Grammar Discussions

[Buzzard]

Yes I have no ability to comment. my pronunciation is screwed. Never really taught phonics at school. Born in south east Queensland with family from there, best childhood friends were Victorians, moved to Cairns at age 12 and now living in Adelaide. I've had no long term standard of pronunciation. My children laugh at the way I speak all the time.

Tut tut medhead, tut tut.

 

[Warks]

Some of the recent comments remind me of hearing about an area of study called Socio Linguistics. Where I grew up we said, 'mis cheeevius', and as an adult I had to train myself out of that to learn mischievous. An interesting example is the Irish who tend to say they are going to see a fillum and some of that was transferred to Aus. That's as I understand it. Do we have a socio Linguistics person available?

Yes I remember a teacher at school, Miss Cheevious (who said it all the time).

My secret shame was that I was brought up saying 'furtherest' when in fact it is 'furthest'. I was corrected by Mrs Warks many years ago.
I did hear my mother say 'furtherest' a while ago and exclaimed "That's where I got it!"


Another one that is neither right or wrong either way (like either/neither) is 'again' - pronounced either "agen" or "a-gayne". I stand firmly in the "agen" camp but can see no reason to fault the other pronunciation except to look down my provincial nose at the speaker...

 

[medhead]

I've never heard you give a speech, but having met you in person, you seem perfectly understandable.



Fixed.

Children laugh, adults just run away. :mrgreen:

*runs* Just kidding...

Hmm. They don't laugh at what I say (they wouldn't dare ), but the way I say it.

 

[Pushka]

And you can pick an Easterner by their pronunciation of Mall and Pool. . And I shudder when I hear some Sydney-siders say School.

 

[JessicaTam]

Some of the recent comments remind me of hearing about an area of study called Socio Linguistics. Where I grew up we said, 'mis cheeevius', and as an adult I had to train myself out of that to learn mischievous. An interesting example is the Irish who tend to say they are going to see a fillum and some of that was transferred to Aus. That's as I understand it. Do we have a socio Linguistics person available?

I did study linguistics and phonetics at uni, but it was a long time ago.

...
Another one that is neither right or wrong either way (like either/neither) is 'again' - pronounced either "agen" or "a-gayne". I stand firmly in the "agen" camp but can see no reason to fault the other pronunciation except to look down my provincial nose at the speaker...

Actually either and neither have two very different meanings.

Either is used to distinguish between desired alternatives, such as, "I want either a business or first class seat".
Neither is used to distinguish between undesired alternatives, such as, "I want neither an economy nor premium economy seat".

Neither is actually a contraction of 'not either'.

 

[medhead]

I did study linguistics and phonetics at uni, but it was a long time ago.

Actually either and neither have two very different meanings.

Either is used to distinguish between desired alternatives, such as, "I want either a business or first class seat".
Neither is used to distinguish between undesired alternatives, such as, "I want neither an economy or premium economy seat".

Neither is actually a contraction of 'not either'.

And I'm sure I was taught neither is used with nor, rather than or.

 

[JessicaTam]

And I'm sure I was taught neither is used with nor, rather than or.

Well spotted.

I did say my linguistics training was a long time ago.

 

[medhead]

Well spotted.

I did say my linguistics training was a long time ago.

Whoops. I think I was supposed to put a ? at the end of my [-]statement[/-] question.

 

[JohnK]

Are we making any allowances for AFFers whose first language is not English?

Probably not.

I can only laugh, or cry, when I hear someone struggle with English but continue to speak the mother tongue at every opportunity

"Need to know where are we"
"We will scheduling this one this week"

 

[medhead]

Having just spent a week at an Asia regional congress I'm amazed and embarrassed by my inability to speak more than one language. There are sometimes amusing things said. But I would never laugh at people presenting in English instead of their first language. And I always give them the respect of listening and trying to understand.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Probably not.

I can only laugh, or cry, when I hear someone struggle with English but continue to speak the mother tongue at every opportunity

"Need to know where are we"
"We will scheduling this one this week"

Just how comfortable are you when addressing others in a non-English language? In such a case, would you be more concerned about getting your meaning across than about grammatical perfection?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yes I remember a teacher at school, Miss Cheevious (who said it all the time).

My secret shame was that I was brought up saying 'furtherest' when in fact it is 'furthest'. I was corrected by Mrs Warks many years ago.
I did hear my mother say 'furtherest' a while ago and exclaimed "That's where I got it!"


Another one that is neither right or wrong either way (like either/neither) is 'again' - pronounced either "agen" or "a-gayne". I stand firmly in the "agen" camp but can see no reason to fault the other pronunciation except to look down my provincial nose at the speaker...

speaking of furhter/farther... I'm guessing that's already been covered up thread? But it reminds me of the airline company that splashed a huge 'We take your cargo further' decal on the side of their aircraft :shock:

 

[Spongbob]

Reading all the comments in this thread, some of us might resent our recent posts.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Reading all the comments in this thread, some of us might resent our recent posts.

a recent resentment?

 

[JohnK]

Just how comfortable are you when addressing others in a non-English language? In such a case, would you be more concerned about getting your meaning across than about grammatical perfection?

What has that got to do it?

My Thai is poor. I cannot construct sentences. But I am trying my heart out.

On the other hand people have chosen to live and work in Australia and instead of trying to improve their English they speak to one another in their native tongue at their desks, in the lunch room and I am guessing everywhere else. Why wouldn't you practice English at every opportunity even at home? You don't care? You don't feel comfortable? Nah they don't care if their English improves ir not.

But what would I know. I am just a silly migrant where English is not my first language. Ha. English is not even my second language.

 

[marki]

Or the "separate you to (sic)" - where one doesn't know if it is the poor keyboard skill or use of the incorrect word.

How embarrassing not sure weather it was iPhone keyboard late night keystroke ( whether )


Sent from my iPhone using AustFreqFly

 

[marki]

What has that got to do it?

My Thai is poor. I cannot construct sentences. But I am trying my heart out.

On the other hand people have chosen to live and work in Australia and instead of trying to improve their English they speak to one another in their native tongue at their desks, in the lunch room and I am guessing everywhere else. Why wouldn't you practice English at every opportunity even at home? You don't care? You don't feel comfortable? Nah they don't care if their English improves ir not.

But what would I know. I am just a silly migrant where English is not my first language. Ha. English is not even my second language.

I try speak another language hope you can learn one too ..... I choose to live and work on this world.


Sent from my iPhone using AustFreqFly

 

[SeatBackForward]

What has that got to do it?

My Thai is poor. I cannot construct sentences. But I am trying my heart out.

On the other hand people have chosen to live and work in Australia and instead of trying to improve their English they speak to one another in their native tongue at their desks, in the lunch room and I am guessing everywhere else. Why wouldn't you practice English at every opportunity even at home? You don't care? You don't feel comfortable? Nah they don't care if their English improves ir not.

But what would I know. I am just a silly migrant where English is not my first language. Ha. English is not even my second language.

So when you're at a Thai golf club house, you see another westerner there, are you comfortable speaking to them in Thai?

 

[JohnK]

So when you're at a Thai golf club house, you see another westerner there, are you comfortable speaking to them in Thai?

So now you are comparing a tourist to a permanent resident?

Is there a difference you say?

 

[Warks]

Some sounds in other languages are very hard to get exactly right. This is where it should be okay as long as you are getting your point across without offence - I know how in some languages the slightest mispronunciation is the difference between something benign and a grave insult!

I was learning German for a fair while and my tutor would insist on every letter being perfect. One day I mentioned I knew Dutch and German people who had lived here for 30 years but still couldn't pronounce their 'th' sounds correctly and we could still understand them perfectly. After that she was more lenient.