British and American) there is substantial variation. The general stress patterns mentioned above may not accurately depict the way speakers of all British and American dialects pronounce their words. 

References 

Harley, Heidi. 2006.  English Words: A Linguistic Introduction.  Malden, MA. Blackwell.

Word Stress Rules. 2016. British and American Differences. WordStressInfo. http://www.wordstress.info/word-stress/differences-english-varieties/stress-differences-between-american-and-british-english/ (accessed September 14, 2016) 

Module 3: Canadian Raising

In my last post I examined the Newfoundlander accent, a rather unusual variation of the Canadian accent. But what about (read /ə'bəwt/)the rest of the Canada?

One of the biggest contributors to the Canadian accent is called "Canadian raising."This is when the low vowel diphthongs get "raised" by moving the position of the jaw upwards when articulating the vowel. Two common examples of Canadian raising are shown below. 

/aj/ to /əj/

/aw/ to  /əw/

There is some variation in Canadian raising. Some Canadians will raise both diphthongs to the stressed mid vowel /ʌ/, instead of the unstressed mid vowel shown above. 

The Canadian accent also occurs because of the tendency for Canadians to "borrow" low vowels. Words that Americans tend to pronounce with the sound /a/, Canadians tend to pronounce with the diphthong /æ/. This leads to pronunciation differences in words like pasta, as shown below. 

/pastə/ to /pæstə/

The degree of Canadian raising is exaggerated by many when attempting to mimic the Canadian accent. The changes in pronunciation of words like out and about are in reality much subtler than most believe. As a Canadian living in America I have rarely been "outed" by raising my vowels, but almost always due to my tendency to borrow low vowels. 

References 

Harley, Heidi. 2006.  English Words: A Linguistic Introduction.  Malden, MA. Blackwell.

The Language Samples Project. 2001. Canadian English: Canadian Phonology. Retrieved from http://ic-migration.webhost.uits.arizona.edu/icfiles/ic/lsp/site/Canadian/canphon3.html#diphthongs