Stack Exchange for English Language and Usage

http://english.stackexchange.com/

by SandB0x • 16 years ago

42 14 16 years ago

english.stackexchange.com

Mithrandir2• 16 years ago

Why couldn't people use this more often?

epochwolf• 16 years ago

Because english isn't as standardized as we would like to think. The written and spoken forms are not a one to one translation. Written english could almost be classify as a seperate language that happens to share words and similar syntax. At least the written version has a modest level of standardization. The spoken language is very fragmented.

Qz• 16 years ago

From a linguistics standpoint, all paired written and spoken versions of languages are considered separate languages.

Mithrandir2• 16 years ago

I wasn't referring to spoken language. I meant when people try to literally "write like they speak" and end up sounding ridiculous because, as you said, written English could almost be another language.

samatman• 16 years ago

"at least the written version has a modest level of standardization"

O rly?

srsly, tho, there are lotz of ways English is writ, la?

thks cellphones! lol

jamesaguilar• 16 years ago

Because 99% of the time English will not respond with a compile or runtime error when your input to it is slightly malformed.

elblanco2• 16 years ago

Because there is no such thing as correct English.

tygorius• 16 years ago

OK, so what is the politically correct term for the use of, say, a double negative in English?

The preferred euphemism used to be "non-standard", which still leaves the problem of defining "standard" English.

pfeyz• 16 years ago

Judging from the top questions that I read, this is not a site for linguists, at least not ones interested in descriptive rules of language. Nearly all questions asked about standards of written English, which are arbitrary and uninteresting to a linguist, except in that the bickering over what is “proper” might bring to our attention divergent forms among varieties of English.

For people interested in the debate over whether a “correct” English (or any language for that matter) exists, here is an interesting article by Geoffrey Pullum:

http://people.ucsc.edu/~pullum/MLA2004.pdf

Re: written English vs. spoken English Spoken English is a primary linguistic form while written English is secondary or parasitic on spoken forms, so actually from a linguistic perspective, calling written English a language is wrong. English exists in speakers’ minds and written English is a filtered encoding of that language with certain non-linguistic constraints put upon it (e.g. in my dialect of English, dropping an auxiliary at the beginning of a yes/no question is completely okay, but in writing, I hardly ever do this, unless in a very informal context. This is because written standards tell me not to.)

stcredzero2• 16 years ago

A lot of the signal in spoken English is carried by tone of voice and emphasis. Which confuses people from cultures where emphasis is not part of the signal, much as English speakers are often confused by tonal languages.

Written English is more formal presumably because it has to get by without that part of the signal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eats,_Shoots_%26_Leaves

jonpaul• 16 years ago

My favorite word source: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

Stack Exchange for English Language and Usage

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