Non-words in the English Language...

Unused but Useful: Oxford English Dictionary's Reject List
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Theunis Bates Contributor
AOL News
LONDON (Aug. 6) -- Ever engaged a freegan in nonversation, or does the very idea make you want to precuperate?
If you haven't a clue what we're talking about, don't worry, you're probably not xenolexic. The bizarre terms used in those last two sentences are "non words": Words that have allegedly been submitted to the Oxford English Dictionary -- the gatekeepers of the English language -- but rejected on the grounds that too few people currently use them. Some of these non words are hyper-local slang, while others briefly spring in and out of existence when they're deployed to describe short-lived phenomena. A freegan, for example, is an eco-campaigner who hunts for goodies in other people's trash; a nonversation is a vapid, pointless chat; to "precuperate" means to get ready for an oncoming illness; and, perhaps most appropriately of all, a xenolexic is someone who suffers intense confusion when faced with new words.
Recently graduated graphic designer Luke Ngakane, 22 -- who this summer made forgotten phrases the focus of his final art project at Kingston University, London -- told AOL News that many more failed words are hidden away in a secret vault at Oxford. According to British daily The Telegraph, this word bank houses 50 large filing cabinets, each crammed with thousands of 6-by-4-inch cards detailing every declined entry. Some of these slips were scribbled before 1918 -- the year "Lord of the Rings" author J.R.R. Tolkien was hired as an OED sub-editor. (He'd go on to spend many hours puzzling over the etymology of "walrus" and the definition of "waggle.") New non-words are now stored on computers. After hearing about the vault from another artist, Ngakane decided he'd try to save some of the lost phrases. He contacted Oxford University Press, OED's publishers, and asked if he could roam around among the archives. They confirmed the vault's existence but ignored his plea for access. Unwilling to abandon the project, he trawled the Internet, looking for amateur lexicographers who say their dictionary contenders had been denied by OED authorities. Through his own research and logophile contacts, Ngakane quickly built up a pamphlet's worth of non words. He selected 39 that "had a lovely flow, or perfectly fit the thing they're describing, like polkadodge, which is the dance that happens when two people attempt to pass each other but end up moving in the same direction," and compiled them in a "Dictionary of Lost Words." Some 150 copies of this alternative dictionary were printed on an old-fashioned letterpress and handed out to writers, journalists and "others who could help get as many of these unique words back into circulation." If he could put one word back into popular parlance, Ngakane says he'd pick furgle. "It means fumbling in your pocket or bag for keys or a coin that you can't quite get hold of, " he explains. "That's furgling." Here's the complete collection of non words. Who knows, if you slip them into enough conversations, maybe one day they'll make it into the OED. Accordionated: Being able to drive and refold a road map at the same time / Asphinxiation: Being sick to death of unanswerable puzzles or riddles / Blogish: A variety of English that uses a large number of initialisms, frequently used on blogs / Dringle: The watermark left on wood caused by a glass of liquid. / Dunandunate: The overuse of a word or phrase that has recently been added to your own vocabulary / Earworm: A catchy tune that frequently gets stuck in your head / Espacular: Something especially spectacular / Freegan: Someone who rejects consumerism, usually by eating discarded food / Fumb: Your large toe / Furgle: To feel in a pocket or bag for a small object such as a coin or key / Glocalization: Running a business according to both local and global considerations / Griefer: Someone who spends their online time harassing others / Headset jockey: A telephone call center worker / Lexpionage: The sleuthing of words and phrases / Locavor: A person who tries to eat only locally grown or produced food / Museum head: Feeling mentally exhausted and no longer able to take in information; usually following a trip to a museum / Nonversation: A worthless conversation, wherein nothing is explained or otherwise elaborated upon / Nudenda: An unhidden agenda / Onionate: To overwhelm with post-dining breath / Optotoxical: A look that could kill, normally from a parent or spouse / Parrotise: A haven for exotic birds especially green ones / Peppier: A waiter whose sole job is to offer diners ground pepper, usually from a large pepper mill / Precuperate: To prepare for the possibility of being ill / Pharming: The practice of creating a dummy website for phishing data / Polkadodge: The dance that occurs when two people attempt to pass each other but move in the same direction / Pregreening: To creep forward while waiting for a red traffic light to change / Quackmire: The muddy edges of a duck pond / Scrax: The waxy coating that is scratched off an instant lottery ticket / Smushables: Items that must be packed at the top of a bag to avoid being squashed / Spatulate: Removing cake mixture from the side of a bowl with a spatula / Sprog: To go faster then a jog but slower then a sprint / Sprummer: When summer and springtime can't decide which is to come first, usually hot one day then cold the next / Stealth-geek: Someone who hides their nerdy interests while maintaining a normal outward appearance / Vidiot: Someone who is inept at the act of programming video recording equipment / Whinese: A term for the language spoken by children on lengthy trips / Wibble: The trembling of the lower lip just shy of actually crying / Wurfing: The act of surfing the Internet while at work / Wikism: A piece of information that claims to be true but is wildly inaccurate / Xenolexica: A grave confusion when faced with unusual word

Semântica do Inglês

Semantic Exercises

1 - What structures can be predicates? What is the difference between predicates and predicators?

2 - Underline the referring expressions of the following sentences and separate the predicators using brackets [ ]:
a) My dog bit the mail carrier.
b) Mr. Anderson is doing Ann's assignment.
c) Saussure was a linguist.
d) This room reeks.

3 - Give an example in which a speaker resorts to an equative sentence sentence in order to clarify a confusion generated by the two interlocutors' different universes of discourse.

AULA DA PUC DIA 16 DE ABRIL

Haverá aula normalmente na sexta-feira dia 16 de abril para as turmas de fonologia do inglês e semântica do inglês

Language and social class

For those of you interested in the relationship between social class and language, check the link below, it's a discussion on the relationship between language and social hierarchy:

http://schott.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/weekend-competition-park-your-car-in-harvard-yard/

Of special interest is the comments that follow, posted by native speakers from different areas. Below is an example from a person from Buffallo, talking about their impression on the use of the plural word "YOUS" as the plural of "YOU."

"I am from the Buffalo, NY area and local usage of "yous" as a plural for you is a signal that one may not have gone to college, though the usage (or yousage) is pretty widespread. In fact, I went to college in Rochester, NY where students from all over the state were matriculated and my extremely nasal accent was generally considered declasse(...)"

Semântica do Inglês

Esta é a ementa do curso de Semântica do Inglês para os alunos da PUC este semestre (1o de 2010)


PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DE SÃO PAULO
FACULDADE DE COMUNICAÇÃO E FILOSOFIA

PROGRAMA DE ENSINO

Curso: Letras
Depto.: Lingüística
Disciplina: Lingüística do Inglês : Semântica do Inglês
Cred.: 02
Professor: Marcello Marcelino

Horas/Aula: 34
Sem/Ano: 1º/2010
Turno: Mat./Not.


I- Objetivos Gerais
Desenvolver a competência comunicativa do aluno, levando-o a refletir sobre as várias dimensões da construção do significado.

II- Objetivos Específicos
O aluno deverá ser capaz de identificar e explicar os métodos pelos quais falantes e ouvintes constróem a comunicação interpessoal e de expressar-se com adequação, clareza e originalidade.

III- Conteúdo
3.1. Noções básicas em Semântica
- orações, emissões e proposições
- referência e “sense”

3.2. Da referência ao “sense”
- predicado, expressões referenciais e universo de discurso
- relações de “sense”

3.3. O significado da palavra
- o dicionário
- o predicado e seus argumentos
- os papéis temáticos

3.4. O significado na comunicação interpessoal
3.4.1 O ato da fala:
- definição e caracterização
- a diferença entre dizer e querer dizer
- inventário gramatical e adequação lingüística
3.4.2. A lógica e a conversação lingüística
- os conceitos de “entailment” e de implicatória
- as máximas da comunicação: quantidade, qualidade, relação e modo
3.5. O significado no discurso: coesão textual
IV- Metodologia
4.1. aulas expositivas
4.2. leitura e discussão de textos teóricos da bibliografia
4.3. análise de textos autênticos
4.4. produção de textos


V- Avaliação
5.1. Avaliação constante de participação e desempenho em trabalhos de análise e produção que podem ser individuais obrigatórios.
5.2. Dois testes individuais obrigatórios

VI- Bibliografia Básica

GRICE, H. P. (1975) Logic and Conversation. In: Cole and Morgan (eds.) SYNTAX AND SEMANTICS, vol. 3.

HURFORD, J. R. & HEASLEY, B. (1983) SEMANTICS: A COURSEBOOK. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.

RADFORD, ATKINSON, BRITAIN, CLAHSEN, SPENCER (1999) LINGUISTICS – AN INTRODUCTION - Cambridge



VII- Bibliografia Complementar

LEECH, G. & SVARTIVIK, J. (1978) A COMUNICATIVE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH. London. Longman Ltd.

SEARLE, J. (s.d.) What is a Speech Act? In: PHILOSOPHY IN AMERICA. Cópia xerox.

Volume especial da Intercâmbio sobre Bilinguismo

Aí vai o link para um volume de uma revista virtual, volume especial sobre Bilinguismo.
http://www.pucsp.br/pos/lael/intercambio/

Sugestão de curso para os interessados em bilinguismo!

Este é um curso que será oferecido pelo SINPRO (sindicato dos professores do Estado de São Paulo). Para obter informações, mande email para Mara do SINPRO, no email mara@sinprosp.org.br ou no telefone 5080 59 74. Aqui eu coloco as informações que me foram enviadas pelo SINPRO:

Fevereiro 2010
Alfabetização e letramento na educação bilíngue: aportes teóricos e metodológicos
Público-alvo: Professores de educação infantil e séries iniciais do ensino fundamental e demais interessados
Objetivo: Construir uma base teórica que sustente as práticas de alfabetização e letramento propostas a crianças bilíngues com vistas à formação de um usuário competente das línguas na comunicação oral e escrita
Conteúdo: Conceitos de bilinguismo e educação bilíngue; modelos de educação bilíngue presentes no Brasil; conceitos de letramento e alfabetização; o processo de alfabetização em uma perspectiva sócio-construtivista; formação de leitores e de escritores; ensinoaprendizagem de segunda língua: múltiplas perspectivas; análise de situações didáticas em contextos bilíngues; construção coletiva de princípios sobre alfabetização de crianças bilíngues; proposição de alternativas de trabalho na educação bilíngüe que contemplem a formação cultural e o acesso à leitura e à escrita pela criança
Professores: Selma de Assis MouraPedagoga, mestre em Linguagem e Educação, tem atuado como professora, coordenadora Pedagógica e assessora em escolas bilíngües
Período: 3, 10 e 24 de fevereiro; 3, 10, 17, 24 e 31 de março; 7 e 14 de abril (quartas-feiras), das 19h às 22h
Carga horária: 30 horas
Número de vagas: 30
Preço: sindicalizados – R$ 183,00 - não-sindicalizados – R$ 366,00

Palestra BRAZ-TESOL na DISAL 19/02/2010

No dia 19 de fevereiro das 10h às 12h, ministrarei junto com a Cris Contow uma palestra entitulada:

Getting your Intonation Right: more than just ups and downs

será um evento do Braz-Tesol