USAGE AND STIGMATIZATION

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USAGE AND STIGMATIZATION

• by Don L. F. Nilsen and
• Alleen Pace Nilsen

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Perspective on Usage
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Its Academic, or Is It?

• If youre 35 years or older, you probably
  identify a common grammatical error in the
  heading on this page.
• Younger than that and, well, you likely have
  another opinion Its all relativeexcept, of
  course, for the apostrophe.
• Unfortunately, age appears to be the demarcation
  here.
• (Larson 2009 139)

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Avoidance of Clichés
boggles the mind. bores me to tears. foregone conclusion. going down a slippery slope. in broad daylight. in the foreseeable future. is on the bubble. It goes without saying. Its not for me to say. literally. opening a Pandoras box. playing God. pushing the envelope. who can say? Has thinking outside the box become such a cliché that its now inside the box? (Pence 2009135-137)
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The Computer GenerationMore WordsMore
Grammatical Errors

• Patricia OConner says, rather than being
  obsessed by error, we should nurture our love of
  talking about words, about language.
• Thanks to the computer, Americans are
  communicating with one another at a rate
  undreamed of a generation agoand in writing.
• People who seldom wrote more than a memo or a
  shopping list are producing blizzards of words.
• (OConner 2009 143)

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• The downside of all this techno-wizardry is that
  our grammar isnt quite up to the mark. Were
  writing more, and worse, than ever before.
• The ease and immediacy of electronic
  communication are forcing the computer-literate
  to think about their grammar for the first time
  in years, if ever.
• Its ironic that this back-to-basics message
  should come from cyberspace.
• (OConnor 2009 144)

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French vs. English Usage

• In his Growth and Structure of the English
  Language, Otto Jespersen said,
• The French language is like the stiff French
  garden of Louis XIV, while the English is like an
  English park, which is laid out seemingly without
  any definite plan, and in which you are allowed
  to walk everywhere according to your fancy
  without having to fear a stern keeper enforcing
  rigorous regulations.
• (MacNeil 2009 66)

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The Grammar Police
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Bad Usages in Literature

• In Hamlet, the King says, Nor what he spake,
  though it lackd form a little, Was not like
  madness.
• In Othello, the Duke says, Yet opinionthrows a
  more safer voice on you.
• In Othello, Desdemona says, My life and
  education both do learn me how to respect you.
• (MacNeil 2009 67)
• In Julius Caesar, Caesar says to Brutus, That
  was the most unkindest cut of all.
• In Star Trek, the narrator says, To boldly go.

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• It fascinates me (MacNeil) that axe, meaning
  ask, so common in black American English, is
  standard in Chaucer in all formsaxe, axen, axed
  and axed him if Troilus were there.
• Ernest Hemingway believed that American
  literature did not really begin until Mark Twain,
  who outraged critics by reproducing the
  vernacular of characters like Huck Finn.
• (MacNeil 2009 67)

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• It fascinates me how differently we all speak in
  different circumstances. We have levels of
  formality, as in our clothing.
• There are very formal occasions, often requiring
  written English the job application or the
  letter to the editorthe dark-suit, serious-tie
  language, with everything pressed and the lint
  brushed off.
• There is our less formal out-in-the-world
  languagea more comfortable suit, but still
  respectable.

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• There is language for close friends in the
  evenings, on weekendsblue-jeans-and-sweatshirt
  language, when its good to get the tie off.
• There is family language, even more relaxed,
  full of grammatical short cuts, family slang,
  echoes of old jokes that have become intimate
  shorthandthe language of pajamas and uncombed
  hair.
• Finally, there is the language with no clothes
  on the talk of couplesmurmurs, sighs,
  gruntslanguage at its least self-conscious,
  open, vulnerable, and primitive.
• (MacNeil 2009 68)

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Indirect Language and Politeness Phenomena

• When you are at a dinner party and want the
  salt, you dont blurt out, Gemme the salt.
  Rather you use what linguists call a
  whimperative, as in Do you think you could pass
  the salt?
• Yes, our point is to request the salt, but
  youre doing it in such a way that first takes
  care to establish what linguists call felicity
  conditions, or the prerequisites to making a
  sensible request.
• (Pinker 2009 72)

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• The underlying rationale is that the hearer not
  be given a command but simply be asked or advised
  about one of the necessary conditions for passing
  the salt. Your goal is to have your need
  satisfied without treating the listener as a
  flunky who can be bossed around at will.
• In an episode of Seinfeld, George is asked by
  his date if he would like to come up for coffee.
  He declines, explaining that caffeine keeps him
  up at night. Later he slaps his forehead
  Coffee doesnt mean coffee! Coffee means
  sex!
• (Pinker 2009 73)

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The Semicolon
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A Usage Test

• 1. Find all of the incorrect usages in the
  following sentences.
• 2. Using metalanguage (e.g. infinitive, past
  participle, etc.), explain each.
• 3. Rate each incorrect usage from 1-10 in
  terms of stigmatization.
• 4. See if you can find any usages with reverse
  stigmatizationusages where the correct form is
  more stigmatized than the incorrect form.

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• 1. He decided to never again loan money to a
  person who aint got no security.
• 2. I will always choose the piece of cake that
  has the least calories.
• 3. That was the exact person who I was
  thinking about.
• 4. If I was able to drive slower, perhaps I
  might could avoid getting speeding
• tickets.
• 5. She done all the work, but he dont
  appreciate it.

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6. These here books are different than them
there books. 7. Dey about ready to study
dey book. 8. Is this John book or
yourn? 9. He drunk the most fastest of
anybody there. 10. She been dancin all night.
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11. We was answering as good as anybody
else. 12. He hurt hisself yesterday when he
jump off the roof. 13. He was open a bottle
of wine while him and me was called over the
loudspeaker. 14. Dose two boy very
tin. 15. I done been finished before anyone
knew it was me.
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• 16. Wasnt it the magnificentest movie youall
  had ever seen?
• 17. She had learn to answer No irregardless of
  the question.
• He thought the boid be purty.
• He bought a SHOWance policy from the POlice
  academy.
• 20. Dey a lot of eviDENCE that everyone forgot
  dey homework.

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• Can I go to the bafroom?
• The reason he a rat fink is because he only done
  half of his homework.
• My work finished, but I used to could finish it
  faster.
• I going to school early because Im disinterested
  in staying home.
• We divided the cake between all five of us, just
  like Paul do.

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CONTRADICTIONS TO EXPLAIN
1. Dont use no double negatives.
2. Make each pronoun agree with their
antecedent. 3. Verbs has to agree with their
subjects. 4. Dont write run-on sentences
they are hard to read. 5. Dont use commas,
that arent necessary.
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6. Try to not ever split infinitives. 7. A
preposition is something which you should never
end a sentence with. 8. Correct spelling is
esential. 9. Proofread your essay to see if any
words are left. Sign on an office door
DEPARTMENT OF REDUNDANCY DEPARTMENT.
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Usage Web Site

• Superlatives!!!! by Kali Lux
• http//my.brainshark.com/Superlatives-5423298
• The The Impotence of Proofreading (Taylor Mali)
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vp_rwB5_3PQc
• Kinetic Typology
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vJ7E-aoXLZGYfeature
  player_embedded