5 September 2010 Listeners’ queries Word Of Mouth today we’ll be looking at – - how words get into dictionaries
- the way ‘bleaching’ changes the meanings of words
- pairs of words that are often confused
- the present tense for reporting news
Panel: Nigel Bakker Senior lecturer in the School of Education, University of Cape Town 29 August 2010 Language studies for translators and interpreters Professional translators and interpreters generally need (in addition to a high level of fluency in the languages they work in) specialist training in translation studies. In South Africa this is available in programmes run by a number of universities.* Panel: Prof Ilse Feinauer Co-ordinator of the postgraduate programme in translation studies Department of Afrikaans and Nederlands, University of Stellenbosch *In case of queries -- South African universities offering programmes in translation studies: Free State / Johannesburg / KwaZulu-Natal / Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University / North West / South Africa (UNISA) / Stellenbosch / Witwatersrand 22 August 2010 Plain language requirements of the new Companies Act and Consumer Protection Act When the new Companies Act and the Consumer Protection Act come into effect, businesses will be required to produce a range of documents in ‘plain language’. The idea is to protect the rights of ‘the average consumer’ by making it easier to understand business documents like contracts, notices and letters. Who is the ‘average consumer’ and how are you to go about writing documents in plain language? Panel: Andrew Weeks Plain language lawyer, Michalsons Attorneys, Cape Town 15 August 2010 Ferdinand de Saussure (2): Structuralism and the humanities Throw forward: In the early 1900s the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure argued that all language should be thought of as a system, and he proposed that the speech or utterances of an individual should be seen in the context of the community’s shared understanding of what the words signified. These ideas – later to be referred to as Structuralism – influenced scholars working in other disciplines: anthropology, sociology, psychology, literature and others. We’ll be putting Saussure’s theories into context. Panel: Rajend Mesthrie Professor of Linguistics in the Department of English, University of Cape Town 8 August 2010 Ferdinand de Saussure (1): Language and meaning The late C19th was a period when language scholarship focused particularly on ancient languages, and on the family relationships between languages and the discipline of historical linguistics. In the early 1900s the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure broke with this tradition in choosing rather to explore the nature of what a language is. His proposition that language should be thought of as a ‘system’ was to have a profound influence on linguistics (and other disciplines in the humanities) in the C20th. We’ll be looking at some of Saussure’s theories and their significance. Panel: Rajend Mesthrie Professor of Linguistics in the Department of English, University of Cape Town 1 August 2010 How tense works in English (2): Tense in media English The language of ‘news’ focuses on the immediacy of what is being reported – the accident, the sports result, the hijack attempt, the arrest … or what have you. The use of time references in a report (yesterday, this morning, on Wednesday, and so on) often results in a conflict between immediacy and grammatical sense. This is true not only of radio and television but also of print media. We’ll be looking at some examples of this. Panel: Nigel Bakker senior lecturer in the School of Education, University of Cape Town 25 July 2010 How tense works in English (1) One of the things that ‘tense’ does in language is tell us something about time – whether what is being described is something that is current, or is in the past or is possibly still to happen. For the most part, English verbs have only two forms to indicate tense: present and past. This is a bit limiting, so we resort to a number of other add-ons which help us manage the vast range of meanings that are possible. We’ll be looking at some of these add-ons, and at what can happen to meaning if we’re not consistent. Panel: Nigel Bakker senior lecturer in the School of Education, University of Cape Town 18 July 2010 How languages coin new words (2) Compounding – the putting of two words together to express a new and separate concept – is just one of the ways that languages make new words. So green + house (green-house or greenhouse) is something different from a green house. Lots of languages do this, English among them. There are many other ways that languages make or invent or borrow or adapt new words, to fill particular needs. We’ll be looking at the main ones. Panel: Nigel Bakker senior lecturer in the School of Education, University of Cape Town 11 July 2010 How languages coin new words (1) All eyes on Soccer City this evening for the final of what has surely been a marvellous football – or soccer -- World Cup. Why is the game ‘soccer’ in some countries and ‘football’ in others? We’ll be looking at the fairly chaotic early origins of what eventually, in the late C19th, became Association Football, and at why in the United States David Beckham had to apologise for referring to ‘football’ instead of ‘soccer’; and at the term ‘soccer’ itself – and how it’s an example of the way English acquires new words. Panel: Nigel Bakker senior lecturer in the School of Education, University of Cape Town 4 July 2010 Translation and interpreting (2) It isn’t only events like the World Cup that bring together people from different countries and languages. In the 21st century the effect of globalisation is increasingly evident -- on trade and markets, on politics and alliances, on the exchange of medical and scientific knowledge, and so on. Regional and international organisations and conferences rely considerably on professional interpreters and translators. We’ll be looking at some of the opportunities available, what language combinations are prized, and how and where to find the training Panel: Dr Olivier Fléchais Member of AIIC, the International Association of Conference Interpreters Accredited translator, SA Translators’ Institute Sworn translator, High Court of South Africa 27 June 2010 Translation and interpreting (1) A great number of people are fluent in several languages. While they may be able informally to facilitate communication between people who don’t share a common language, this is quite a way short of the particular skills and competence that professional translators and interpreters offer. We’ll be looking at these professional skills and how they are acquired, and at some of the demands placed on interpreters in particular. Panel: Dr Olivier Fléchais Member of AIIC, the International Association of Conference Interpreters Accredited translator, SA Translators’ Institute Sworn translator, High Court of South Africa 13 June 2010 Little words (2) People who study and analyse Communication recognise that language is far more than simply the words that are uttered through speech or occur on the printed page. One of the key elements of language is the way it reflects relationships -- relationships between the speaker and the person spoken to, relationships in space and time, relationships in belief and attitude, and so on. Fundamental to the relationship between speaker and audience is the concept of ‘I’ and ‘you’. You can’t have one without the other. These are little words, and it’s other little words like prepositions that we use to negotiate the finer points of the relationship through language – we simply can’t do without the Ups and Downs, and Aboves and Belows, and On Tops and Beneaths, and Befores and Afters, and so on. We’ll be looking at the way language depends on these pronouns and prepositions. Panel: Peter Anderson senior lecturer in the Department of English, University of Cape Town 06 June 2010 Little words (1) It’s generally recognised that we have two kinds of vocabulary: an ‘active’ vocabulary of words that we are not only very familiar with but are quite likely to use in practice, and a much larger ‘passive’ vocabulary of words that we may have come across occasionally (or from the context can work out the meaning of) but are unlikely to use in practice very often, or indeed at all. We may have all sorts of important-sounding words at our command. But for all of us it will be the little words that we use most – words like The, I, Of, Was, And, For …. and so on. We’ll be looking at some of these little words and why they are important Panel: Peter Anderson senior lecturer in the Department of English, University of Cape Town 23 May 2010 - It’s often the shortest words that take up the most dictionary space. Think of the many different senses that can be applied to words like ‘run’ and ‘set’; and think of little words like ‘up’ and ‘down’ and ‘in’ and ‘out’ that are used, either on their own or in combination with other words, to create a wide range of expressions with distinct meanings.
- If you want to improve your English grammar and your appreciation of the written language, what resources should you look at?
- Why do reporters, journalists and radio presenters (and anybody else, for that matter) continually resort to buzzwords that contribute little or nothing to the meaning of what is being said?
We’ll be looking at some points of language usage sent in by you. Panel: Nigel Bakker senior lecturer in the School of Education, University of Cape Town 16 May 2010 Chomsky for beginners (2) The theory that we humans all have an innate capacity for language, and that there is a fairly universal timetable for a child’s acquisition of language, and that these ideas hold good across all languages and cultures, comes from ideas put forward in the 1950s and 1960s by the American linguist Noam Chomsky. We’ll be looking at the relevance of Chomsky’s theories to the study of sign language, and pidgins and creoles, and the whole nature/nurture debate. Panel: Rajend Mesthrie Professor of Linguistics, English Department, University of Cape Town 9 May 2010 Chomsky for beginners (1) The theories of the American scholar Noam Chomsky -- first advanced in the late 1950s and during the 1960s, and immediately controversial -- fundamentally challenged conventional views of the discipline of linguistics and turned upside down the way we think about the phenomenon of language itself. Now in his 80s, Chomsky has had a very considerable influence on language studies for the last 50 or 60 years. We’ll be doing some ‘Chomsky For Beginners’, looking at the impact of some of his ideas against the background of the conventional thinking of the time. Panel: Rajend Mesthrie Professor of Linguistics, English Department, University of Cape Town 2 May 2010 Mobile novels, technology and literacy Recent technology – particularly the mobile phone which can connect to the internet – has made it possible to write and distribute so-called ‘mobile novels’ which can be accessed from mobi-sites or received on M-Xit, one chapter at a time. It also allows readers to comment on the story, and to share comments with each other. A recent mobi-novel project in South Africa, aimed at a target group aged between 14 and 17, offered the text in both English and isiXhosa. It reached an audience of about 30 000. We’ll be looking at the response of young South African readers to this project, and at questions around literacy, bilingualism, language policy and language standards. 18 April 2010 Language and the Neolithic revolution: the Afro-Asiatic language family ‘Afro-Asiatic’ is one of the four major groupings of African languages generally recognised by linguists. Its hundreds of languages stretch right across the northern part of the continent, and among its important constituents are the Semitic languages such as Hebrew and Arabic, most of whose speakers are outside of Africa. There are conflicting ideas about the Afro-Asiatic link, one of them an ‘Out of Africa’ theory and the other proposing an Asian or Middle Eastern origin stemming from the Neolithic revolution. Panel: H. Ekkehard Wolff Emeritus Professor of Linguistics, University of Leipzig, Germany 11 April 2010 Human language evolution – once or many? The ‘Out of Africa’ theory is fairly widely accepted, that modern man and woman evolved first in Africa and over time spread to other parts of the world. Part of the condition of being a ‘modern’ man or woman would be to have the capacity for human language. It’s estimated that the history of writing goes back 5 000 years or so, but the capacity for language itself may be as much as 100 000 years old. Did human language evolve just the once – or more than once, in different places and at different times? And at this distance, can we ever be sure? Panel: H. Ekkehard Wolff Emeritus Professor of Linguistics, University of Leipzig, Germany 04 April 2010 Indians and Indian languages in South Africa (2) Last week in our language feature Word Of Mouth we recalled the arrival in 1860 of the first shipload of indentured labourers from India and we talked about the languages these migrants brought with them to South Africa. Today we’ll look at some of the exchange of vocabulary between the Indian languages and other local languages like English and Zulu, and also about the extent to which the Indian languages have been maintained here. Panel: Rajend Mesthrie Professor of Linguistics, University of Cape Town 28 March 2010 Indians and Indian languages in South Africa It’s 150 years since the arrival in South Africa in 1860 of the first shipload of indentured labourers from India. In Word Of Mouth today we’ll be talking about the languages these migrants brought with them to their new country, and about the earlier presence, before 1860, of people of Indian and Sri Lankan origin among the slave population at the Cape. Panel: Rajend Mesthrie Professor of Linguistics, University of Cape Town 21 March 2010 More insights today, in our regular language feature Word Of Mouth, into what an editor brings to a document before it reaches its final form. Among other things, we’ll be discussing some common difficulties with grammar and punctuation, and the hazards of personal and place names and names of institutions -- and how some of these may be forever ‘wrong’ because they’re cast in official stone. Panel: John Linnegar editor, trainer, language practitioner etc McGillivray Linnegar Associates, Cape Town 14 March 2010 Publishers employ professional copy-editors to prepare authors’ manuscripts for publication, with the object of ensuring that the finished text is correct, complete and consistent – and at the same time to make it as readable and accessible as possible. Panel: John Linnegar editor, trainer, language practitioner etc McGillivray Linnegar Associates, Cape Town 7 March 2010 Getting the message across effectively – whether you’re writing a report or making a presentation, or anything else - calls for a bit of thought. - Who am I addressing, and why?
- What do they already know, and what do they need to know?
- How much is too much information?
- How formal or informal should I be? And so on.
These questions may be fairly obvious, but it’s amazing how often we get it wrong. In Word Of Mouth today we’ll be thinking about effective communication and about some simple principles to follow to make it happen. Word Of Mouth will be in the programme just after half-past one. Panel: Ailsa Stewart-Smith senior lecturer, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town 28 February 2010 Language and culture are inextricably linked. Our language is not only part of our culture but it’s also the means of expressing and interpreting our traditions and beliefs, and the rules we live by, and the way we make sense of the world around us. In some languages there are quite complex rules which govern how you may refer to certain topics. In Word Of Mouth today we’ll be looking at aspects of the interrelationship between language and culture in some African languages. Word Of Mouth will be in the programme just after half-past one. Panel: Tessa Dowling Adjunct Professor of African Languages and Literatures School of Languages, University of Cape Town 21 February 2010 February 21 is International Mother Language Day. In Word Of Mouth today we’ll be ranging over such topics as the language of education, multilingualism and the level of support for the various indigenous official languages, terminology and dictionary units for the indigenous languages and the way languages absorb and develop new words as they need them. Word Of Mouth will be in the programme just after half-past one. Panel: Tessa Dowling Adjunct Professor of African Languages and Literatures School of Languages, University of Cape Town 14 February 2010 In our language programme Word Of Mouth today we’ll be looking at idioms and how and why these set phrases are sometimes altered, often somewhat surprisingly, by modern speakers. Also at the wide range of words or noises we make to fill gaps or to show we haven’t finished speaking – um, like, you know, I mean, ja (and many others). And at the process of making new words, some of which will catch on and find their way into the language. Word Of Mouth will be in the programme just after half-past one. Panel: Nigel Bakker Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, University of Cape Town 7 February 2010 In our language programme Word Of Mouth today we’ll be discussing some questions sent in by you -- looking at themes as diverse as the origins of idioms, the scope and range of dictionaries and the way they are prepared for different market segments, and at literary terms like ‘morality play’ and labels like ‘poet’ and ‘poetaster’. Word Of Mouth will be in the programme just after half-past one. Panel: Nigel Bakker Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, University of Cape Town 31 January 2010 The study of Sanskrit in the 19th century, and the discovery of its grammatical links with Latin and Greek, led to extensive research into the Indo-European languages – and the quest for ‘proof’ that all languages could be traced back to a common ancestor, perhaps 20 000 years ago. There is simply insufficient evidence for this, not least because of the lack of a comprehensive written record. In our language programme Word Of Mouth today we’ll be looking at language families and what determines how linguists classify languages as belonging to a particular family or sub-family – and where English fits in. Panel: Rajend Mesthrie Professor of Linguistics, Department of English, University of Cape Town 24 January 2010 Words from the Classical Hardly any schools in South Africa offer Latin (never mind the other classical language, Greek). Yet the lexicon of English owes a great deal to these classical languages. This is particularly evident in technical and academic writing, where it’s estimated that about 70% of the vocabulary is drawn from Latin and Greek. In our language programme Word Of Mouth today we’ll be talking about a university course for students of any discipline, designed to improve their word power through an understanding of some of the elements of Latin and Greek you might find in everyday English words. Panel: Gail Solomons Senior lecturer in Classics in the School of Languages and Literatures University of Cape Town and presenter of the course ‘Word Power’ | 
