tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/grammar-5034/articlesGrammar – The Conversation2023-11-02T14:21:41Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2147862023-11-02T14:21:41Z2023-11-02T14:21:41ZSouth Africa’s literacy crisis: our app could help young readers by using home language and English<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556320/original/file-20231027-21-itwn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Educational technology, while no silver bullet, can be a tool for learning.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wirestock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Literacy changes lives: in Unesco’s words, it “<a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/literacy/need-know#:%7E:text=Literacy%20empowers%20and%20liberates%20people,on%20health%20and%20sustainable%20development.">empowers and liberates people</a>, … reduces poverty, increases participation in the labour market and has positive effects on health and sustainable development”. </p>
<p>But in South Africa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-10-year-olds-are-struggling-to-read-it-can-be-fixed-206008">8 out of 10 children</a> cannot read for meaning by the end of their third school year.</p>
<p>During the first three years of their education, South African children receive schooling in one of the 11 written official languages. Generally, this means being taught in their <a href="https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00X9JQ.pdf">home language</a>.</p>
<p>Then, at the beginning of grade 4 – when most learners are about 10 years old – English becomes the language of instruction. Learners are expected to be literate in both English and their home language by this time. In reality, they are not literate in any language. </p>
<p>The problem is partly caused by the fact that South Africa is, in many respects, a resource-scarce country, especially as it concerns indigenous languages. Even a language such as isiZulu, with <a href="https://www.thepresidency.gov.za/content/census-2022-statistical-release">15 million home language speakers</a>, has a dearth of language education resources. The situation is even worse for smaller languages, such as isiNdebele, with just over 1 million home language speakers.</p>
<p>In such an environment, where it’s not easy to acquire literacy, the innovative and creative use of technology offers new ways of tackling this strategic challenge. This is what our <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3571884.3604303">Ngiyaqonda! project</a> aims to do. “Ngiyaqonda” is an isiZulu word which means “I understand”. </p>
<p>The project centres on a mobile application to support literacy development. The app’s goal is to provide a rich digital environment, involving speech and text technology, in which learners build grammatically correct sentences based on audio prompts generated via synthetic voice technology – a first for isiZulu. </p>
<p>The initial focus is on the learner’s home language (it’s currently being piloted with grade 3 isiZulu-speaking learners at a school in Soweto, Johannesburg). English is introduced gradually as a target language. The language and speech technology has been developed to provide linguistic accuracy and is grounded in teaching principles. </p>
<h2>Large language models</h2>
<p>Technology, especially the employment of language technology in the education domain, is not a silver bullet. Its use must be carefully considered. This means having a clear idea of the expectations and limitations of possible solutions. In other words, what factors should be considered when using technology in support of literacy development for young children?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mobile-app-offers-new-learning-tools-for-anatomy-students-but-tech-isnt-a-silver-bullet-185919">Mobile app offers new learning tools for anatomy students. But tech isn't a silver bullet</a>
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<p>A multimodal approach is an obvious starting point: children can talk long before they can read and write. Employing speech technology along with text technology helps to bridge the gap from oral competency in a language to written competency. Grammatical correctness and the appropriate use of suitable vocabulary are essential, too. </p>
<p><a href="https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt">ChatGPT</a> has changed popular perceptions of what is possible in modelling languages using computers. The program uses large language models, which predict how words occur together in a language. This requires massive amounts of data. But there’s a problem when dealing with a resource-scarce language like isiZulu: there simply isn’t enough data available to train a model that is reliable enough to meet the requirements we’ve mentioned. And isiZulu’s linguistic characteristics, like the complex internal structure of its words, could severely affect the grammatical accuracy of such models if trained on insufficient data.</p>
<h2>Computational grammars</h2>
<p>That’s where <a href="https://www.grammaticalframework.org/">computational grammars</a> come in. These are structured sets of rules that describe how words occur in a language. Instead of making predictions based on previously seen data, computational grammars model the grammar of the language in a more direct way, allowing a larger degree of control over accuracy. </p>
<p>Our approach involves the use of such grammars for isiZulu and English and covers both languages’ major linguistic structures, as well as curriculum-based vocabulary. They have been designed to generate thousands of grammatically correct sentences that meet the teaching and learning requirements of repetition and novelty.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-reading-crisis-5-steps-to-address-childrens-literacy-struggles-205961">South Africa's reading crisis: 5 steps to address children's literacy struggles</a>
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<p>These sentences function as the language content of the speech-enabled mobile application. The application uses synthetic voice technology (also known as text-to-speech) to read aloud the automatically generated sentences in either isiZulu or English. The computational grammars act as a predictive text engine that allows users to recreate the prompt sentences word by word. An area of the screen is dedicated to displaying words as options for building the sentence. Users can select words by dragging them into the sentence itself; with each correct selection, new options are generated.</p>
<h2>Lessons</h2>
<p>In the earlier lessons, the application focuses on the task of decoding. This is a mental process and an essential component of reading in which sequences of letters must be associated with their corresponding sounds to form words. At this stage, lessons are monolingual.</p>
<p>For example, in the first lesson, a learner might encounter the sentence</p>
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<p>UVusi ufuna isikhindi ediloweni (Vusi searches for his pants in the drawer).</p>
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<p>This would be read aloud by the text-to-speech in isiZulu. The learner must fit the words they see to the sounds they hear.</p>
<p>Later lessons are multilingual and focus at the same time on reading for meaning and learning a target language. For most learners, the target language is English. Learners listen to sentences in one language and must reproduce a translation textually. </p>
<p>The app currently includes nine lessons. We plan to significantly expand this soon.</p>
<h2>Pilot project</h2>
<p>The purpose of the pilot study is to establish whether the app makes a measurable difference in learners’ ability to read and compose sentences. It is used during scheduled reading periods and is meant to complement the educator’s existing teaching approach. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/learning-to-read-is-a-journey-a-study-identifies-where-south-african-kids-go-off-track-206242">Learning to read is a journey: a study identifies where South African kids go off track</a>
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<p>We are fortunate to be collaborating with a school and team of educators who have embraced innovation as an aid to improving their learners’ outcomes. The results of the study are expected towards the end of 2023 and will inform subsequent studies in 2024. </p>
<p>Preliminary results indicate that both the teachers and the learners are benefiting from using the app in the classroom. The teachers say they appreciate its multimodal aspect, which allows the children to learn independently; the children are excited to use it during their reading lessons.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214786/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laurette Marais works for the CSIR. This work has been funded by the South African Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laurette Pretorius consults to the CSIR. </span></em></p>The language and speech technology has been developed to provide linguistic accuracy and is grounded in teaching principles.Laurette Marais, Senior Researcher, Council for Scientific and Industrial ResearchLaurette Pretorius, Professor Extraordinarius, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2117322023-08-17T20:10:07Z2023-08-17T20:10:07ZDo languages become less complex with more new adult speakers? Research shows it’s not that simple<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543151/original/file-20230817-25-s3whx1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4935%2C3951&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tower_of_Babel_(Bruegel)#/media/File:Pieter_Bruegel_the_Elder_-_The_Tower_of_Babel_(Rotterdam)_-_Google_Art_Project_-_edited.jpg">Pieter Bruegel the Elder / Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you’ve ever seen Monty Python’s Life of Brian, you might remember that <em>Romanes eunt domus</em> means “Romans go home”. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_ite_domum">Or does it?</a> Isn’t <em>domus</em> the nominative? Shouldn’t we be using the dative? Or is it the accusative? </p>
<p>Grammar is very complicated, especially if you are learning a new language. And if lots of people have to learn a new language, wouldn’t it be easier to make things simpler?</p>
<p>This is an intriguing idea linguists have previously proposed: languages lots of people learn as adults should tend to change over time to have simpler grammar, to accommodate the needs of learners who lack children’s sponge-like facility for picking up a new lingo.</p>
<p>However, in <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adf7704">a new study in Science Advances</a>, we analysed more than 1,200 languages to show this idea is not true, dashing the hopes of language learners worldwide.</p>
<h2>How many words for ‘the dog’ do you need?</h2>
<p>The theory of grammatical simplicity and non-native speakers has thrived because it seems intuitively reasonable. </p>
<p>Just as more non-native speakers should lead to simpler grammar, languages primarily spoken by native speakers should become more complex. This is because children can readily learn arbitrary grammatical rules and, as we collectively become more familiar with a language, we can encode more information in language more efficiently. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/most-assume-writing-systems-get-simpler-but-3-600-years-of-chinese-writing-show-its-getting-increasingly-complex-194732">Most assume writing systems get simpler. But 3,600 years of Chinese writing show it’s getting increasingly complex</a>
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<p>For example, in the relatively isolated language of Iceland, there are three different word forms for “the dog”, depending on what the dog is doing in a given sentence: <em>hundurinn</em>, <em>hundinn</em> and <em>hundinum</em> (the nominative, accusative, and dative forms, respectively). But speakers of Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian, three countries historically in more regular contact with each other, simply use <em>hunden</em> in all scenarios. </p>
<p>It’s nice to think we can bend our language rules to accommodate newcomers and neighbours. But is this example just an anecdote, or does it indicate a universal feature of language change where languages evolve in different ways depending on who speaks them?</p>
<h2>Putting the theory to the test</h2>
<p>To test this theory we used a global database of grammatical features called <a href="https://grambank.clld.org/">Grambank</a>.</p>
<p>From the database, we created two measures of grammatical complexity for each language: <em>fusion</em>, which depends on how much the language uses features such as prefixes and suffixes, and <em>informativity</em>, which shows how many pieces of grammatical information must be present for sentences to make sense. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543128/original/file-20230817-27-7snpd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A figure containing two world maps dotted with coloured circles, one showing 'Fusion' and the other showing 'Informativity'. Some language names are marked on the maps. There is also a branching diagram showing relationships among the Uralic languages." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543128/original/file-20230817-27-7snpd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543128/original/file-20230817-27-7snpd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543128/original/file-20230817-27-7snpd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543128/original/file-20230817-27-7snpd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543128/original/file-20230817-27-7snpd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543128/original/file-20230817-27-7snpd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543128/original/file-20230817-27-7snpd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The distribution of two measures of language complexity, fusion (A) and informativity (B), across the global sample of more than 1,200 languages. (C) The distribution of grammatical informativity scores across the family of Uralic languages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adf7704">Shcherbakova et al. / Science Advances</a></span>
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<p>Using these measures, we modelled the relationship between complexity, social and demographic factors (such as numbers of native and non-native speakers), and language status (such as whether the language is a national language or is used in education). </p>
<p>We also took into account the historical origins of languages. For example, French and Italian are similar because both descended from Latin. This process creates “trees” of languages, like the picture of the Uralic languages family above.</p>
<h2>Grammar changes more slowly than populations</h2>
<p>Our results show how language complexity evolved alongside the number of native – and non-native – speakers of each language. Contrary to the hypothesis, it seems that changes in grammatical complexity are too slow to be affected by the ebbs and flows of new adult speakers. </p>
<p>A good example of this is German, which is learned and spoken by a large number of non-native speakers who must navigate its case system, three genders, verbal agreement, and a multitude of other grammatical distinctions. For example, anyone learning German needs to remember whether every single noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter, like the feminine fork (<em>die Gabel</em>), the masculine spoon (<em>der Löffel</em>), and the neuter knife (<em>das Messer</em>).</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/research-on-2-400-languages-shows-nearly-half-the-worlds-language-diversity-is-at-risk-204014">Research on 2,400 languages shows nearly half the world's language diversity is at risk</a>
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<p>Instead, we found the patterns of grammatical complexity we observe today are more likely to have arisen through a combination of historical language change and contact with other languages. </p>
<p>Our study shows how large-scale datasets and rigorous methods can shed new light on long-standing questions about what makes grammar more or less complex. </p>
<p>And although we found no evidence for the impact of non-native language speakers on grammatical complexity, there are still many more questions to explore about how social and demographic changes might influence the way we communicate with each other.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211732/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The idea a language should grow simpler if people need to learn it as adults has an intuitive appeal. But an analysis of more than 1,200 languages shows this doesn’t quite stack up.Sam Passmore, Research Fellow, Evolution of Cultural Diversity Initiative, Australian National UniversityOlena Shcherbakova, Doctoral Researcher, Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary AnthropologySimon Greenhill, Associate Professor, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1962852023-02-06T19:04:25Z2023-02-06T19:04:25ZLearning grammar is just as important as it always was but the way we teach it has changed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507989/original/file-20230202-18242-14ea3i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5742%2C3811&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many students returning to school this year face a renewed focus on grammar. Just before Christmas, the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/grammar-is-back-sweeping-overhaul-of-english-syllabus-for-years-3-10-20221201-p5c2xp.html">NSW curriculum was overhauled</a> to include the “explicit teaching of grammar, sentence structure and punctuation in high school”.</p>
<p>This comes amid <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/reading-standards-for-year-9-boys-at-record-low-naplan-results-show-20221028-p5btqi.html">concerns about literacy levels</a>, particularly among teenage boys. Last month, a major Productivity Commission <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/call-for-focus-on-teaching-as-academic-results-slide-despite-300b-school-funding-deal-20230119-p5cdwu.html">report on schools</a> also criticised nationwide literacy (and numeracy) standards. </p>
<p>With so many online tools now available to help us write, why is grammar still important? </p>
<h2>What is grammar?</h2>
<p>Grammar is the backbone of any language. We use the rules of grammar to structure words into sentences and sentences into longer speech and writing others can understand us. </p>
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<img alt="A row of books on a shelf." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508023/original/file-20230203-1586-mgwnqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508023/original/file-20230203-1586-mgwnqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508023/original/file-20230203-1586-mgwnqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508023/original/file-20230203-1586-mgwnqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508023/original/file-20230203-1586-mgwnqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508023/original/file-20230203-1586-mgwnqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508023/original/file-20230203-1586-mgwnqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Grammar is the backbone of any language.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Syd Wachs/Unsplash</span></span>
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<p>Examples of grammatical rules in English are locating an adjective before the noun to which it refers, and using “who” to refer to previously-mentioned human subjects in a sentence. </p>
<p>There is no universal system of grammar rules. For example, in French, adjectives usually follow the noun to which they refer, and it forms the future tense differently from English. Grammar rules are only useful when all users of the language know how to use them. </p>
<p>In English you can also express the one idea in several different ways. Suppose you want to tell someone about an event. You could say “Bill pushed Tom”, “Tom was pushed by Bill”, “It was Bill who pushed Tom”, or “Bill pushed Tom, didn’t he?” These examples differ in the grammatical rules they use.</p>
<p>The actual grammatical rules we use at any time depend on the social context. How we talk about an idea with colleagues may differ from how we talk about the same idea at home. We also write and speak in <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1084418.pdf">different ways</a>. </p>
<h2>Does it matter?</h2>
<p>Many older people will recall being explicitly taught grammar at school. But this <a href="https://shareok.org/bitstream/handle/11244/10944/Losing_the_Product.pdf">fell out of fashion</a> because it was judged to be relatively ineffective in enhancing the use of grammar in spoken or written communication.</p>
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<img alt="Student learns back from desk with a book on their face." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507993/original/file-20230202-18171-h5uftj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507993/original/file-20230202-18171-h5uftj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507993/original/file-20230202-18171-h5uftj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507993/original/file-20230202-18171-h5uftj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507993/original/file-20230202-18171-h5uftj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507993/original/file-20230202-18171-h5uftj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507993/original/file-20230202-18171-h5uftj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">We have spell check and writing tools, but still need to understand how words should be structured.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cottonbro Studio/Pexels</span></span>
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<p>You may believe that with AI tools – such as writing assistant Grammarly – and computers, we don’t need to learn grammar.</p>
<p>But learning grammar is as important as it always was. To use grammar, the rules need to be in our brains, not in our hands. Devices can assist our brains but not replace them. </p>
<p>Without grammar, it is hard to communicate effectively. We might, for example, recognise individual words in what someone says but we would be less able to understand the links between them. </p>
<p>Research <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2014-36323-001">suggests</a> children’s grammar predicts their reading comprehension later. For example, grammatical knowledge at four years of age <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2004-17950-0020">predicts</a> reading comprehension two years later. It <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2004.06.003">also affects</a> children’s social competence, self-confidence and identity, because it helps them see that they can communicate meaningfully and get positive feedback for what they say. </p>
<h2>How do children learn it?</h2>
<p>We can learn grammar both by immersion and by explicit teaching, that is, simply by experiencing its use in specific situations and by specific instruction. </p>
<p>Young children learn grammatical knowledge <a href="http://www.seslp.org/wp-content/uploads/Seven-Stages-of-Language.pdf">gradually</a>. Most children begin to say and understand strings of two and three words around the age of two, without specific teaching. They learn it by being exposed to language in their everyday environment. </p>
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<img alt="A mother helps a small child with a drink." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508036/original/file-20230203-18-dqnfen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508036/original/file-20230203-18-dqnfen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508036/original/file-20230203-18-dqnfen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508036/original/file-20230203-18-dqnfen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508036/original/file-20230203-18-dqnfen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508036/original/file-20230203-18-dqnfen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508036/original/file-20230203-18-dqnfen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children begin to learn grammar from young age.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The speech they hear is usually accompanied by meaningful actions in particular events. For example, they hear “more milk?” when milk is being offered. The actions help them learn how to fit the language to the meaning or function.</p>
<p>What they say and understand shows they can use grammatical rules or patterns. However, they are usually unable to say precisely what these rules are.</p>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/childrens-health/chomsky-theory">linguists believe</a> immersion works because the human brain has an innate capacity to learn language.</p>
<p>Gradually children learn more complex grammatical structures. Older children and adults may not become aware of the explicit rules of grammar – and this isn’t necessary to use them. </p>
<hr>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-is-changing-scientists-understanding-of-language-learning-and-raising-questions-about-an-innate-grammar-190594">AI is changing scientists' understanding of language learning – and raising questions about an innate grammar</a>
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</em>
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<hr>
<h2>How can you teach it?</h2>
<p>Many readers may have been taught grammar by analysing random sentences into their component parts. At school, you may have had to identify the nouns or adverbs and to arrange them accordingly. </p>
<p>But this approach had <a href="https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/nj-english-journal/vol9/iss1/18/">little impact</a> on literacy or oral language development.</p>
<p>There are lots of different ways to teach grammar but effective teaching today uses the following techniques:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>it takes account of the grammatical patterns and rules the child already uses</p></li>
<li><p>it introduces grammatical rules in <a href="https://www.academypublication.com/issues/past/tpls/vol03/01/18.pdf">specific contexts</a> or events that are meaningful for the child. If you are teaching the passive voice, and using the example of the “cat chased the dog” show a picture of a picture of where a cat chases a dog </p></li>
<li><p>acting out sentences using a new rule as the first step in learning the new rule</p></li>
<li><p>arranging a set of words into sentence using the new rule </p></li>
<li><p>helping the student use the new rule in their everyday speech and writing to show they understand it.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The aim is to teach both the rules and to help students use them in their everyday communication. </p>
<p>If you want to help your child with grammar, talk to your child’s teacher. They can direct you to most appropriate materials (there are plenty online) that are relevant to what your child already knows and work with what is being done at school.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/4-ways-to-teach-youre-sic-kids-about-grammar-so-they-actually-care-144353">4 ways to teach you're (sic) kids about grammar so they actually care</a>
</strong>
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<p>F</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196285/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Munro. has in the past been a chief investigator on ARC-funded projects</span></em></p>Grammar is the backbone of any language and kids need to understand it to communicate effectively.John Munro, Professor, Faculty of Education and Arts, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1905942022-10-19T12:37:59Z2022-10-19T12:37:59ZAI is changing scientists’ understanding of language learning – and raising questions about an innate grammar<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490505/original/file-20221018-24-64isla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1047%2C0%2C6844%2C4737&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is living in a language-rich world enough to teach a child grammatical language?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/baby-girl-brushing-teeth-royalty-free-image/931044218">kate_sept2004/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Unlike the carefully scripted dialogue found in most books and movies, the language of everyday interaction tends to be messy and incomplete, full of false starts, interruptions and people talking over each other. From casual conversations between friends, to bickering between siblings, to formal discussions in a boardroom, <a href="https://vod.video.cornell.edu/media/TLG_C2_conversation-excerpt/1_419ixr2o">authentic conversation</a> is chaotic. It seems miraculous that anyone can learn language at all given the haphazard nature of the linguistic experience.</p>
<p>For this reason, many language scientists – including <a href="https://chomsky.info/">Noam Chomsky</a>, a founder of modern linguistics – believe that language learners require a kind of glue to rein in the unruly nature of everyday language. And that glue is grammar: a system of rules for generating grammatical sentences.</p>
<p>Children must have a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/15/science/expert-says-he-discerns-hard-wired-grammar-rules.html">grammar template wired into their brains</a> to help them overcome the limitations of their language experience – or so the thinking goes.</p>
<p>This template, for example, might contain a “super-rule” that dictates how new pieces are added to existing phrases. Children then only need to learn whether their native language is one, like English, where the verb goes before the object (as in “I eat sushi”), or one like Japanese, where the verb goes after the object (in Japanese, the same sentence is structured as “I sushi eat”).</p>
<p>But new insights into language learning are coming from an unlikely source: artificial intelligence. A new breed of large AI language models <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/08/robot-wrote-this-article-gpt-3">can write newspaper articles</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106553">poetry</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/technology/codex-artificial-intelligence-coding.html">computer code</a> and <a href="https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/yYkrbS5iAwdEQyynW/how-do-new-models-from-openai-deepmind-and-anthropic-perform">answer questions truthfully</a> after being exposed to vast amounts of language input. And even more astonishingly, they all do it without the help of grammar.</p>
<h2>Grammatical language without a grammar</h2>
<p>Even if their <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/24/science/artificial-intelligence-gpt3-writing-love.html">choice of words is sometimes strange</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/quasimondo/status/1284509525500989445">nonsensical</a> or contains <a href="https://twitter.com/an_open_mind/status/1284487376312709120">racist, sexist and other harmful biases</a>, one thing is very clear: the overwhelming majority of the output of these AI language models is grammatically correct. And yet, there are no grammar templates or rules hardwired into them – they rely on linguistic experience alone, messy as it may be.</p>
<p>GPT-3, arguably the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/15/magazine/ai-language.html">most well-known of these models</a>, is a gigantic <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/science/neural-networks">deep-learning neural network</a> with 175 billion parameters. It was trained to predict the next word in a sentence given what came before across hundreds of billions of words from the internet, books and Wikipedia. When it made a wrong prediction, its parameters were adjusted using an automatic learning algorithm.</p>
<p>Remarkably, GPT-3 can generate believable text reacting to prompts such as “A summary of the last ‘Fast and Furious’ movie is…” or “Write a poem in the style of Emily Dickinson.” Moreover, <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2005.14165">GPT-3 can respond</a> to SAT level analogies, reading comprehension questions and even solve simple arithmetic problems – all from learning how to predict the next word.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490508/original/file-20221018-15-pw980u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="artist's rendition of a human brain connected to a tablet by many cords" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490508/original/file-20221018-15-pw980u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490508/original/file-20221018-15-pw980u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490508/original/file-20221018-15-pw980u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490508/original/file-20221018-15-pw980u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490508/original/file-20221018-15-pw980u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490508/original/file-20221018-15-pw980u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490508/original/file-20221018-15-pw980u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An AI model and a human brain may generate the same language, but are they doing it the same way?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/artificial-intelligence-technology-royalty-free-image/1149178089">Just_Super/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Comparing AI models and human brains</h2>
<p>The similarity with human language doesn’t stop here, however. Research published in Nature Neuroscience demonstrated that these artificial deep-learning networks seem to use the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-022-01026-4">same computational principles as the human brain</a>. The research group, led by <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VRw8v4kAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">neuroscientist Uri Hasson</a>, first compared how well <a href="https://openai.com/blog/better-language-models/">GPT-2</a> – a “little brother” of GPT-3 – and humans could predict the next word in a story taken from the podcast “This American Life”: people and the AI predicted the exact same word nearly 50% of the time.</p>
<p>The researchers recorded volunteers’ brain activity while listening to the story. The best explanation for the patterns of activation they observed was that people’s brains – like GPT-2 – were not just using the preceding one or two words when making predictions but relied on the accumulated context of up to 100 previous words. Altogether, the authors conclude: “Our finding of spontaneous predictive neural signals as participants listen to natural speech suggests that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-022-01026-4">active prediction may underlie humans’ lifelong language learning</a>.”</p>
<p>A possible concern is that these new AI language models are fed a lot of input: GPT-3 was trained on <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.07998">linguistic experience equivalent to 20,000 human years</a>. But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.10.04.510681">a preliminary study</a> that has not yet been peer-reviewed found that GPT-2 can still model human next-word predictions and brain activations even when trained on just 100 million words. That’s well within the amount of linguistic input that an average child might <a href="https://doi.org/10.1044/2016_AJSLP-15-0169">hear during the first 10 years of life</a>.</p>
<p>We are not suggesting that GPT-3 or GPT-2 learn language exactly like children do. Indeed, <a href="https://www.lengoo.com/blog/gpt3hype/">these AI models do not appear to comprehend much</a>, if anything, of what they are saying, whereas <a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/morten-h-christiansen/the-language-game/9781541674981/">understanding is fundamental to human language use</a>. Still, what these models prove is that a learner – albeit a silicon one – can learn language well enough from mere exposure to produce perfectly good grammatical sentences and do so in a way that resembles human brain processing.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490509/original/file-20221019-15-tit42e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="little girl whispers to a man while they read on a bed" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490509/original/file-20221019-15-tit42e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490509/original/file-20221019-15-tit42e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490509/original/file-20221019-15-tit42e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490509/original/file-20221019-15-tit42e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490509/original/file-20221019-15-tit42e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490509/original/file-20221019-15-tit42e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490509/original/file-20221019-15-tit42e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">More back and forth yields more language learning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/father-and-daughter-reading-a-book-in-bed-royalty-free-image/1227566554">Westend61 via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rethinking language learning</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199573776.001.0001">For years, many linguists have believed</a> that learning language is impossible without a built-in grammar template. The new AI models prove otherwise. They demonstrate that the ability to produce grammatical language can be learned from linguistic experience alone. Likewise, we suggest that <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/evidence-rebuts-chomsky-s-theory-of-language-learning/">children do not need an innate grammar</a> to learn language.</p>
<p>“Children should be seen, not heard” goes the old saying, but the latest AI language models suggest that nothing could be further from the truth. Instead, children need to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617742725">engaged in the back-and-forth of conversation</a> as much as possible to help them develop their language skills. Linguistic experience – not grammar – is key to becoming a competent language user.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190594/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Morten H. Christiansen receives funding from the A&S New Frontier Grant Program at Cornell University. He is affiliated with the School of Communication and Culture and Interacting Minds Centre at Aarhus University, Denmark, as well as the Haskins Labs, New Haven, CT. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pablo Contreras Kallens received funding from the A&S New Frontier Grant Program at Cornell University. </span></em></p>Linguists have long considered grammar to be the glue of language, and key to how children learn it. But new prose-writing AIs suggest language experience may be more important than grammar.Morten H. Christiansen, Professor of Psychology, Cornell UniversityPablo Contreras Kallens, Ph.D. Student in Psychology, Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1875202022-07-27T02:17:06Z2022-07-27T02:17:06ZWe analysed NZ Twitter users’ language during lockdown – with surprising results<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475950/original/file-20220725-10614-wsqngo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C7%2C5069%2C3372&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Social media has the reputation of being spontaneous, rushed, prone to typos and ungrammatical sentences, and generally a linguistic disaster. And some of it is. However, analysis of Twitter posts on the topic of COVID-19 suggests there is more to social media language than first meets the eye. </p>
<p>While pandemics are not new, COVID-19 is the first to occur in the social media era. Anyone with a device and internet connection has had unlimited access to platforms from which to voice personal opinions and experiences. </p>
<p>As physical social distancing measures were introduced in 2020, Twitter saw an avalanche of related posts. One of their main characteristics was a predisposition to persuasion: <em>Stay home!</em> <em>End lockdown now!</em> <em>Be kind!</em> <em>I wish everyone stopped hoarding toilet paper!</em> <em>Jacinda needs to lock the borders!</em></p>
<p>Everyone had an opinion, whether supportive or critical of government policy, including calling for even stronger measures. People were keen not only to share their opinions, but also to convince others and to direct them towards various actions.</p>
<p>But the link between people’s political stance and the language they used to express it wasn’t always what you might expect, as we discovered in our latest research.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475951/original/file-20220725-12-hx5pz1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475951/original/file-20220725-12-hx5pz1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475951/original/file-20220725-12-hx5pz1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475951/original/file-20220725-12-hx5pz1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475951/original/file-20220725-12-hx5pz1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475951/original/file-20220725-12-hx5pz1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475951/original/file-20220725-12-hx5pz1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
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<h2>Instruction and politeness</h2>
<p>The language of persuasion presents an interesting paradox. On the one hand, we want to instruct people and influence them. On the other, no one wants to be told what to do, so we want to maintain harmony and not alienate others. </p>
<p>In English, there is a special grammatical construction whose function is to instruct, known as the “imperative” – for example, “Stay home, save lives”.</p>
<p>But that’s not the only way to instruct. There are more polite and vague alternatives. The strength of the directive can be softened by the use of politeness (“Please stay calm”), or “modal” verbs (“Everyone should stay calm”), or by what are known as “irrealis” constructions (“I wish everyone would stay calm”). Sometimes several strategies can be combined (“Please can everyone stay calm”).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475947/original/file-20220725-26-pboom.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475947/original/file-20220725-26-pboom.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475947/original/file-20220725-26-pboom.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475947/original/file-20220725-26-pboom.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475947/original/file-20220725-26-pboom.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475947/original/file-20220725-26-pboom.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475947/original/file-20220725-26-pboom.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>In our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378216622001266">recent study</a>, we manually analysed 1,000 tweets from 2020 containing the hashtag #Covid19NZ (or variations of that) to discover which language strategies people employed to persuade others. We also included their political stance – whether they were supportive of government lockdown measures or not. </p>
<p>What we found surprised us: users opposed to COVID-19 restrictions who tweeted against government measures took greater care to soften their directives, opting for more polite and vague language; those in support of government actions used more forceful imperatives. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-does-grammar-matter-150920">Why does grammar matter?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It might seem counter-intuitive that individuals opposing government measures should be so indirect. However, at the time of those initial lockdowns, the majority seemed to accept the sacrifices necessary to protect their own and vulnerable people’s health (we certainly found this in the tweets analysed). </p>
<p>This may explain why those going against the government and perceived popular opinion were being linguistically cautious. They didn’t want to alienate others by appearing too forceful or hotheaded, and so they varied the grammar in their tweets. Such indirect language could also be used for sarcasm and to maintain plausible deniability.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475948/original/file-20220725-21-txcmol.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475948/original/file-20220725-21-txcmol.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475948/original/file-20220725-21-txcmol.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475948/original/file-20220725-21-txcmol.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475948/original/file-20220725-21-txcmol.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475948/original/file-20220725-21-txcmol.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475948/original/file-20220725-21-txcmol.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Grammar is more than right or wrong</h2>
<p>Grammar is not just about the rules that arise from maintaining consistency within language (for example, subject-verb agreement: “I like grammar, he <em>likes</em> grammar”). Grammar can vary in order to allow for subtlety of expression, too. </p>
<p>The grammatical system presents us with options and has built-in flexibility. Variation is used by speakers to put forward their many opinions, agendas and communication goals in more nuanced ways.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475949/original/file-20220725-10345-bguoqb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475949/original/file-20220725-10345-bguoqb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475949/original/file-20220725-10345-bguoqb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475949/original/file-20220725-10345-bguoqb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475949/original/file-20220725-10345-bguoqb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475949/original/file-20220725-10345-bguoqb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475949/original/file-20220725-10345-bguoqb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Interestingly, even on a social media platform like Twitter, such nuanced and strategic communication can and does take place. Users may not always plan or edit their posts perfectly, but they are linguistically savvy nonetheless.</p>
<p>We are currently analysing Twitter posts from later in the pandemic, specifically on the topic of vaccines, and the mood has certainly shifted in that time. Both camps appear more aggressive in their directives, less inclined to use indirect language. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-slippery-grammar-of-spoken-vs-written-english-92912">The slippery grammar of spoken vs written English</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As the debate becomes more heated, the stakes rise and there are more opinions in the mix. It’s no longer just about being for or against government measures; support for a measure may not always mean support for the means used to achieve it. Consequently, language strategies are changing too. </p>
<p>For example, an anti-vaccine campaigner writes in their tweet: “Save mothers and babies”. The forceful imperative is more subtle than it first appears, implying that vaccinating children (and their mothers) puts them at risk, without stating what the risk is but hinting it could even be fatal. </p>
<p>As ever, language is a vehicle that divides as well as unites us. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article was co-written by Jessie Burnette, a Masters Student in English and Linguistics at the University of Waikato.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187520/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andreea S. Calude does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The grammar of persuasion can be subtle – but pro-lockdown tweeters tended to be more direct and less conciliatory than those they opposed.Andreea S. Calude, Senior Lecturer in Linguistics, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1767422022-03-28T14:02:57Z2022-03-28T14:02:57ZOfsted has been dictating what “proper English” is – here’s why that’s a problem<p>England has had a schools inspectorate since 1839, first in the form of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools and, since 1992, in the form of the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted">Ofsted</a>). Our <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-in-society/article/white-ears-of-ofsted-a-raciolinguistic-perspective-on-the-listening-practices-of-the-schools-inspectorate/E6ECBB4A5DDE794CD44270C67CAEDF19">recently published research</a> examines how the inspectorate has policed language in schools, enforcing a particular idea of “correct” spoken English on teachers and children. </p>
<p>We investigated judgments made about the speech of teachers and young people in inspection reports for primary and secondary schools, looking at both historical reports, dating from 1839 to 1993, and contemporary ones, from 2000 to the present. </p>
<p>From a random sample of 3,000 reports out of a total of 102,000, we found that language policing is a normalised part of the inspectorate’s work, especially for social groups who are marginalised in terms of race and class.</p>
<h2>‘Proper’ English</h2>
<p>Judgments about language are shaped by beliefs about what counts as “good”, “standard” or “proper” language, and which social groups speak in “better” or “worse” ways. Educational linguists have long shown that judgments about what is “good” English are based on the language practices of the white middle classes. </p>
<p>These ideas <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07908318.2020.1840578">are embedded in schools</a>. They perpetuate the belief that what is “correct” is the language used by the most powerful members of society. </p>
<p>The relationship between language, schools, status and whiteness is especially important when considering that the majority of Ofsted inspectors are white and economically privileged. </p>
<p>According to their <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ofsteds-equality-objectives-2016-to-2020/equality-objectives-progress-review-2019-to-2020">latest figures</a>, around 89% of Ofsted inspectors are white (this is slightly higher than the 86% of the <a href="https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/uk-population-by-ethnicity/national-and-regional-populations/population-of-england-and-wales/latest#by-ethnicity">population of England and Wales</a> that is white). Inspectors earn an annual salary of <a href="https://educationinspection.blog.gov.uk/2021/09/14/curious-about-whats-it-like-being-an-inspector/">around £70,000</a>. As such, their judgments about language are made through ears which reflect this privileged position within society.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A screenshot of the Ofsted website" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446271/original/file-20220214-23-15q6scp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=247%2C37%2C1667%2C1037&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446271/original/file-20220214-23-15q6scp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446271/original/file-20220214-23-15q6scp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446271/original/file-20220214-23-15q6scp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446271/original/file-20220214-23-15q6scp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446271/original/file-20220214-23-15q6scp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446271/original/file-20220214-23-15q6scp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Over 100,000 school inspection reports were downloaded from the Ofsted website.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ofsted</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our historical data showed that negative judgments about speech have been a part of the inspectorate’s work since its formation. In a report from 1867, inspectors wrote that “many of the children are illiterate in regard to patterns of speech”. An 1899 report stated that “much needs to be done to cultivate the pronunciation of boys and to highlight deficiencies in speech”. </p>
<p>These same ideologies are found in Ofsted’s recent work. Our searches revealed a huge number of reports where the inspectorate criticise teachers and pupils for speaking in “non-standard English”, while offering praise to schools where “non-standard” dialects and accents have been banned. </p>
<h2>Banned words</h2>
<p>A 2018 report of a school described how “some teachers model incorrect grammar in their spoken English”, whilst a 2016 report noted how “adults use slang”. A 2013 report highlighted that “in the best lessons, teachers reference the need for standard English and students are provided with a list of <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-in-society/article/policy-and-policing-of-language-in-schools/6C4BC80399E27747D34819060E186A62">banned words</a>”. </p>
<p>In a 2019 report, Ofsted criticised a school on the grounds that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Some adults have weak spoken standard English and grammar […] Too many staff make errors in their standard spoken English when they teach. In some cases, this means that they model bad habits or teach incorrect grammar. Leaders should make sure that all staff, when they teach, use correct standard English. Leaders need to ensure consistency to avoid confusing the children. Staff need to do more to correct pupils’ poor language or vocabulary.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The most hostile comments about language were made in relation to schools serving children from ethnic minority and low income backgrounds. A 2003 report of a school in Birmingham criticised how there was a “significant proportion of children who do not know or use standard English” and “insufficient follow-up to brief, grammatically incorrect or otherwise imperfect spoken responses”.</p>
<p>A 2000 report of a school in one of the most economically deprived areas of Manchester and serving a majority Black Caribbean community drew links between low academic ability and the presence of classed and racialised language, in a clear example of accent-based discrimination:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>By the age of eleven, many pupils have fallen behind, and are not achieving satisfactorily, particularly the boys. The more able pupils are mainly speaking standard English in school, with sound pronunciation and good sense. A few pupils lack clarity in their speech which results in some confusion in the way they say “t” and “th”, as “d” or “f”. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Inspecting the inspectorate</h2>
<p>A focus on “standard English” is <a href="https://oracy.inparliament.uk/sites/oracy.inparliament.uk/files/2021-04/Ofsted_0.pdf">justified by Ofsted</a> as a means of giving pupils access to academic success and employment opportunities. However, when pupils are made to feel self-conscious about their language, they may become reluctant to participate in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09500782.2012.760584">classroom discussion</a>, missing out on important opportunities to refine their thinking through dialogue. </p>
<p>Insisting that speakers of “non-standard” language modify their speech towards an idealised standard will only ever make inequalities worse. This approach requires that marginalised speakers abandon their own language and conform to white middle-class norms. In short, it keeps the powerful in power whilst maintaining social hierarchies built on race and class. </p>
<p>Our research exposes structural and institutionalised discrimination against low-income and racialised communities within the inspectorate’s work. We suggest that Ofsted needs to change the way it listens, rather than asking young people and teachers to change the way they speak.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176742/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Cushing receives funding from Edge Hill University, the UK Literacy Association, and the British Educational Research Association.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Snell receives funding from the University of Leeds, the Economic and Social Research Council, and The Leverhulme Trust. </span></em></p>The schools inspectorate’s policies about language are harmful to the most marginalised members of society.Ian Cushing, Senior Lecturer in English and Education, Edge Hill UniversityJulia Snell, Associate Professor of English Language, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1767392022-03-09T16:11:05Z2022-03-09T16:11:05ZHow grammar is taught in England should change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449260/original/file-20220301-13-2blbzy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5946%2C3214&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/kids-writing-notes-classroom-535799062">goodluz/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The teaching of grammar – the ways that words are combined to make sentences – can be controversial. It often leads to debates about “correct English”, and can result in people being judged if their use of language deviates from this “correct” form.</p>
<p>Language is constantly changing, and this change makes it much more difficult to have straightforward ideas about what is “correct” and “incorrect”. Whether a person communicates in the most appropriate way for their audience is what matters. </p>
<p>England’s current national curriculum, implemented since 2014, introduced lots more grammar teaching to primary schools. It states that “Pupils should develop the stamina and skills to write at length, with accurate spelling and punctuation. They should be taught the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-primary-curriculum">correct use of grammar</a>”. Learning the technical terms of grammar is seen as a key component in writing well.</p>
<p>Children aged six to seven must be taught not only to write appropriate sentences but also are expected to learn the meaning of grammatical terms, such as <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zbkcvk7/articles/z97r2nb">statement</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zrqqtfr/articles/z8strwx">command</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zrqqtfr/articles/z3dbg82">tense</a>. They are required to recognise words and phrases that are described by these terms. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10144257/">new research</a>, conducted with colleagues, investigated whether this new approach to teaching grammar to help writing has been effective. We found that it was not effective to improve six and seven-year-old children’s narrative writing – joining <a href="https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/berj.3315">previous research</a> that has failed to find a positive impact of a range of ways of teaching grammar to improve writing. These findings indicate that the UK government needs to look again at the teaching of grammar in schools. </p>
<h2>In the classroom</h2>
<p>Our research was the first of its kind worldwide to examine how the writing of pupils in year two (aged six to seven) might benefit from grammar teaching. About 1,700 primary school children and 70 teachers across 70 schools took part in our study. </p>
<p>We split the teachers and their classes into two groups. One carried on with lessons as normal. The other group used a <a href="http://englicious.org">new set of resources</a> for teaching grammar which linked the grammar teaching more closely with the pupils’ practising of writing. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Children raising hands while teacher shows book" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449517/original/file-20220302-27-pitd9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449517/original/file-20220302-27-pitd9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449517/original/file-20220302-27-pitd9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449517/original/file-20220302-27-pitd9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449517/original/file-20220302-27-pitd9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449517/original/file-20220302-27-pitd9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449517/original/file-20220302-27-pitd9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The research was conducted with year two teachers and pupils.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/elementary-pupils-wearing-uniform-raise-hands-1451264690">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Both sets of pupils took writing tests at the beginning of the study and at the end, after 10 weeks of grammar lessons. These tests included a narrative writing test, where they were given a topic, asked to briefly plan a piece of writing then write for about 20 minutes. </p>
<p>The children also took a sentence generation test, where they were given two word prompts which they had to use to generate as many new sentences that contained the words as they could. Our research also included surveys, interviews and observations of teachers’ lessons.</p>
<p>The resources of England’s most recent grammar intervention – called Englicious – use modern linguistics to teach grammar in a fun, hands-on way. For example, pupils can manipulate words, phrases and sentences on a digital whiteboard.</p>
<p>In general, the teachers thought that Englicious was a very good approach which helped them to deliver the national curriculum programmes of study for grammar, and helped with their grammar teaching. However, the test results of the experimental trial did not find an improvement in the pupils’ narrative writing as a result of the grammar intervention. On the other hand, there was a positive effect shown in the sentence generation test, and although the result was not statistically significant it can be seen as encouraging.</p>
<p>At any rate, the lack of impact of grammar teaching on pupils’ writing raises questions about the extensive grammar specifications that are part of England’s national curriculum. </p>
<h2>Focus on grammar</h2>
<p>We know, thanks to the records kept by one of the expert advisers to former Education Secretary Michael Gove, that decisions about England’s current national curriculum were made that <a href="https://www.bera.ac.uk/bera-in-the-news/background-to-michael-goves-response-to-the-report-of-the-expert-panel-for-the-national-curriculum-review-in-england">did not fit</a> with research evidence about curriculum, teaching and assessment. For example, the expert panel advising on the curriculum argued that oral language was as important as reading and writing and should be given the same attention in the programmes of study. It was <a href="https://www.tes.com/magazine/archived/why-spoken-language-key-accessing-curriculum">not given</a> this attention in <a href="https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/FORUM/vol-57-issue-1/article-6228">the curriculum</a>. </p>
<p>The extensive grammar requirements in the national curriculum, including their link with a particular view of correct English – defined as “standard English” in the national curriculum – represents an unacceptably ideological influence on the curriculum. </p>
<p>There are a <a href="https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/berj.3315">range of ways</a> of teaching writing that do have a positive impact. These include teaching that focuses on the processes of writing such as doing more than one draft of a piece of writing; teaching writing strategies such as doing an outline plan before starting writing; and using computers to support drafting of writing.</p>
<p>As a result of the findings from our research, and the findings from previous research on grammar and writing, we conclude that a review of the requirements for grammar in England’s national curriculum is needed. The national curriculum needs to reflect robust evidence on what works much more closely. Until such a review is undertaken, children in England are unlikely to be receiving the optimal teaching of writing that they deserve.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176739/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic Wyse received funding from the Nuffield Foundation for the Grammar and Writing research. He also currently receives funding from The Helen Hamlyn Trust and The Leverhulme Trust. He has also just started work on an independent commission on primary assessment funded by the National Education Union. </span></em></p>Our research found that focused grammar teaching didn’t improve children’s writing.Dominic Wyse, Professor of Education, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1717772021-12-07T15:31:19Z2021-12-07T15:31:19ZOur emotions and identity can affect how we use grammar<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435868/original/file-20211206-23-qj5gup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C24%2C8243%2C5401&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Human language is governed by a grammatical system – a sentence can be grammatical without meaning.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Language and social identity have been making headlines recently. Last month, Air Canada’s CEO Michael Rousseau <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-freeland-tells-air-canada-that-learning-french-should-be-part-of-ceo/">faced scrutiny over</a> not knowing French — his language deficit is helping support <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8235805/quebec-french-language-law-bill-96-hearings/">Bill 96 in Québec</a> (which seeks to change the Canadian Constitution to affirm <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/language-laws-hearings-bill-1.6196015">Québec as a nation and French its official language</a>). Meanwhile Indian chain store Fabindia had to change advertisements for its <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/27/india-urdu-hindu-groups-hate-campaign-muslim-language-fabindia">festive Diwali clothing line</a> from its Urdu name to appease Hindu nationalist politicians. </p>
<p>Language can evoke a strong social and emotional response. But the dominant theory of language in linguistics, <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/childrens-health/chomsky-theory">thanks to Noam Chomsky</a> (and the one in which I was trained), fails to consider these aspects. </p>
<p>In linguistics, and in cognitive science in general, the human mind is conceived of <a href="http://library.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/ft/gg/gg_mind_1996.pdf">metaphorically as a computer with different algorithms</a> for different procedures — with no reference to emotion or social context.</p>
<p>A better understanding of language and its neuroscientific basis would help us handle linguistic issues throughout our lives. My <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.566894">new research</a> underlines how emotional context affects how we understand and use language at the neural level. It also identifies a piece of the human language puzzle that has, up until now, been missing.</p>
<h2>What is human language</h2>
<p>The components of this puzzle are hard to define because the big picture, “language,” is difficult to specify. </p>
<p>When I ask students at start of term, “What is human language, anyway?” they typically fall silent. So, we start the discussion by separating out communicative systems (like <a href="https://www.mcgilltribune.com/sci-tech/plant-communication-250220/">plants</a> and <a href="https://askabiologist.asu.edu/bee-dance-game/introduction.html">bees</a>, which communicate but do not have language); whether language has to be auditory (no, think about sign language); and the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/01/difference-between-language-dialect/424704">difference between dialect and language</a>. </p>
<p>We then discuss sentences like “<a href="http://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/proseDP/text/colorlessIdeas.html">Colourless green ideas sleep furiously</a>” to show that human language is governed by a <a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/%7Eharoldfs/popcult/lingstruct.html">grammatical system</a> — a sentence can be grammatical without meaning. Finally, another big question: Why do we have language?</p>
<p>Other mammals have sophisticated communicative systems (<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-60307-9">chimps</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120803103421.htm">elephants</a>, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/scientists-plan-to-use-ai-to-try-to-decode-the-language-of-whales">whales</a>) but cannot generate an infinite number of sentences. For example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00437956.1990.11435816">Koko the gorilla</a> could not say, “Tomorrow, I might eat one or two bananas.”</p>
<p>Why not? Seemingly, it would be due to the structure of her brain compared to ours. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A gorilla holding her baby." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433995/original/file-20211125-13-nkfln3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433995/original/file-20211125-13-nkfln3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433995/original/file-20211125-13-nkfln3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433995/original/file-20211125-13-nkfln3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433995/original/file-20211125-13-nkfln3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433995/original/file-20211125-13-nkfln3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433995/original/file-20211125-13-nkfln3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Baby Koko being held by her mother Jacqueline.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/animalpeopleforum/24787040262/in/photolist-22chriL-5SCEaT-KLJV6v-dFyBkt-LhohbL-4Lg1zS-kX89cE-dkEZoL-KLJVaD-DLm4v9-DLm4kQ-6XQWqF-LAEJqk-KLJV9g-8S3beu-4gNXLo-d7V7p-8xHkx7-4GS2Yn">(Carroll Soo Hoo, Animal People Forum/Flickr)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Neuroscientist <a href="http://www.suzanaherculanohouzel.com/">Suzana Herculano-Houzel</a> has pointed out that our brains are different because of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/neuro.09.031.2009">the number of neurons</a> packed into our skulls — it’s less about the size of our brains. The density of that packing, and the ensuing <a href="https://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_07/i_07_cl/i_07_cl_tra/i_07_cl_tra.html">neuronal connections</a> this density allows for, gives rise to our ability to acquire language from birth and use it till death.</p>
<p>But let’s leave aside the neuroanatomical differences between our brains and those of gorillas for others to solve. That still doesn’t help us resolve the issue of defining language and its essential components.</p>
<h2>Basic language perception is tied to emotion</h2>
<p>In contrast to my <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/minimalist-program">Chomskyan training</a>, recent results from my lab show that social identity is not, in fact, a supplemental feature of language, but a feature that is part of every level of linguistic knowledge and use. </p>
<p>This seems highly counterintuitive, especially given that the first formal grammar, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ashtadhyayi#ref1167413">Ashtadhyayi</a> (circa 550 BCE), by <a href="https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Panini/">Sanskrit grammarian Panini</a> established the idea that language is a system of abstract rules, where these grammatical rules make no reference to emotion or social context.</p>
<p>In contrast to this age-old idea, my <a href="https://cognitivesciencesociety.org/cogsci20/papers/0727/index.html">recent work</a> using <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2019.146309">EEG technology</a> — which measures <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/brain-waves">brain wave activity</a> — has shown that the affective state of a person (how someone feels) while they <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.566894">read non-emotional sentences</a> in English changes the nature of the brain response. </p>
<p>I was stunned by these results. What does it mean if basic sentence comprehension is tied to emotion?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A brain with waves next to it" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435871/original/file-20211206-17-16680o8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435871/original/file-20211206-17-16680o8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435871/original/file-20211206-17-16680o8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435871/original/file-20211206-17-16680o8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435871/original/file-20211206-17-16680o8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435871/original/file-20211206-17-16680o8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435871/original/file-20211206-17-16680o8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Linguistic function can also be understood as an ‘add-on’ feature of the brain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Just the superficial gist</h2>
<p>Psychologist <a href="https://lisafeldmanbarrett.com/books/how-emotions-are-made/">Lisa Feldman Barrett</a> paves the way to understanding these findings. </p>
<p>She assumes that the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsw154">main function of the brain</a> is to regulate our bodies as we move through life. That means that at every given moment, our brains assess our hunger, threat levels, etc. to figure out how much energy we need to get through the day. Thinking and cognitive perception are secondary products of how our brain responds predictively to our environment.</p>
<p>If she’s right (and I think she is), I would say that linguistic function, which must include a grammatical system, can also be understood as an “add-on” feature of the brain.</p>
<p>If the context of a comment <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0081461">requires deep attention</a> to meaning (due to difficult sentences), then our grammatical system can become engaged. Otherwise, it is likely that many people interpret only <a href="https://doi.org/10.4236/jbbs.2018.87027">word meaning</a> to get the superficial gist of a sentence, then moving on to the next.</p>
<p>This is comparable to psychologist Daniel Kahneman’s take on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/books/review/thinking-fast-and-slow-by-daniel-kahneman-book-review.html">how the mind works</a>, so perhaps it’s not surprising that these general principles also work for language. </p>
<p>If the grammatical system is a resource that the brain uses depending on context, then our emotions and identity can also affect how we use grammar. This is precisely what we have found.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171777/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Veena D. Dwivedi receives funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Brock University. </span></em></p>A better understanding of language and its neuroscientific basis would help us handle linguistic issues throughout our lives.Veena D. Dwivedi, Professor, Psychology/Neuroscience; Director, Dwivedi Brain and Language Laboratory, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1653102021-08-10T20:12:32Z2021-08-10T20:12:32Z5 ways to teach the link between grammar and imagination for better creative writing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414751/original/file-20210805-27-5yx5hx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4892%2C3267&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/kids-writing-notes-classroom-535799062">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fiction authors are pretty good at writing sentences with striking images, worded just the right way. </p>
<p>We might suppose the images are striking because the author has a striking imagination. But the words seem just right because the author also has a large repertoire of grammar.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/writing-needs-to-be-taught-and-practised-australian-schools-are-dropping-the-focus-too-early-148104">Writing needs to be taught and practised. Australian schools are dropping the focus too early</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As writing teachers, we often neglect one of these skills in favour of the other. If we inspire students to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nataliewexler/2021/01/31/the-puzzling-gap-in-research-on-writing-instruction/?sh=3a2777fc6aa5">write creatively at length</a> but don’t teach them how to use the <a href="https://theconversation.com/4-ways-to-teach-youre-sic-kids-about-grammar-so-they-actually-care-144353">necessary grammatical structures</a>, they struggle to phrase their ideas well. If we teach students about grammar in isolation, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260021418_A_Meta-Analysis_of_Writing_Instruction_for_Students_in_the_Elementary_Grades">they tend not to apply it to their stories</a>.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02671522.2016.1106694?journalCode=rred20">research shows</a> it’s possible to teach grammar as a way to strengthen students’ writing. </p>
<p>My research with year 5 students examined one method of teaching grammar for writing. We can teach students how to imagine the scene they are creating, and then teach them which grammatical features help <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/lit.12242">turn their imagination into text</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/4-ways-to-teach-youre-sic-kids-about-grammar-so-they-actually-care-144353">4 ways to teach you're (sic) kids about grammar so they actually care</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>I found five effective ways to teach the link between imagination and grammar.</p>
<h2>1. Set up the imaginative tripod</h2>
<p>Most of the stories students brought to me lacked a clear sense of perspective. I taught students to imagine their scene like a film director – they had to decide exactly where their camera tripod should be set up to film their scene. Placing it above, close, far away from or beside the character creates different images and effects. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Director and camera crew on film set" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414754/original/file-20210805-15-1y1bl8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414754/original/file-20210805-15-1y1bl8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414754/original/file-20210805-15-1y1bl8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414754/original/file-20210805-15-1y1bl8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414754/original/file-20210805-15-1y1bl8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414754/original/file-20210805-15-1y1bl8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414754/original/file-20210805-15-1y1bl8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Just like a movie director decides the position of their camera to film a scene, students’ language choices create a perspective to tell their story.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/on-big-film-studio-professional-crew-1793697901">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Then I showed them how careful use of adverbs, verbs and prepositions creates this perspective in writing.</p>
<p>This is done in Philip Pullman’s novel, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=2h9rBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT7&lpg=PT7&dq=%22The+only+light+in+here+came+from+the+fireplace%22+%22Northern+Lights%22&source=bl&ots=NWXUlesP-V&sig=ACfU3U3DbKJMzzFFvpFk-qE898Bfr0_ghA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiTw8fUjZnyAhWg7XMBHd_MB9IQ6AF6BAgLEAM#v=onepage&q=%22The%20only%20light%20in%20here%20came%20from%20the%20fireplace%22%20&f=false">Northern Lights</a>, to place you right beside the character in the room.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The only light in <strong>here came from</strong> the fireplace”</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-does-grammar-matter-150920">Why does grammar matter?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>2. Zoom in on the details</h2>
<p>Young writers often need help adding detail to their stories. A film director might zoom right in on a character’s hand pulling the trigger on a gun to intensify the action of shooting. A writer does the same. I taught students to imagine significant details up close, which helped them select specific nouns to place in the subject position of the sentence.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Aquila/XqIK53V305wC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22As+his+feet+searched+for+a+foothold%22+%22Aquila%22&pg=PT11&printsec=frontcover">Aquila</a>, by Andrew Norriss, specific nouns of body parts are the actors in the sentence.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“As his <strong>feet searched</strong> for a foothold, his <strong>fingers gripped</strong> the grass.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>3. Track the movement</h2>
<p>It is common for students to write about movement in rather static terms, such as “she ran home”. In a film, a director might choose to follow the movement by panning the camera, using a dolly, or filming multiple shots to allow us to experience the full path of movement.</p>
<p>I taught students to imagine watching the movement in their stories through a series of windows – first, second, third – and choose which parts they wanted to include. This helped them choose which verbs and prepositional phrases to use.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/The_Lord_of_the_Rings/yl4dILkcqm4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Bill+the+pony+gave+a+wild+neigh+of+fear&pg=PT289&printsec=frontcover">The Fellowship of the Ring</a>, by J.R.R. Tolkien, we watch Bill the pony galloping off through three windows, each with a prepositional phrase.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Bill the pony gave a wild neigh of fear, and turned tail and <strong>dashed away along the lakeside into the darkness</strong>.”</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Horse running in paddock" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414760/original/file-20210805-19-15gp6ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414760/original/file-20210805-19-15gp6ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414760/original/file-20210805-19-15gp6ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414760/original/file-20210805-19-15gp6ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414760/original/file-20210805-19-15gp6ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414760/original/file-20210805-19-15gp6ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414760/original/file-20210805-19-15gp6ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Verbs and prepositions convey the movement that brings a sentence to life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dark-icelandic-horse-running-on-paddock-1772756837">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I also taught students to describe how much space an object takes up using the same movement grammar, such as <em>stretched along</em> and <em>rose from</em>.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://readfreeonlinenovel.com/book/The-Graveyard-Book/i-o">The Graveyard Book</a>, by Neil Gaiman, we pan across the perimeter of the cemetery.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Spike-topped iron railings <strong>ran around</strong> part of the cemetery, a high brick wall <strong>around</strong> the rest of it.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>4. Focus the attention</h2>
<p>When we read a novel, there is always something standing out in our attention: a thing, a description, a feeling, an action. I taught students to think about which part of their scene stands out in their mind, and then use “attention-seeking” grammar to focus on it. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-succeed-in-an-ai-world-students-must-learn-the-human-traits-of-writing-152321">To succeed in an AI world, students must learn the human traits of writing</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>One way to make things stand out is to use grammar that deviates from conventional use, like placing adjectives after nouns. Another way is to use repeated grammatical structures.</p>
<p>In Tolkien’s <a href="http://thefreebooksonline.net/classics/u5689_59.html">The Return of the King</a> we get both of these at the same time to contrast the physical states of the orc and Sam.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“But the orc was in its own haunts, <strong>nimble and well-fed</strong>. Sam was a stranger, <strong>hungry and weary</strong>.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>5. Convey the energy of action</h2>
<p>Many of the students wanted to create action scenes in their stories, which they did using the previous strategies. However, they lacked the energy felt in an action-packed novel. I showed them a sentence like this one from <a href="https://booksvooks.com/fullbook/the-blackthorn-key-pdf-kevin-sands.html?page=46">The Blackthorn Key</a> by Kevin Sands.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“A musket ball <strong>tore at my hair</strong> as <strong>it punched into the window frame</strong> behind me, <strong>sending out a shower of splinters</strong>.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The students could see how energy transfers across the clauses, like dominoes, from noun to noun. In this case, the energy starts with the <em>musket ball</em>, and transfers to <em>hair</em>, <em>window frame</em> and finally <em>the shower of splinters</em>, carried by the action verbs.</p>
<p>I asked the students to imagine how a chain of action might appear in their stories and select the appropriate nouns and verbs to do the job.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165310/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brett Healey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It isn’t a matter of choosing between teaching grammar or teaching students to use their imagination in their writing. In fact, it makes sense to show them how grammar can enhance their creativity.Brett Healey, PhD Student, School of Education, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1578572021-04-05T14:49:59Z2021-04-05T14:49:59ZCurious Kids: How are languages formed?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393162/original/file-20210401-15-4ng2q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C6%2C4545%2C3035&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Humans are constantly changing our languages in terms of sounds, words, meanings, and grammar, so much so that it becomes increasingly difficult to understand our own distant relatives across time and space.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Unsplash/Lucrezia Carnelos)</span></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
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</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. Have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidscanada@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsCanada@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
<blockquote>
<p>How are languages formed? — Pearl, 12, Regina, Sask.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Easily! In fact, you can create a new language right now. </p>
<p>Simply choose some sounds, like “f,” “m,” and “e,” and invent words with them: <em>fme</em> could mean “shrimp,” <em>em</em> could mean “eat,” <em>e</em> “it,” and <em>ef</em> “is.” Next, organize these words into sentences — and feel free to use a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/12/hmmmmm/420798/">wonky word order (like Yoda)</a>:</p>
<ol>
<li><em>e fme ef</em> “it’s a shrimp” (literally: it shrimp is)</li>
<li><em>e em fme ef</em> “it is eating shrimp” (literally: it eat shrimp is)</li>
<li><em>e fme em</em> “it ate shrimp” (literally: it shrimp eat)</li>
<li><em>fme em e</em> “shrimp ate it” (literally: shrimp ate it)</li>
</ol>
<p>By the way, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/science/weird-science/zombie-shrimp-heres-what-turns-animals-cannibals-n326016">shrimp really do eat shrimp sometimes</a>!</p>
<p>This is the genius of human language. We can create and learn thousands of words by pairing meanings with arbitrary strings of meaningless sounds (or signs). We can also generate and understand an infinity of sentences according to the language’s grammar — <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/language-unlimited-9780198828099?cc=us&lang=en&">the rules for ordering words</a>.</p>
<h2>Over 7,000 languages</h2>
<p>Today, our world <a href="https://www.ethnologue.com/guides/how-many-languages">has over 7,000 languages</a>, each with its own words and particular grammar. These languages are so mindbogglingly different that you might think, “anything goes!” But in reality, there are countless possibilities in <a href="https://enunciate.arts.ubc.ca/linguistics/world-sounds/">sound patterns</a> and grammars that never occur.</p>
<p>For example, our invented sentences above involve a grammar that has not been found in any human languages, including past ones! </p>
<ul>
<li><p>In <a href="https://public.oed.com/blog/old-english-an-overview/">Old English, which was spoken a thousand years ago</a>, the meaning of <em>e em fme ef</em> could be expressed with the equivalent of “it shrimp eat is,” or “it is shrimp eat,” or “it shrimp is eat.”</p></li>
<li><p>Similarly, the meaning of <em>e fme em</em> could be expressed with the equivalent of “it shrimp ate” in Old English, and the meaning of <em>fme em e</em> could be expressed with “shrimp it ate,” but apparently no speakers of Old English — or any other language — would insist on saying both “it shrimp ate” and “shrimp ate it,” as in <em>e fme em</em> and <em>fme em e</em>.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Pink magnet letters on a table" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393175/original/file-20210401-23-ao9ida.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393175/original/file-20210401-23-ao9ida.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393175/original/file-20210401-23-ao9ida.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393175/original/file-20210401-23-ao9ida.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393175/original/file-20210401-23-ao9ida.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393175/original/file-20210401-23-ao9ida.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393175/original/file-20210401-23-ao9ida.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The genius of human language is that we can create and learn thousands of words by pairing meanings with arbitrary strings of meaningless sounds (or signs).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Unsplash/Jason Leung)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So, if we taught our newly invented language to children, chances are they would <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6953750/">change its grammar to make it more like other human languages</a>. What’s possible in a human language <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/ca/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/applied-linguistics-and-second-language-acquisition/bilingual-children-guide-parents?format=PB&isbn=9781316632611">may be shaped by the way children acquire language</a> and by the way language works in our human brains. This is why the famous linguist Noam Chomsky claims that <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/childrens-health/chomsky-theory">all humans uniquely share a “language acquisition device” and a “universal grammar.”</a></p>
<h2>Universal Grammar</h2>
<p>As a very general example of universal grammar, we humans do not simply string words together in sentences, but rather we organize words into “chunks” called phrases. This chunking allows us to create and make sense of complex sentences like “shrimp shrimp eat eat shrimp,” meaning “the shrimp that other shrimp eat also eat shrimp.”</p>
<p>More generally, humans are <a href="https://youtu.be/iWDKsHm6gTA">constantly changing our languages</a> in terms of sounds, words, meanings and grammar, so much so that it becomes increasingly difficult to understand our own distant relatives across time and space. In effect, we come to speak different languages!</p>
<p>So that’s how new languages are formed, but to be honest, linguists aren’t sure why languages change in the first place. We don’t know why speakers of Old English shifted their grammar to “it is eating shrimp” from earlier “it shrimp eating is” or “it is shrimp eating.”</p>
<p>The older word order survives to this day in forming nouns: “shrimp-eating.”</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidscanada@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsCanada@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em>
<em>And since curiosity has no age limit — adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157857/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Darin Flynn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A young reader asks: How are languages formed?Darin Flynn, Associate Professor of Linguistics, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1523212021-02-09T19:06:47Z2021-02-09T19:06:47ZTo succeed in an AI world, students must learn the human traits of writing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383146/original/file-20210209-23-jfa8sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C598%2C5256%2C2537&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/robot-concept-chatbot-human-hand-pressing-1195416745">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Students across Australia have started the new school year using pencils, pens and keyboards to learn to write. </p>
<p>In workplaces, machines are also learning to write, so effectively that within a few years they may write better than humans. </p>
<p>Sometimes they already do, as apps like <a href="https://www.grammarly.com/">Grammarly</a> demonstrate. Certainly, much everyday writing humans now do may soon be done by machines with artificial intelligence (AI). </p>
<p>The predictive text commonly used by phone and email software is a form of AI writing that countless humans use every day.</p>
<p>According to an industry research organisation Gartner, AI and related technology will <a href="https://robotwritersai.com/the-robots-cometh/">automate production</a> of 30% of all content found on the internet by 2022.</p>
<p>Some prose, poetry, reports, newsletters, opinion articles, reviews, slogans and scripts are <a href="https://robotwritersai.com/the-robots-cometh/">already being written</a> by artificial intelligence.</p>
<p>Literacy increasingly means and includes <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3313831.3376727">interacting with and critically evaluating</a> AI. </p>
<p>This means our children should no longer be taught just formulaic writing. Instead, writing education should encompass skills that go beyond the capacities of artificial intelligence.</p>
<h2>Back to basics, or further away from them?</h2>
<p>After 2019 PISA results (Programme for International Student Assessment) showed Australian students sliding backwards in numeracy and literacy, then Education Minister Dan Tehan called for schools to go <a href="https://ministers.dese.gov.au/tehan/focus-basics-lift-student-performance">back to basics</a>. But computers already have the basics mastered. </p>
<p>Three major reports — from the <a href="https://www.nswtf.org.au/files/18116_towards_a_new_digital.pdf">NSW Teachers’ Federation</a>,the <a href="https://www.educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/wcm/connect/f58f0df9-31f8-43b3-862a-c8c4329c889e/thematic-review-teaching-writing.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=">NSW Education Standards Authority</a> and the <a href="https://naplanreview.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/1222159/2020_NAPLAN_review_final_report.pdf">NSW, QLD, Victorian and ACT governments</a> — have criticised school writing for having become formulaic, to serve <a href="https://www.nap.edu.au/">NAPLAN</a> (the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy). </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/too-many-adjectives-not-enough-ideas-how-naplan-forces-us-to-teach-bad-writing-133068">Too many adjectives, not enough ideas: how NAPLAN forces us to teach bad writing</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In some schools, students write essays with sentences fulfilling specified functions, in specified orders, in specified numbers and arrangements of paragraphs. These can then be marked by computers to demonstrate progress.</p>
<p>This template writing is exactly the kind of standardised practice robot writers can do.</p>
<h2>Are you scared yet, human?</h2>
<p>In 2019, the New Yorker magazine <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/14/can-a-machine-learn-to-write-for-the-new-yorker">did an experiment</a> to see if IT company OpenAI’s natural language generator GPT-2 could write an entire article in the magazine’s distinctive style. This attempt had limited success, with the generator making many errors.</p>
<p>But by 2020, GPT-3, the new version of the machine, trained on even more data, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/08/robot-wrote-this-article-gpt-3">wrote an article</a> for The Guardian newspaper with the headline “A robot wrote this entire article. Are you scared yet, human?” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383166/original/file-20210209-21-hx3kgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young boy at a typewriting, imagining what he will write." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383166/original/file-20210209-21-hx3kgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383166/original/file-20210209-21-hx3kgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383166/original/file-20210209-21-hx3kgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383166/original/file-20210209-21-hx3kgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383166/original/file-20210209-21-hx3kgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383166/original/file-20210209-21-hx3kgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383166/original/file-20210209-21-hx3kgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Robots may have a voice, but they have no soul.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-writer-thinking-imagination-what-write-214049542">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This latest much improved generator has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/24/science/artificial-intelligence-ai-gpt3.html">implications</a> for the future of journalism, as the Elon Musk-funded OpenAI invests ever more in research and development.</p>
<h2>Robots have voice but no soul</h2>
<p>Back at school, teachers experience pressure to teach writing for student success in narrowly defined writing tests. </p>
<p>But instead, the prospect of human obsolescence or “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131857.2019.1608625">technological unemployment</a>” needs to drive urgent curriculum developments based on what humans are learning AI <em>cannot</em> do — especially in relation to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131857.2019.1608625">creativity and compassion</a>.</p>
<p>AI writing is said to have voice but no soul. Human writers, as the New Yorker’s John Seabrook says, give “<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/14/can-a-machine-learn-to-write-for-the-new-yorker">colour, personality and emotion to writing by bending the rules</a>”. Students, therefore, need to learn the rules <em>and</em> be encouraged to break them. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/im-in-another-world-writing-without-rules-lets-kids-find-their-voice-just-like-professional-authors-124976">'I'm in another world': writing without rules lets kids find their voice, just like professional authors</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Creativity and <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-robots-write-machine-learning-produces-dazzling-results-but-some-assembly-is-still-required-146090">co-creativity</a> (with machines) should be fostered. Machines are trained on a finite amount of data, to predict and replicate, not to innovate in meaningful and deliberate ways.</p>
<h2>Purposeful writing</h2>
<p>AI cannot yet plan and does not have a purpose. Students need to hone skills in purposeful writing that achieves their communication goals. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the NAPLAN regime has hampered teaching writing as a process that involves planning and editing. This is because it favours time-limited exam-style writing for no audience. </p>
<p>Students need to practise writing in which they are invested, that they care about and that they hope will effect change in the world as well as in their genuine, known readers. This is what machines cannot do.</p>
<p>AI is not yet as complex as the human brain. Humans detect humour and satire. They know words can have multiple and subtle meanings. Humans are capable of perception and insight; they can make advanced evaluative judgements about good and bad writing. </p>
<p>There are calls for humans to become expert in sophisticated forms of writing and in editing writing created by robots as vital future skills.</p>
<h2>Robots have no morality</h2>
<p>Nor does AI have a moral compass. It does not care. OpenAI’s managers originally <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2019/02/openai-gpt2-text-generating-algorithm-ai-dangerous.html">refused to release</a> GPT-3, ostensibly because they were concerned about the generator being used to create fake material, such as reviews of products or election-related commentary. </p>
<p>AI writing bots have no conscience and may need to be eliminated by humans, as with Microsoft’s racist Twitter prototype, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297050/tay-microsoft-chatbot-racist">Tay</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"712880710328139776"}"></div></p>
<p>Critical, compassionate and nuanced assessment of what AI produces, management and monitoring of content, and decision-making and empathy with readers are all part of the “writing” roles of a democratic future.</p>
<h2>Skills for the future</h2>
<p>As early as 2011, the <a href="https://www.iftf.org/futureworkskills/">Institute for the Future</a> identified social intelligence (“the ability to connect to others in a deep and direct way”), novel and adaptive thinking, cross-cultural competency, transdisciplinarity, virtual collaboration and a design mindset as essential skills for the future workforce. </p>
<p>In 2017, a <a href="http://www.fya.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/fya-future-of-work-report-final-lr.pdf">report</a> by The Foundation for Young Australians found complex problem-solving skills, judgement, creativity and social intelligence would be vital for students’ futures.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-my-students-taught-me-about-reading-old-books-hold-new-insights-for-the-digital-generation-127799">What my students taught me about reading: old books hold new insights for the digital generation</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This is in stark contrast to parroting <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jan/23/dear-gavin-williamson-could-you-tell-parents-what-a-fronted-adverbial-is">irrelevant</a> grammar terms such as “subordinate clauses” and “nominalisations”, being able to spell “quixotic” and “acaulescent” (words my daughter learnt by rote in primary school recently) or writing to a formula. </p>
<p>Teaching and assessment of writing need to catch up to the real world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152321/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucinda McKnight receives funding from The Victorian Association for the Teaching of English. </span></em></p>Our children should no longer be taught formulaic writing. Writing education should encompass skills that go beyond the capacities of artificial intelligence.Lucinda McKnight, Senior Lecturer in Pedagogy and Curriculum, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1509202021-01-11T13:14:22Z2021-01-11T13:14:22ZWhy does grammar matter?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377040/original/file-20210104-23-1keuyz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C40%2C3003%2C1954&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children begin to learn grammar well before they start school, when they craft their first short sentences.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/school-chalkboard-2-royalty-free-image/182149461?adppopup=true"> RonTech2000/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Why does grammar matter? – Maci, 13, Indianapolis, Indiana</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>After 20 years of teaching academic writing to both native speakers and English language learners, I can attest that at some point, just about everyone asks me why, or even whether, grammar matters. </p>
<p>There is more than one way to define grammar. Linguists – the people who study language – define “grammar” as a description of how a language operates. Though some people use it to bully people for making mistakes, grammar is not <a href="https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/grammar#:%7E:text=For%20linguists%2C%20grammar%20is%20simply,to%20put%20together%20a%20sentence.&text=Every%20language%20has%20restrictions%20on,syntax%20as%20any%20other%20language">a way to decide if language is right or wrong</a>. Everyone makes mistakes, and the English language is amazingly flexible in how its pieces can be put together and understood. </p>
<p>That’s because English is a “living” language, actively spoken by people worldwide. It grows and changes, picking up <a href="https://ncte.org/blog/2015/03/students-right-to-their-own-language/">new words and new ways of constructing meaning all the time</a>. </p>
<p>All kinds of factors influence the way people talk, including regional variations, age, ethnicity, education level and technology. People from Indianapolis use English differently than <a href="https://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/NationalMap/NationalMap.html">people from Alaska or Georgia</a>. And American English sounds and works differently than the English spoken in England, Jamaica or India. But they are all still <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429506871">considered English</a>. </p>
<p>Through reading, writing and speaking, you have already learned quite a bit about how English works. You began your education in grammar when you first started using simple sentences. For example, my son had to learn to say “carry me,” not “carry you,” when he wanted to be picked up. That’s grammar, even though you didn’t always call it that.</p>
<p>The school subject we call grammar is the next step. It establishes some ground rules that attempt to define what can be considered a more uniform, established version of English. There is a complicated history of <a href="http://www.englishproject.org/resources/development-english-grammar">how those rules were created and who benefits from them</a>. The end result is that schools teach the kind of English students in their country will be expected to use in <a href="https://ncte.org/statement/qandaaboutgrammar/">public, at work and in formal writing</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377845/original/file-20210108-17-yetdfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Man in facemask supervises children under a makeshift hut" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377845/original/file-20210108-17-yetdfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377845/original/file-20210108-17-yetdfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377845/original/file-20210108-17-yetdfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377845/original/file-20210108-17-yetdfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377845/original/file-20210108-17-yetdfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377845/original/file-20210108-17-yetdfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377845/original/file-20210108-17-yetdfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An outdoor classroom set up in New Delhi, India, for the pandemic. Indian children learn a different kind of formal English than American children do.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/volunteer-teacher-supervises-lessons-for-underprivileged-news-photo/1290692542?adppopup=true">Anindito Mukherjee/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Writing exists to be read. So the reader must be considered when you construct sentences. You write differently for your friends, your parents and your teacher. The grammar you learn in school helps you meet the expectations of the reader. They also learned a similar grammar in school. </p>
<p>Wait, did I just make a grammar mistake using “they” – plural – to refer to a singular “reader”?</p>
<p>Well, maybe not. Remember how I said English is a living language? The use of “their” as a singular, nongendered pronoun is one example of how the language is changing. Traditionally, I would have written “he,” because for so long male was the default gender. As the social thinking about gender changed, people began to write “he or she” to be more inclusive. Now we can use “they,” which is <a href="https://public.oed.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-singular-they/">all-encompassing</a>. </p>
<p>That shift will continue to be debated, as will starting a sentence with a conjunction like “but” or “and,” which used to be discouraged. But I think I get why these changes are happening: <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/words-to-not-begin-sentences-with">They mimic speech</a>. </p>
<p>Studying grammar helps make communication between people clearer. Once you understand your own language and appreciate its patterns and varieties, you can more easily understand how other languages are constructed, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160811-the-amazing-benefits-of-being-bilingual">making them easier to learn</a>. Being able to understand across languages allows you to share your ideas and the ideas of others more broadly. </p>
<p>Grammar matters a lot – just maybe not for the reasons you thought.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em></p>
<p><em>And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150920/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laurie Ann Britt-Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Grammar isn’t a way to bully people for making mistakes, says a longtime English instructor. It is a way to understand how our language operates, in all its many written and spoken varieties.Laurie Ann Britt-Smith, Director of the Center for Writing, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1499202020-11-25T19:02:15Z2020-11-25T19:02:15ZForensic linguists can make or break a court case. So who are they and what do they do?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371218/original/file-20201125-19-nxbog3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> </figcaption></figure><p>If you’re an avid viewer of crime shows, you’ve probably come across cases in which an expert, often a psychologist, is called in to help solve a crime using their language analysis skills.</p>
<p>However, in real life it’s the job of <a href="https://www.iafl.org/">forensic linguists</a> like myself to provide such evidence in courts, here in Australia and around the world. </p>
<p>Forensic linguists can provide expert opinion on a variety of language-related dilemmas, including unattributed voice recordings, false confessions, trademark disputes and, of course, a fair share of <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/man-arrested-threatening-biden-harris-letter">threatening letters</a>. </p>
<p>But what do we look for when doing this?</p>
<h2>Reading between the lines (and everything else)</h2>
<p>Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Thus, linguists are uniquely placed to provide expert opinions on how language is used. Linguists study: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>grammatical structures, wherein changes in punctuation patterns between texts can signal different authors</p></li>
<li><p>semantics, which explores how speakers and listeners form meaning, such as when making sense of a written text</p></li>
<li><p>phonetics and phonology, which refer to the sounds of language. We can recognise subtle differences in the sound of a vowel when produced by different speakers, or by speakers of different dialects and languages.</p></li>
<li><p>sociolinguistics, which looks at how language use varies across different social groups. For example, we can identify when someone from a non-English language background might misunderstand a question. This is because the variety of English they’re familiar with would differ, in small but notable ways, from native English speakers. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Since the first known forensic linguistic case <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Evans_Statements.html?id=68LdtQEACAAJ&redir_esc=y">in 1953</a>, all of the above abilities have proven <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3086556?seq=1">invaluable in courts</a> time and time again. Yet the work done by forensic linguists seems to largely elude members of the public. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371226/original/file-20201125-22-1afg38w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustration of confused people." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371226/original/file-20201125-22-1afg38w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371226/original/file-20201125-22-1afg38w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371226/original/file-20201125-22-1afg38w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371226/original/file-20201125-22-1afg38w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371226/original/file-20201125-22-1afg38w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371226/original/file-20201125-22-1afg38w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371226/original/file-20201125-22-1afg38w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sociolinguistics is a branch of language study focused on the relationship between language and various groups in society.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A widely misunderstood field</h2>
<p>Ironically, a big problem for forensic linguists (and linguistics in general) relates to language. It comes down to how we use the word “linguist”. </p>
<p>Some people think this refers to a person who speaks many different languages, or is particularly fluent in their speech or writing. These non-technical interpretations are easy to conflate with the academic discipline of linguistics. </p>
<p>But apart from causing linguists a headache at dinner parties, does it really matter if people misunderstand what linguists do?</p>
<p>It seems so. Widespread ignorance on the vitality of forensic linguistics has led to some of the most egregious miscarriages of justice in Australian history.</p>
<p>In 2018, the Western Australia Court of Appeal <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-12/gene-gibson-josh-warneke-manslaughter-conviction-quashed-appeal/8436550">overturned the conviction</a> of manslaughter for Gene Gibson, an Aboriginal man with a cognitive impairment for whom English was a <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/article/2017/08/09/gene-gibson-seeks-25m-compensation-unfair-conviction">third language</a>. </p>
<p>Police interviewed Gibson without an interpreter, assuming one wasn’t needed to assess his English fluency. This neglect resulted in Gibson spending nearly five years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371224/original/file-20201125-17-eg63oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Lawyer Michael Lundberg speaks to the media outside the WA Supreme Court." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371224/original/file-20201125-17-eg63oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371224/original/file-20201125-17-eg63oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371224/original/file-20201125-17-eg63oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371224/original/file-20201125-17-eg63oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371224/original/file-20201125-17-eg63oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371224/original/file-20201125-17-eg63oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371224/original/file-20201125-17-eg63oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 2018, Gene Gibson was awarded a total A$1.5 million in compensation by the West Australian government, after being jailed for a crime he didn’t commit. Gibson’s lawyer Michael Lundberg (pictured) told the ABC the payment wasn’t as large as he’d hoped.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rebecca Le May/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>People who speak English as an additional language sometimes don’t know their <a href="https://www.une.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/114873/Communication-of-rights.pdf">legal rights</a> in situations such as police interviews. </p>
<p>In the past, these defendants or witnesses have been treated as though they understood complex legal English simply because they could chat about the weather, or their family. Such casual conversations are not a suitable test for language fluency.</p>
<h2>The verbose wild west of the web</h2>
<p>Another example where linguistics intersects with criminals is found in the rapid <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Digital-Criminology-Crime-and-Justice-in-Digital-Society/Powell-Stratton-Cameron/p/book/9781138636743">increase in crimes</a> involving digital communication. These online offences are made easy by the anonymity and reach allowed on social media platforms.</p>
<p>Correctly identifying individuals who post threatening, defamatory or false messages online is of chief importance for investigators as it can help protect those targeted.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371220/original/file-20201125-22-mcu8gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustration of an on-screen text." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371220/original/file-20201125-22-mcu8gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371220/original/file-20201125-22-mcu8gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371220/original/file-20201125-22-mcu8gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371220/original/file-20201125-22-mcu8gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371220/original/file-20201125-22-mcu8gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371220/original/file-20201125-22-mcu8gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371220/original/file-20201125-22-mcu8gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Social media use has skyrocketed in the past decade, boosting the trend of ‘viral’ content. This has hugely shifted the defamation landscape.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This task, carried out by forensic linguists, is known as “<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220542531_Who's_At_The_Keyboard_Authorship_Attribution_in_Digital_Evidence_Investigations">authorship attribution</a>”. It relies on correctly grouping together texts produced by the same author, by isolating textual features specific to that author. </p>
<p>These features are usually related to grammatical structure and are deeply embedded in each person’s individual authorial style. They are difficult to manipulate by would-be imposters.</p>
<p>Authorship attribution is certainly challenging, as there’s no “text fingerprint” or distinct pattern of language use that can be allocated to each of us. Still, big data analysis, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fql019">combined with linguistic theory</a>, is getting us closer to a reliable system.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/forensic-linguists-explore-how-emojis-can-be-used-as-evidence-in-court-133462">Forensic linguists explore how emojis can be used as evidence in court</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A “stylistics” approach, featured in one <a href="https://tvtonight.com.au/2020/10/australian-story-oct-19-2.html">Australian Story episode</a> last month, describes patterns of language that are similar or different between two specific texts. </p>
<p>But this approach makes no attempt to calculate how common these patterns might be in any other authored text. This oversight is typical of non-linguists attempting to undertake linguistic analysis, as they often don’t know what constitutes a common feature of language.</p>
<p>For instance, if two documents feature the word “cant” (“can’t” without an apostrophe), a non-expert may see this as a strong indicator of a common author. </p>
<p>But according to the <a href="http://wse1.webcorp.org.uk/home/blogs.html">Birmingham Blog Corpus</a> — a collection of almost 630,000,000 words taken from blogs — this word is spelled without an apostrophe about 3.6% of the time. </p>
<h2>Technology-facilitated analysis</h2>
<p>More reliable methods of identifying authorship, or identifying a speaker in a voice recording, are possible with both specialised linguistic knowledge and computer processing power. </p>
<p>Advancing this field doesn’t require any fancy new technology. It requires more investment in Australia’s capacity for forensic linguistic research. In an increasingly digital world, in-depth research on text authorship and voice identification will prove crucial to future law enforcement. </p>
<p>It’s also important we increase awareness of the power (and limitations) of linguistic analysis among the general public, and especially among officers of the law and judiciary.</p>
<p>Bringing more linguistics into schools, such as with <a href="https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/englishlanguage/Pages/Index.aspx">Victoria’s VCE English Language subject</a>, would be a great way to equip the next generation of these experts.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-criminal-suspects-be-identified-just-by-the-sound-of-their-voice-114815">Can criminal suspects be identified just by the sound of their voice?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149920/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Georgina Heydon is the immediate past president of the International Association of Forensic Linguists, a not-for-profit, academic organisation. She provides expert opinions on language matters in civil and criminal matters.</span></em></p>For decades, forensic linguists have helped crack cases involving false author attribution, masked voices, false confessions in criminal cases and copyright disputes.Georgina Heydon, Associate professor, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1471032020-11-24T04:56:34Z2020-11-24T04:56:34ZSaying more with less: 4 ways grammatical metaphor improves academic writing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369528/original/file-20201116-19-fp15i1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>Young children often write as they speak. But the way we speak and the way we write are not quite the same. When we speak, we often use many clauses (which include groups of words) in a sentence. But when we write — particularly in academic settings — we should use fewer clauses and make the meaning clear with fewer words and clauses than if we were speaking. </p>
<p>To be able to do this, it’s useful to understand specific written language tools. One effective tool in academic writing is called grammatical metaphor.</p>
<p>The kind of metaphor we are more familiar with is <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/introduction-to-functional-grammar/oclc/15488401">lexical metaphor</a>. This is a variation in meaning of a given expression. </p>
<p>For example, the word “life” can be literally understood as the state of being alive. But when we say “food is life”, metaphorically it means food is vital.</p>
<p><a href="https://sflinterestgroup.files.wordpress.com/2020/11/vinh-to_-sflig-2020-presentation.pdf">Grammatical metaphor</a> is different. The term was coined by English-born Australian linguistics professor <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2018/04/19/vale-emeritus-professor-michael-halliday.html">Michael Halliday</a>. He is the <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/introduction-to-functional-grammar/oclc/15488401">father of functional grammar</a> which underpins the <a href="https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/english/">Australian Curriculum: English</a>. </p>
<p>Halliday’s <a href="https://www.koorong.com/product/an-introduction-to-functional-grammar-2nd-edition-m_0340574917">concept of grammatical metaphor</a> is when ideas that are expressed in one grammatical form (such as verbs) are expressed in another grammatical form (such as nouns). As such, there is a variation in the expression of a given meaning. </p>
<p>There are many types of grammatical metaphor, but the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0957926508095895">most common</a> is done through nominalisation. This is when <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/functional-analysis-of-english-a-hallidayan-approach/oclc/32510022">writers turn</a> what are not normally nouns (such as verbs or adjectives) into nouns.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/4-ways-to-teach-youre-sic-kids-about-grammar-so-they-actually-care-144353">4 ways to teach you're (sic) kids about grammar so they actually care</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>For example, “clever” in “she is clever” is a description or an adjective. Using nominalisation, “clever” becomes “cleverness” which is a noun. The clause “she is clever” can be turned into “her cleverness” which is a noun group. </p>
<p>“Sings” in “he sings”, which is a doing term or a verb, can be expressed by “his singing”, in which “singing” is a noun. </p>
<p>In these examples, the adjective “clever” and the verb “sings” are both expressed in nouns — “cleverness” and “singing”. </p>
<p>Grammatical metaphor, which is often done through nominalisation like in the examples above, typically features in <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780203209936">academic, bureaucratic and scientific writing</a>. Here are four reasons it’s important.</p>
<h2>1. It shortens sentences</h2>
<p>Grammatical metaphor helps shorten explanations and lessen the number of clauses in a sentence. This is because more information can be packed in noun groups rather than spread over many clauses. </p>
<p>Below is a sentence with three clauses:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When humans cut down forests (clause one), land becomes exposed (2) and is easily washed away by heavy rain (3). </p>
</blockquote>
<p>With grammatical metaphor or nominalisation, the three clauses become just one.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Deforestation causes soil erosion.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>“When humans cut down forests” (a clause) becomes a noun group – “deforestation”. The next two clauses (2 and 3) are converted into another noun group – “soil erosion”. </p>
<h2>2. It more obviously shows one thing causing another</h2>
<p>Grammatical metaphor helps show that one thing causes another within one clause, rather than doing it between several clauses. We needed three clauses in the first example to show one action (humans cutting down forests) may have caused another (land being exposed and being washed away by heavy rain).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370948/original/file-20201124-21-lw9sue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A pencil drawing a bridge between two chasms, with people running over it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370948/original/file-20201124-21-lw9sue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370948/original/file-20201124-21-lw9sue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370948/original/file-20201124-21-lw9sue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370948/original/file-20201124-21-lw9sue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370948/original/file-20201124-21-lw9sue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370948/original/file-20201124-21-lw9sue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370948/original/file-20201124-21-lw9sue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Grammatical metaphor shortens sentences and makes room for more information.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/drawing-bridge-conquering-adversity-business-concept-347537057">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But with grammatical metaphor, the second version realises the causal relationship between two processes in only one clause. So it becomes more obvious.</p>
<h2>3. It helps connect ideas and structure text</h2>
<p>Below are two sentences.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The government decided to reopen the international route between New Zealand and Hobart. This is a significant strategy to boost Tasmania’s economy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Using grammatical metaphor, the writer can change the verb “decided” to the noun “decision” and the two sentences can become one.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The decision to reopen the international route between New Zealand and Hobart is a significant strategy to boost Tasmania’s economy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This allows the writer to expand the amount and density of information they include. It means they can make further comment about the decision in the same sentence, which helps build a logical and coherent text. And then the next sentence can be used to say something different.</p>
<h2>4. It formalises the tone</h2>
<p>Using grammatical metaphor also creates distance between the writer and reader, making the tone formal and objective. This way, the text establishes a more credible voice. </p>
<p>While there have <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-should-use-i-more-in-academic-writing-there-is-benefit-to-first-person-perspective-131898">been some calls</a> from academics to make writing more personal, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07268602.2020.1732867">formality, social distance and objectivity</a> are still valued features of academic writing. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-should-use-i-more-in-academic-writing-there-is-benefit-to-first-person-perspective-131898">We should use 'I' more in academic writing – there is benefit to first-person perspective</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>It’s taught, but not explicitly</h2>
<p>Nominalisation — as a linguistic tool — is <a href="http://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/search?accContentId=ACELA1546">introduced in Year 8</a> in the Australian Curriculum: English. It <a href="https://sflinterestgroup.files.wordpress.com/2020/11/vinh-to_-sflig-2020-presentation.pdf">implicitly appears</a> in various forms of language knowledge from Year 1 to Year 10.</p>
<p>It becomes <a href="https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/learning-writereading-learn/">common across subject areas</a> in the upper primary years. And it is <a href="https://scholars.uow.edu.au/display/publication25174">intimately involved</a> in the increasing use of technical and specialised knowledge of different disciplines in secondary school.</p>
<p>But the term “grammatical metaphor” is not explicitly used in the Australian Curriculum: English and is less known in school settings. As a result, a vast majority of school teachers might not be aware of the relationship between grammatical metaphor and effective academic writing, as well as how grammatical metaphor works in texts. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/writing-needs-to-be-taught-and-practised-australian-schools-are-dropping-the-focus-too-early-148104">Writing needs to be taught and practised. Australian schools are dropping the focus too early</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This calls for more attention to professional learning in this area for teachers and in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programs. This will help equip student teachers and practising teachers with pedagogical content knowledge to teach and prepare their students to write effectively in a variety of contexts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147103/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vinh To does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Grammatical metaphor is different to what we understand to be “metaphor”. It’s a way of converting words and shortening clauses, so more information can be packed into fewer characters.Vinh To, Lecturer in English Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1330452020-11-03T01:31:13Z2020-11-03T01:31:13ZHashtags may not be words, grammatically speaking, but they help spread a message<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366918/original/file-20201102-17-ux7vnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C110%2C3825%2C2370&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Yurii Zymovin</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hashtags are a pervasive feature of social media posts and used widely in search engines. </p>
<p>Anything with the intent of attracting a wide audience usually comes with a memorable hashtag — #MeToo, #FreeHongKong, #LoveWins, #BlackLivesMatter, #COVID19 and #SupremeCourt are just some examples.</p>
<p>First <a href="https://buffer.com/resources/a-concise-history-of-twitter-hashtags-and-how-you-should-use-them-properly">conceived in 2007</a> by blogger and open source advocate <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Messina_(open-source_advocate)">Chris Messina</a> on Twitter, hashtags are now also escaping from social media contexts and appearing regularly in advertising and protest signs, and even in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2015/jun/26/hashtag-language-evolution-digital-age">spoken language</a>. </p>
<p>But are hashtags words? </p>
<p>If there is one thing linguists ought to know, it’s words. But when it comes to hashtags, the definition is not straightforward. </p>
<p>In our <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frai.2020.00015/full">research</a>, based on a collection of millions of New Zealand English tweets, we argue hashtags are, at best, artificial words.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-twitter-and-the-way-of-the-hashtag-141693">Friday essay: Twitter and the way of the hashtag</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Problems with words</h2>
<p>Let’s first look at how we usually recognise words. The simplest way is by following a native speaker’s intuition. </p>
<p>If you had to identify the words in the previous sentence, you might begin by iterating everything separated by spaces: <em>the</em>, <em>simplest</em>, <em>way</em> and so on. But what would you do with “speaker’s”. Is that one word or two? </p>
<p>Laypeople will likely think of it as one word. Grammarians may argue it’s two, or even worse, 1.5 words: you have the speaker part and the possessive case marker (‘s), which is technically not a word, but not a non-word either (it is a <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clitic">clitic</a>). </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/political-hashtags-like-metoo-and-blacklivesmatter-make-people-less-likely-to-believe-the-news-126415">Political hashtags like #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter make people less likely to believe the news</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But using spaces as clues for word boundaries is a luxury available only to written languages. What about languages that only have a spoken form, such as Tinrin of New Caledonia? </p>
<p>Phonological cues — acoustic “spaces” or short pauses between words — are no more reliable. Many grammar words, such as articles (the, a) and prepositions (to, of, at) are used frequently but typically unstressed and uttered quickly, receiving virtually no “airtime” in the rush of content words like nouns, verbs and adjectives that carry the most important part of a message. </p>
<p>Just about every criterion proposed for words has its own problems, as described by linguists <a href="https://books.google.co.nz/books/about/Morphologie.html?id=864tGNzqcrIC&redir_esc=y">Laurie Bauer</a> and <a href="http://hosting03.snu.ac.kr/%7Ekorean/old/data/morphology/Haspelmath(2011).pdf">Martin Haspelmath</a>.
Despite their seemingly straightforward nature, words are tricky for linguists. </p>
<h2>#HashtagsNotWords</h2>
<p>There are two main theories regarding the linguistic status of hashtags. The first claims hashtags are <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1510.00249">like compound words</a>. This is essentially a way of making new words by gluing two (or more) existing words together. In English, compounds can be spelled as one word (blackboard, greenhouse), or two words separated by spaces (bus stop, apple pie) or as hyphenated words (forget-me-not). </p>
<p>The second idea is that hashtags are words that arise from a completely different process, unlike anything we have seen before. This <a href="http://www.skase.sk/Volumes/JTL28/pdf_doc/05.pdf">hashtagging</a> is a much looser word-formation process, with fewer restrictions. As long as a hashtag symbol is used and no spaces appear between the parts, anything goes — #lovehashtagging, #lazysundayafternoon, #MāoriLanguageWeek.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frai.2020.00015/full">research</a> argues against both these proposals by rejecting the notion hashtags should be treated as words. We suggest hashtags are written to look orthographically like words, but their function is much broader and similar to keywords in a library catalogue or search engine. </p>
<p>But just because hashtags aren’t words per se, that doesn’t mean they are not linguistically interesting. On the contrary, we found hashtags allow tweeters to express themselves in many creative ways, and they are used for various functions, including humour and language play. </p>
<p>For example, some tweets start with the hashtag #youknowyoure(a)kiwiwhen or contain #growingupkiwi to reference, in a self-deprecating way, stereotypical Kiwi lifestyle qualities or childhood nostalgia. </p>
<p>In a more serious and controversial vein, in a bid to poke fun at the All Blacks’ performance of the haka before rubgy matches, the hashtag #hakarena references the Māori tribal dance haka and links it to the Latin American song macarena in what <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/peter-lyons-hakarena-is-a-cultural-insult/HS3DACJXOU27GSNETA34QIHQ3I/">some</a> consider a derogatory way. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-danliedpeopledied-how-a-hashtag-reveals-australias-information-disorder-problem-144403">The story of #DanLiedPeopleDied: how a hashtag reveals Australia's 'information disorder' problem</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The hashtags we analysed also showed new ways in which tweeters harness lexical resources from different languages. Hybrid hashtags, as we term them, are hashtags comprising one or more words from two distinct languages — in our case, English and Māori, the indigenous language of New Zealand. Examples include #kiaora4that and #letssharegoodtereostories.</p>
<p>Far from being a source of linguistic demise, social media language continues to help us understand a bit more of the puzzle of human communication.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133045/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andreea S. Calude receives funding from The Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Grant Fund. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Trye receives funding from the University of Waikato PhD Doctoral Scholarship. </span></em></p>Hashtags are infiltrating language well beyond their original use on Twitter — and linguists are struggling to define their role.Andreea S. Calude, Senior Lecturer in Linguistics, University of WaikatoDavid Trye, PhD Student in Computer Science, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1447402020-08-24T20:03:58Z2020-08-24T20:03:58ZKids who learn ‘clause-chain’ languages are quicker to develop complex sentences<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354325/original/file-20200824-20-muza4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C14%2C4773%2C3186&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Languages like Japanese, Korean, Turkish and the indigenous languages of the Amazon, East Africa, and New Guinea build sentences in a way that lets them grow to enormous length. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/8484/acquisition-of-clause-chaining">research</a> shows learning one of these languages may help children create complex sentences that express multiple ideas at a younger age.</p>
<h2>Two ways to tell a story</h2>
<p>Try recounting what you did this morning, or telling a story, and chances are you’ll use a series of several sentences: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This morning, I woke early. I dressed and ate breakfast. I gathered my things, said goodbye to my family, and they waved goodbye to me. Then I drove to work. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In English, the simplest sentence, or “clause”, is just a subject plus a verb (“I dressed”). You can also join two clauses into a sentence using words like “and” or “while”, but it’s unnatural to join more than about three clauses into one English sentence.</p>
<p>But in many languages across Central Asia (from Turkish to Tibetan, Mongolian, Japanese, and Korean), and in many indigenous languages of the Amazon, East Africa, and New Guinea, stories can take the form of one long sentence. These sentences look more like this: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Waking up early this morning, dressing, making breakfast, eating, washing the dishes, gathering my things, saying goodbye to my family, they waving goodbye to me, I drove to work. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>These long sentences are known as “clause chains”. Unlike in English, where most of the clauses in a story would make sense if you spoke them outside the story (“I dressed”), all but the very last clause in a “clause chain” are abbreviated – they can only function in a clause chain.</p>
<p>“Dressing” or “making breakfast” sounds unfinished on its own, and only the final verb of the clause chain tells you whether the events are happening in the past, present, or future.</p>
<h2>Marathon sentences require planning</h2>
<p>Clause chains are special because they can be extremely long, pushing the boundaries of what we consider “sentences” in English. Chains of more than 100 clauses have been recorded. </p>
<p>Non-native speakers may have trouble keeping track of who is doing what in clause chains. One linguist who studied a language of the Himalayas (where many languages use this type of sentence) colour-coded clause chains in her notes to keep track of the plot.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-childs-first-language-includes-more-than-words-132232">How a child's first language includes more than words</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In some languages, especially of the Amazon and New Guinea, there’s a further twist. In each clause of the chain, the speaker has to announce in advance whether a different person is carrying out the action in the upcoming clause (as in “saying goodbye to my family, they saying goodbye to me”).</p>
<p>This is called “switch-reference marking”, and it probably means speakers of these languages have to plan further ahead than speakers of English.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young boy looks at a voice recorder while his father works in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354238/original/file-20200823-16-jv2xsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C1279%2C702&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354238/original/file-20200823-16-jv2xsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354238/original/file-20200823-16-jv2xsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354238/original/file-20200823-16-jv2xsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354238/original/file-20200823-16-jv2xsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354238/original/file-20200823-16-jv2xsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354238/original/file-20200823-16-jv2xsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Timsaul Girip with his two-and-a-half-year-old son, Martin, participate in the Nungon longitudinal developmental study in Towet village, Papua New Guinea.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Norman Jio</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Complex chatter</h2>
<p>So do kids learning Turkish or Japanese speak in precociously complex sentences, compared with their Anglophone peers? We investigated this for six languages – Japanese, Korean, and Turkish, plus three indigenous languages of New Guinea and Australia (Ku Waru, Nungon, and Pitjantjatjara).</p>
<p>We used a variety of methods, looking at data from different children and from the same children over time. For each language, an expert or team of experts recorded children between the ages of two and about five interacting with their parents, or telling stories in more controlled contexts, like retelling short videos or narrating wordless picture books. Numbers of children studied varied by language: from just three (Nungon) to over 100 (Japanese and Turkish).</p>
<p>It turns out children learning these languages are first able to speak in well-formed clause chains between the ages of two and two and a half. This is around the time that children learning English and French make their first attempts at combining clauses into sentences. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/should-i-raise-my-kids-bilingually-23508">Should I raise my kids bilingually?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But the English- and French-speaking children generally make some mistakes (for instance, by leaving out conjunctions), or actually express only a single idea across two clauses (in “look at the house that we built!”, there is only one notion: that we built a house). </p>
<p>The children learning the clause-chain languages did not make such errors. What’s more, in most of these languages the children’s early clause chains express multiple ideas.</p>
<p>It may be that the abbreviated verbs used in all but the last clause of a clause chain make it easy for these children to describe complex sequences of events in a single utterance. </p>
<h2>First two, then more</h2>
<p>So can two-year-old Korean children (for example) speak in 20-clause sentences? </p>
<p>It’s well known that children learning most languages go through an early phase in which their utterances are limited to two words: the “two-word phase”. After this, children don’t proceed to a “three-word phase”. Instead, the progression is from two to “more”. </p>
<p>However, until now no-one has thought to ask when children learn to combine more than two clauses into a sentence. This may well be because research on how children learn to combine ideas into sentences has been largely shaped by speakers of English and other languages that lack clause chains. (This shows it’s important for scientists to come from varied backgrounds!)</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/linguists-found-the-weirdest-languages-and-english-is-one-of-them-113621">Linguists found the 'weirdest languages' – and English is one of them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>When we investigated this idea, we found that all children learning languages with clause chains begin by speaking in two-clause chains. So no, kids don’t begin spouting sentences of 20 clauses at age two! </p>
<p>But the “two-clause phase” lasts for as little as one or two months, and after that most children we studied advanced directly to a “more clauses phase”, in which their sentences include anywhere from two to five or more clauses. A Japanese child recorded a 20-clause chain at age three and ten months, and this may not be unusual.</p>
<p>Although we haven’t yet finished analysing how clause chains affect adult brain function, suffice to say: if you were to choose to learn a foreign language based on its mind-expanding potential, a language with clause chains might be a good choice!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144740/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hannah Sarvasy receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>In languages from Central Asia to the Amazon and New Guinea, stringing multiple ideas together is something children learn at an early age.Hannah Sarvasy, Research Fellow in Linguistics, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1443532020-08-20T20:16:41Z2020-08-20T20:16:41Z4 ways to teach you’re (sic) kids about grammar so they actually care<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353750/original/file-20200820-17-1z10hyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/teacher-hand-writing-grammar-sentences-on-276378728">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>First, a grammar quiz. Which of these sentences do you think begins the Eric Carle classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar?</p>
<p>a) A little egg lay on a leaf in the light of the moon.</p>
<p>b) On a leaf, in the light of the moon, a little egg lay.</p>
<p>c) In the light of the moon, a little egg lay on a leaf.</p>
<p>Grammatically speaking, all three options are <em>correct</em>. But you’ve probably got an opinion on which of these grammatical constructions is <em>best</em>.</p>
<p>Perhaps you chose (a) because you know what is happening in the first few words through the subject (“a little egg”) and its verb (“lay”). Maybe you chose (b) because the prepositional phrases (“on a leaf” and “in the light of the moon”) create an ambient setting before introducing the subject.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/im-in-another-world-writing-without-rules-lets-kids-find-their-voice-just-like-professional-authors-124976">'I'm in another world': writing without rules lets kids find their voice, just like professional authors</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The only way to know which one Carle chose to begin the caterpillar’s epic adventure is to open the first page. But I’ll save you the trouble: it’s (c). I’ll let you ponder why Carle might have chosen it.</p>
<p>So, how was this a grammar question? </p>
<p>In each option, the same three parts were arranged in a different order, which creates a different effect. Knowing how these parts function to create the effect is a type of grammatical knowledge. Even if you were unaware of terms like subject or verb, you could probably <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-011-4533-6_5">still make sense</a> of what each does.</p>
<h2>A way to make meaning; not a set of rules</h2>
<p>Let’s try again. Take a look at the next line in the story and decide which clause best completes the sentence.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>One Sunday morning, the warm sun came up and — pop! —</p>
</blockquote>
<p>a) out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar.</p>
<p>b) a tiny and very hungry caterpillar came out of the egg.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353793/original/file-20200820-16-4w10qf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353793/original/file-20200820-16-4w10qf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353793/original/file-20200820-16-4w10qf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353793/original/file-20200820-16-4w10qf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353793/original/file-20200820-16-4w10qf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353793/original/file-20200820-16-4w10qf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353793/original/file-20200820-16-4w10qf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353793/original/file-20200820-16-4w10qf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar chose his phrases carefully to express precise meaning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/united-kingdom-circa-2006-stamp-printed-134014448">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While option (b) has a more typical structure, the one Carle chose was (a). You might have noticed that the inverted structure in (a) seems to flow more easily from the first clause. But why?</p>
<p>The prepositional phrase (“out of the egg”) first creates an image of something we already know. The directional verb (“came”) shows the movement towards us, the reader, as opposed to away from us (“went”). Finally, after a little pre-modifier for description (“a tiny and very hungry”), we reveal the subject (“the caterpillar”) in all its glory at the end of 21 words of anticipation.</p>
<p>And this is a book for pre-schoolers.</p>
<p>So, here’s the whole point of knowing how to grammar: we can shape it <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/11356405.2015.1089387?journalCode=rcye20">to express precise meaning</a>.</p>
<p>A child with a broad repertoire of grammatical knowledge <a href="https://ro.uow.edu.au/sspapers/108/">can skilfully choose</a> how to phrase what they want to say. It is useful to know how adverbial phrases (such as “with its legs”) add specific detail to verbs to show when, where, how, or why (“the caterpillar <em>felt</em> the leaf <em>with its legs</em>”), or how repeated clause structures attract attention to themselves.</p>
<p>This isn’t limited to literature. You’ll see children playing with grammar in unconventional ways when they text. It’s common to see words, letters and punctuation omitted in <em>textese</em> resulting in phrases like “am goin out now c u soon”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/text-messaging-isnt-like-ruining-young-peoples-grammar-28145">Text-messaging isn’t, like, ruining young people’s grammar</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>What I’ve discussed here is how grammar is <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232902487_Re-thinking_grammar_The_impact_of_embedded_grammar_teaching_on_students'_writing_and_students'_metalinguistic_understanding">a set of tools to make meaning</a> rather than <a href="https://theconversation.com/correct-grammar-both-the-nazis-and-the-anarchists-have-it-wrong-27862">a set of rules to follow</a>.</p>
<p>The difference is in how we teach it. </p>
<h2>How can you teach it?</h2>
<p>Discrete grammar exercises such as circling pronouns in a passage are quite useful for mastering the art of pronoun circling, but they do <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/44924255_The_effect_of_grammar_teaching_on_writing_development">little to improve the mastery of writing</a>. Grammar is <a href="https://www.academia.edu/38507940/Making_grammar_meaningful.pdf">learned contextually</a>. </p>
<p>If we want children to use pronouns effectively in their writing, we need to teach them how authors use them for literary effect in texts. <a href="https://l1.publication-archive.com/download/1/4690">Research has shown</a> children learn to apply grammar in their writing carefully and creatively when we <a href="http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/education/research/centres/writing/grammar-teacher-resources/grammaraschoice/thegrammarforwritingpedagogy/">teach it in the following ways</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353768/original/file-20200820-24-1a3yp20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353768/original/file-20200820-24-1a3yp20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353768/original/file-20200820-24-1a3yp20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353768/original/file-20200820-24-1a3yp20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353768/original/file-20200820-24-1a3yp20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353768/original/file-20200820-24-1a3yp20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353768/original/file-20200820-24-1a3yp20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353768/original/file-20200820-24-1a3yp20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">am goin out now c u soon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/african-american-woman-sending-text-message-323884478">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>1. Show how grammar works in texts</strong></p>
<p>Provide a clear link between a piece of grammatical knowledge and how authors use it to make meaning. So, rather than telling your child to “use more determiners and pronouns”, show them how determiners and pronouns create cohesion between ideas. </p>
<p>For example:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Earth turns on <strong>its</strong> axis in a full rotation. <strong>Each</strong> takes 24 hours, and <strong>this</strong> is what creates day and night. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Each of the bolded words points back to another word (“its” back to “Earth” and “each” back to “rotation”) or phrase (“this” back to “each rotation”) that ties the text together.</p>
<p>This makes the text flow. Imagine how cumbersome and confusing it would be to read a book if words repeated themselves instead of being “pointed” back to.</p>
<p><strong>2. Use examples and make them authentic</strong></p>
<p>Grammar is abstract, so use examples rather than lengthy explanations. The best kind of example is one you find in published literature. Open a book or article and highlight where the grammar exemplifies what you want to teach. </p>
<p>When I want to teach a student to “zoom in” on an object using specific nouns, I open up the first page of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, which reads: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>There was a <em>hand</em> in the darkness, and it held a knife.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This grammatical construction dehumanises the person whose hand it is, giving agency to the hand. It’s a spooky effect cemented by the final noun — knife.</p>
<p><strong>3. Make room for discussion</strong></p>
<p>Ask your child what they are trying to write. For instance: “What effect are you trying to create here?” </p>
<p>Then use this information to decide what kind of grammar will help them do that. For instance: “Try using the passive voice, like "His eyes <em>were drawn</em> to the fire”, to make the character feel like they’re not in control". </p>
<p>Ask your child to tell you how they might use it</p>
<blockquote>
<p>How could you use the passive voice here to create this effect?</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>4. Encourage language play</strong></p>
<p>We saw with our Very Hungry Caterpillar example that playing with parts of sentences helps authors make grammatical choices. Ask your child to experiment by reordering parts or splitting the subject and verb, and then notice what happens. You’ll be surprised by a child’s intuitive grammatical knowledge.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144353/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brett Healey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Grammar is a set of tools to make meaning rather than a set of rules to follow. The difference is in how we teach it.Brett Healey, PhD Student, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1325032020-04-07T20:00:47Z2020-04-07T20:00:47ZBook review: The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325580/original/file-20200406-74198-r7atyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=315%2C45%2C1609%2C1161&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Quotation slips for the first Oxford English Dictionary. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/addedentry/3272280395/in/photostream/">Owen McKnight/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When a literary luminary such as <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/authors/tom-keneally">Thomas Kenneally</a> declares so early in 2020 that he is certain a “more original” novel “will not be published this year”, the reviewer faces a challenge. The book in question is <a href="https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/the-dictionary-of-lost-words/">The Dictionary of Lost Words</a>, the debut novel by South Australian writer Pip Williams. </p>
<p>Occasionally, I finish a book that I want to immediately read again, such as Alan Bennett’s delectably quirky book, The Uncommon Reader, which I have re-read several times. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325559/original/file-20200406-74202-cu6sbq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325559/original/file-20200406-74202-cu6sbq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325559/original/file-20200406-74202-cu6sbq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325559/original/file-20200406-74202-cu6sbq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325559/original/file-20200406-74202-cu6sbq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325559/original/file-20200406-74202-cu6sbq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1162&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325559/original/file-20200406-74202-cu6sbq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1162&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325559/original/file-20200406-74202-cu6sbq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1162&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/the-dictionary-of-lost-words/">Affirm Press</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I have now read Williams’s book twice. I raced through it the first time to see how it would turn out and needed to read it a second time to pick up what I had missed the first time round. In its 383 pages it covers a timespan of more than 100 years: 1882–1989.</p>
<h2>Truth in fiction</h2>
<p>The novel is set mainly in Oxford, but events occur in Bath, Shropshire, and Adelaide, Australia.</p>
<p>It is based on true events, the central one being the compilation of Oxford University Press’s New English Dictionary (now the Oxford English Dictionary) by a team of lexicographers led by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Murray">Sir James Murray</a>, and helped by all of his 11 children. </p>
<p>Murray began compiling the dictionary in 1879. It was unfinished at his death in 1915 and completed by his fellow editors in 1928. The second edition appeared in 1989; it is currently <a href="https://public.oed.com/history/oed-editions/preface-to-the-third-edition/">being completely revised</a>. </p>
<p>Other historical figures who play key roles in the novel are printer <a href="https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F69429">Horace Hart</a> and lexicographer <a href="https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-32030">Henry Bradley</a>, who succeeded Murray.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3x_3eB9bu1M?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Author Pip Williams speaks about her novel.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Women’s words</h2>
<p>Williams’s fictional central character, Esme Nicoll, born in 1882, lives with her father Harry, a lexicographer who works on the dictionary in a corrugated iron shed, grandly called the Scriptorium. It sits in the garden of Murray’s house, <a href="http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/streets/wayside_stones/boundary/1830s/banburyrd_78.html">Sunnyside, at 78 Banbury Road in Oxford</a>. Esme has lost her mother at a very young age. </p>
<p>She spends her days beneath the sorting table in the “scrippy”, where the lexicographers sort and assess the potential contributions sent to Murray by volunteers following his worldwide appeal for words to be included in the new dictionary. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325578/original/file-20200406-74279-1p9qufg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325578/original/file-20200406-74279-1p9qufg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325578/original/file-20200406-74279-1p9qufg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325578/original/file-20200406-74279-1p9qufg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325578/original/file-20200406-74279-1p9qufg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325578/original/file-20200406-74279-1p9qufg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325578/original/file-20200406-74279-1p9qufg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325578/original/file-20200406-74279-1p9qufg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sunnyside, the Oxford house where the dictionary was compiled.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:78_Banbury_Road_Oxford_20060715.jpg">Kaihsu Tai/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One day, a lexicographer drops off a slip of paper. It falls under the table and Esme rescues it. She places it inside a small wooden suitcase kept under the bed of the Murrays’ housemaid Lizzie. The word is “bondmaid”, which is exactly what Lizzie is. Lizzie supplies her own entry: “Bonded for life by love, devotion or obligation. I’ve been a bondmaid to you since you were small, Essymay, and I’ve been glad for every day of it”. The word is not discovered to be missing until 1901.</p>
<p>Over several years, Esme secretes a trunkful of words:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My case is like the Dictionary, I thought. Except it’s full of words that no one wants or understands, words that would be lost if I hadn’t found them. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Esme and Lizzie also collect words from stallholders in Oxford’s Covered Market, many of them “vulgar”. </p>
<p>Esme‘s gathered words comprise the book published many years later, titled in the novel as Women’s Words and Their Meanings, after Lizzie passes Esme’s collection on to a compositor at the Press. However, when Esme subsequently presents a copy of the volume to an editor who takes over after Murray’s death, he rejects it as unscholarly and not a “topic of importance”, confirming Esme’s experience that “all words are not equal”. </p>
<p>She responds to him: “you are not the arbiter of knowledge, sir. It is not for you to judge the importance of these words, simply allow others to do so”.</p>
<p>Williams grafts an emotional story onto other historical figures and interweaves the themes of women’s equality and the suffrage movement. The suffragist-suffragette divide is layered into the narrative when Esme’s actor friend, Tilda, heeds Emmeline Pankhurst’s “<a href="https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/education/suffragettes.pdf">deeds, not words</a>” call to action and ends up committing arson. </p>
<p>A minor character is Esme’s godmother Edith, whose earnest epistles to Esme and her Dad move the plot along, including a painful episode when Esme is treated harshly at a Scottish boarding school. Esme undergoes many changes in fortune, finding some happiness as the story unfolds.</p>
<h2>Judge the book</h2>
<p>Reviewing this book, I’m reminded of a quote in <a href="https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=putnams">Putnam’s Monthly</a> magazine of American literature, science and art from April 1855: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I proclaim to all the inhabitants of the land that they cannot trust to what our periodicals say of a new book. Instead of being able by reading the criticism to judge the book, it is now necessary to read the book in order to judge the criticism. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>My advice to readers is similar: experience The Dictionary of Lost Words for yourselves rather than getting swept away by the hype. Don’t gobble it, as I did the first time round – savour its heart-wrenching detail.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, a close read does reveal the need for a tighter copy edit. “Radcliffe” is spelt two different ways on opposite pages; “braille” is misspelt; the main street in Oxford is known as “the High” rather than “High Street”. I circled (in pencil) dozens of instances of my pet peeve “different to”.</p>
<p>Regardless, it has had an astonishing pickup by international publishers, who clearly expect it to be a commercial success. It will certainly be a popular book-club choice. Time will tell whether it takes its place beside literary classics.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Conversation has been contacted by Affirm Press who assure us one of the typing errors mentioned did not go to final printing of the book and appeared only in the advance copies. Another error mentioned will be fixed in subsequent printings.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132503/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roslyn Petelin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new book, which weaves fiction into the origin story of the Oxford English Dictionary, was declared a hit even before its release. Readers will judge whether it lives up to the hype.Roslyn Petelin, Course coordinator, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1328282020-03-10T16:01:08Z2020-03-10T16:01:08ZFive things people think they know about English grammar that make absolutely no sense<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/318866/original/file-20200305-106568-792uc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C10%2C6979%2C4086&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">ra2 studio via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>People get corrected on their language all the time. With written language, this is mostly about spelling and punctuation. In some cases, though, – especially when speaking – we’re pulled up on our grammar. Whatever you think about grammar pedants, there are some times when they are just plain wrong. Here are five examples of grammar you may have been pulled up on which really make no sense at all, grammatically speaking.</p>
<h2>Can versus may</h2>
<p>How many accidents have been caused by overzealous teachers correcting their students’ language when they innocently ask: “Can I go to the toilet, please?” “You mean ‘May I go to the toilet?’” was the stock response whenever I asked – and it confused me because I, like everyone else, including the teacher, knew that “can” has two different meanings, depending on context. </p>
<p>Yes, it can describe what you are able to do (the “dynamic meaning” in linguistic terminology), but it can also dictate what is permitted. In fact, those same teachers would also say: “You can take your pencil cases out now” – using the permissive (or <a href="https://allthingslinguistic.com/post/138048860136/the-difference-between-epistemic-deontic">deontic</a>) meaning. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1234812264437473280"}"></div></p>
<p>The ability reading of “can” is older, but the oldest OED example of the permissive reading is <a href="https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/26857?rskey=ljXt3I&result=3&isAdvanced=false#eid">from 1489</a>, so the idea that “can” is only descriptive makes no sense. “Can I go to the toilet” is simply ambiguous. It can either describe your ability to (well, you get the idea) or it can mean: “Do I have your permission to go to the toilet?” </p>
<p>In fact, the word “may” is ambiguous in a similar way in statements (but not questions). Compare “You may come in now” with “It may rain later, judging by those clouds.” </p>
<p>So, in short, when asking permission you may use “may”, but you can also use “can”.</p>
<h2>Well versus good</h2>
<p>How many times have you been corrected for saying “I’m good, thanks” in answer to the question “How are you?” This is another kind of correction which makes no sense. The verb “be” (am, are, is, was, were) is what linguists call a “copular verb” (ascribing a property to a subject). </p>
<p>This verb can be followed by an adjective. Think: “It is cold”, “I am tired”. “I am good” is no different. </p>
<p>So, what are people objecting to here? There is another adjective “well” which can also be used to describe wellbeing and, until recently, was used rather than good for this purpose. </p>
<p>This adjective developed from the adverb “well” <a href="https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/226980?rskey=fzBR87&result=3&isAdvanced=false#eid">in Old English</a>. Often when people correct “I am good” they claim that we need an adverb here. In fact, the opposite is true – “be” needs to be followed by an adjective and “well” only works because it can be either an adverb or an adjective.</p>
<p>So, the moral of the story is that all’s fine with both well and good. “I’m well” is older, but “I’m good” is <a href="https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/79925?rskey=smGcQO&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid">first recorded</a> in 1921, so only people over the age of 99 can claim it to be a recent abomination.</p>
<h2>You and me</h2>
<p>This is something that gets corrected again and again – and it makes little sense, because many people say “you and me” or “me and you” whenever they join these two little words together (in a coordination). </p>
<p>Of course, there is some logic to saying that we should use “you and I” as a subject – as “I” is the subject form. You would not say “me like chocolate”, and so – according to some – you should not say (or write) “you and me like chocolate”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1235309495749955584"}"></div></p>
<p>What makes no sense is when people are corrected for using “you and me” in object position or after a preposition such as “for”. People say “for you and I”, because they want to avoid saying “for you and me”, but we wouldn’t say “for I” would we? This “<a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/hypercorrection-grammar-and-pronunciation-1690937">hypercorrection</a>” shows us that the distinction between subject/non-subject is breaking down in this context. </p>
<p>Things get even more complex when you joint two possessors together. Is it “mine and John’s book” or “my and John’s book”, “John’s and my book” or even “me and John’s book”? I’ve heard people use all of these.</p>
<h2>Whom or who?</h2>
<p>“Whomever wants to help – can”, says Walter White in <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/allenstjohn/2013/09/16/why-breaking-bad-is-the-best-show-ever-and-why-that-matters/#1636db9e650e">Breaking Bad</a>. In fact, White says “whom” a lot. I guess this is because he is an (admittedly somewhat corrupted) high school chemistry teacher and using “whom” marks him out as an educated person. But what is “whom”? </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1235305684813647872"}"></div></p>
<p>Once upon a time, English was a language with rich grammatical case (like Latin, German, Russian or Polish) – a means of encoding whether a noun phrase is being used as a subject, object, indirect object etc. </p>
<p>We still have it to some extent in our pronoun system (as discussed in the previous point), and we used to make a subject/non-subject distinction with who/whom too. Nowadays, most English speakers no longer make this distinction, and many people who use “whom” use it (because of hypercorrection) in contexts where it would not have been used historically, like Walter White does. </p>
<h2>Avoiding the passive</h2>
<p>The passive is to be avoided at all costs. To be honest, this was not really advice that I received at school but it is something I have been told (oops – that people have told me) at many training sessions about good writing in my adult life. </p>
<p>This myth has already been debunked online, notably <a href="https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2922">Language Log</a> – but it is so commonly cited that it needs to be mentioned here. The passive is just a way of making the undergoer of an active sentence into a subject, and we use it, especially, when we don’t want to say who the instigator of something was. </p>
<p>When I wrote “I have been told” above, I did so precisely because I didn’t want to specify exactly who had done the telling. The passive allows me to do this. Now, in some cases, we need to know who did something. The passive allows us to include this information too “I have been told by some people”. In fact, because this information is optional, a case could be made that including it actually creates emphasis. </p>
<p>So, in short, there is nothing wrong with the passive. Just like there is nothing wrong with using “can” instead of “may” or saying “I’m good”. We’re all entitled to our grammatical preferences – but grammar itself does not care about them one bit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132828/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Sheehan has in the past received funding from the British Academy and Language Acts and Worldmaking (OWRI).</span></em></p>Have you been pulled up by a “grammar Nazi”? Now you can correct them back.Michelle Sheehan, Professor of Linguistics, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1239432020-02-18T16:57:08Z2020-02-18T16:57:08ZWhy emojis and #hashtags should be part of language learning<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297588/original/file-20191017-156314-jtx6hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=89%2C242%2C5757%2C3341&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Why not teach languages the way we actually use them? </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Learning a language after one’s early childhood home language is often referred to as second language learning (despite the fact people may in fact <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-change-the-way-we-teach-english-109273">be learning their third or fourth languages</a>). In Canada, an officially bilingual country, both English and French are widely taught in <a href="https://superdiv-canada.mmg.mpg.de/">superdiverse urban centres</a>.</p>
<p>Increasingly, a popular avenue for adult language learners is mobile language learning via free or cheap downloaded apps. A number of apps for mobile language learning claim top-market share: <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2019/07/16/game-of-tongues-how-duolingo-built-a-700-million-business-with-its-addictive-language-learning-app/#315e05a73463">Duolingo</a> claims to teach <a href="http://duolingo-data.s3.amazonaws.com/s3/press-assets/Duolingo_DriveCapital.pdf">200 million language learners</a> worldwide; Busuu, <a href="https://www.busuu.com/en/press">90 million learners</a>; <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2017/mar/07/busuu-babble-language-learning-startups-adapt-thrive">Babbel and Memrise</a> are also major players.</p>
<p>I analyzed these four apps for their approach to and treatment of language and language learning. I found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.5070/L210235576">they relied problematically on past models of what language is and what language does</a>.</p>
<h2>How the apps teach grammar</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305639/original/file-20191206-90569-1hd2wdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305639/original/file-20191206-90569-1hd2wdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305639/original/file-20191206-90569-1hd2wdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305639/original/file-20191206-90569-1hd2wdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305639/original/file-20191206-90569-1hd2wdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=684&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305639/original/file-20191206-90569-1hd2wdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=684&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305639/original/file-20191206-90569-1hd2wdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=684&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Are language apps up-to-date with how people now use language?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>None of these four top-selling apps are capitalizing on how language is changing in online communication where features such as emojis or hashtags — conventions used in texting and tweeting — are fundamentally altering how people communicate.</p>
<p>Rather, these apps tended to teach by testing, drilling vocabulary and simple phrases. Thus, “I read a book” is presented for memorization and contrasted with “she reads a book,” with little if any grammatical explanation.</p>
<p>Grammar is the backbone of a language; it’s the structure that words fit into so they make sense for users of the language. Online grammars have diverged from standard “sentence” grammars, which typified printed texts, in myriad ways.</p>
<h2>Language structures meaning</h2>
<p>Grammatical study involves chiefly two levels of language structure: elements added to a word (morphology), and the organization of words in a sentence (syntax). </p>
<p>Languages that are organized predominantly according to the order of words in a sentence, such as English, are described as analytic. Languages that put more information on word formation, such as Russian, are described as synthetic.</p>
<p>Some languages are extremely synthetic or polysynthetic, using what’s called “agglutination” to create long sentence-type words that would in an analytic language require many words in a sentence. Agglutination builds meaning by gluing word parts together. An excellent example is the Ojibwe <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.4058">(or Anishinaabe) language</a> (Anishinaabemowin). </p>
<p>For example, in <a href="https://birchbarkbooks.com/all-online-titles/the-mishomis-book-the-voice-of-the-ojibway"><em>The Mishomis Book: The Voice of the Ojibway</em></a>, spiritual leader and teacher <a href="https://www.cmich.edu/colleges/class/DenisonProfessor/VisitingProfessors/Pages/Eddie-Benton-Banai---Spring-2014.aspx">Edward Benton-Banai</a>
breaks down the word Anishinaabe rooted in the people’s creation story: <em>ani</em> (from whence) <em>nishina</em> (lowered) <em>abe</em> (the male of the species). </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305640/original/file-20191206-90580-1lrumb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305640/original/file-20191206-90580-1lrumb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305640/original/file-20191206-90580-1lrumb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305640/original/file-20191206-90580-1lrumb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305640/original/file-20191206-90580-1lrumb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305640/original/file-20191206-90580-1lrumb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305640/original/file-20191206-90580-1lrumb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teacher Carol Bob points to a sound chart of the Anishinaabe language, at the Sasiwaans Immersion Preschool in Mount Pleasant, Mich., November 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/The State Journal, Dave Wasinger</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ojibwe scholar and <a href="https://history.laps.yorku.ca/students/students-in-the-news/">historian Alan Corbiere</a>, who developed the <a href="https://www.mchigeeng.ca/anishinaabemowin.html">Anishinaabemowin Revival Program</a>, explains that adding the final morpheme “-<em>mo</em>” to the word Anishinaabe refers to vocalization and speaking the language. </p>
<p>Adding “-<em>win</em>” to Anishinaabemo, Corbiere explains, renders the verb back to a noun meaning Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) language. Saying the single word Anishinaabemo in English requires an entire phrase (“speaking the Ojibwe language”)! </p>
<p>This grammatical lesson is particularly interesting because digital word-like conventions, such as <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/entertainment-arts-51429023/oscarssowhite-is-the-academy-diverse-enough">#OscarsSoWhite</a>, follow the rules of agglutination. These rules are different from the grammatical patterning of print-era English, which would require something like: “The Oscars are biased towards whites.” </p>
<h2>Digital shifts</h2>
<p>Word-like forms such as #topic or @onlinehandle are instantly understood as typical communication in their respective digital genres. Moreover, these digital forms are crossing over from online platforms into paper media: see #MeToo headlines in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/us/me-too-movement-tarana-burke.html"><em>New York Times</em></a>, the <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/10/26/sir-philip-green-named-metoo-scandal-businessman-lord-hain-british/"><em>Telegraph</em></a> and the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-metoo-movement-encouraging-for-young-canadian-females-survey/"><em>Globe and Mail</em></a>. </p>
<p>Circulating #hashtags carry coherent packages of information, such as <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ccc/article/11/1/201/4953984">#nolitetebastardescarborundorum</a>. This <a href="https://www.bustle.com/p/what-does-nolite-te-bastardes-carborundorum-mean-the-latin-phrase-in-handmaids-tale-is-good-to-remember-55012">feminist rallying cry</a> hashtag agglutinates (nonsense) words that reference a fake Latin phrase that came to pop culture prominence with the popularity of Margaret Atwood’s <em>The Handmaid’s Tale</em>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1122218909996765184"}"></div></p>
<p>On Twitter, users learn the forms and boundaries of tweet grammar, limited by characters (280), not words. Tweets, like texts, use abbreviations in grammatically systematic ways, such as <a href="https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/symbols-mean-using-twitter-4299.html">RT for retweet or DM for direct message</a>. </p>
<p>Texting functions as a conversation that is typed at the speed of speech — otherwise it would not work as a quick, unedited speech bubble. Emojis in texts suggest the way digital users can share pictorial and graphic information alone or with words to show instantly readable emotional nuances: <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/omg">consider OMG😂</a> (with a laughing-face emoji) versus OMG😡 (with an angry-face emoji).</p>
<h2>Impact on language learning</h2>
<p>Most second-language teaching, <a href="https://doi.org/10.5070/L210235576">even that in mobile apps</a>, continues to focus on old-school grammar according to print, not digital, conventions. Grammar instruction, which has <a href="https://theconversation.com/grammar-matters-and-should-be-taught-differently-25604">faded considerably in formal grade school education</a>, is still alive and well in second-language teaching and <a href="https://tstprep.com/free-toefl-practice-test/">particularly testing</a>.</p>
<p>Such instruction ignores the creative interactive language that happens in digital exchange, which is breaking the old mould describing how English grammar works. Language instruction programs need to acknowledge that new word shapes and grammar forms are here to stay and use them in language teaching and learning. Language learners would then be able to lean on cross-linguistic elements such as: #, @ and 😊 (happy face).</p>
<p>All grammars adjust <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-dont-be-like-that-now-the-english-history-of-african-american-english-129611">with changing language use over time and through usage in particular contexts</a>. We may not use English quite the way that Shakespeare did, <a href="https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/05/methinks.html"><em>methinks</em>, but we can look to his early modern update on Chaucer’s <em>me thinketh</em></a> as evidence that language change is constant.</p>
<p>The #hashtag’s emergence as a new kind of word shape with its own form and spelling conventions is actually restructuring how we build words and meaning in a new way. Why not teach languages the way we actually use them?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123943/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Lotherington receives funding from SSHRC.</span></em></p>The conventions used in texting and tweeting are fundamentally altering how people communicate, but many language apps still rely on old-school English-language grammar.Heather Lotherington, Professor, Multilingual Education and Associate Dean, Research, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1306992020-01-29T04:37:06Z2020-01-29T04:37:06ZComma again? Philip Pullman’s Oxford comma rage doesn’t go far enough<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312360/original/file-20200128-120057-1jh31yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C1920%2C1149&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Philip Pullman thinks this coin needs another comma. What do you think?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">HM Treasury/PA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>High-profile author <a href="https://twitter.com/PhilipPullman/status/1221365577157087232/">Philip Pullman tweeted</a> on Sunday about the new 50 pence English coin due for release by the Royal Mint on Friday, January 31. </p>
<p>“The ‘Brexit’ 50p coin is missing an Oxford comma, and should be boycotted by all literate people,” he said.</p>
<p>An Oxford comma is the comma inserted before “and” or “or” in a list to separate the final item in a list from the items that go before it. </p>
<p>Sir Philip lives in Oxford, which voted to remain in the European Union. He has written several bestselling books, including the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials. He argues that the commemorative coin requires a comma between “prosperity” and “and” – a very controversial opinion.</p>
<p>When The Guardian republished his tweet in an article, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/27/brexit-50p-coin-boycott-philip-pullman-oxford-comma">hundreds of responses</a> were posted within hours. Moderators removed many comments – presumably the most heated ones. </p>
<h2>Exciting passions</h2>
<p>The mention of the Oxford (<a href="http://www.jamesrobertwatson.com/commas.html">or Harvard or serial</a>) comma unfailingly attracts passionate advocates (of which I am one) and determined detractors. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/a-few-words-about-that-ten-million-dollar-serial-comma">Comma Queen Mary Norris</a>, former copy editor at The New Yorker, says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Nothing, but nothing — profanity, transgender pronouns, apostrophe abuse — excites the passion of grammar geeks more than the serial, or Oxford, comma. People love it or hate it, and they are equally ferocious on both sides of the debate. Individual publications have guidelines that sink deep into the psyches of editors and writers. The Times, like most newspapers, does without the serial comma. At The New Yorker, it is a copy editor’s duty to deploy the serial comma, along with lots of other lip-smacking bits of punctuation, as a bulwark against barbarianism.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Although its use is <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/379288.Lapsing_Into_a_Comma">widespread in North America</a>, the Oxford comma is not as widely used in Australia and the UK. </p>
<p>The Australian government’s <a href="https://www.australia.gov.au/about-government/publications/style-manual">Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers</a> merely says “sometimes a comma is placed between the last two items to ensure clarity” and doesn’t use it in the manual’s title. </p>
<p>The UK National Curriculum authority warns students <a href="http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/assessment/download/file/02%20how_englishgps_test_is_marked.pdf">will be penalised</a> if they use a serial comma in a list of simple items such as “apples, cheese, and milk”. </p>
<p>Many of the detractors say: “I was taught at school not to use it.” </p>
<p>To them I would say: “Well, you were taught wrong!” </p>
<p>As one poster on The Guardian article comments: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The use of the Oxford comma is not standard practice [in the UK], merely because of the ignorant, narrow-minded grammar school teachers we had.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many believe it should be used only to avoid ambiguity, as in <a href="https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/education/catholic-contributions/a-serial-offender-the-oxford-comma.html">Robert Fulford’s</a> example of a blooper that occurred in a newspaper reporting on a documentary about Merle Haggard: “Among those interviewed were his two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall.”</p>
<p>My argument is deciding whether or not to use the Oxford comma is an unnecessary burden. I advocate using it at all times, although most journalists aren’t fans of the comma – perhaps because they can save a couple of spaces by omitting it.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/grammarians-rejoice-in-the-10-million-comma-74824">Grammarians rejoice in the $10 million comma</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The 50p coin</h2>
<p>To return to the quote on the coin in question, “Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations”, placing an Oxford comma after “prosperity”, as Pullman advocates, doesn’t go far enough, in my opinion, to sort out the problem with the quote. </p>
<p>The intent of the quote seems to apply “with all nations” to the three nouns, but by parsing out each section we can see this does not work.</p>
<p>Does “Peace with all nations” make grammatical sense? No. </p>
<p>Does “Prosperity with all nations” make grammatical sense? No. </p>
<p>Whatever committee adapted US President Thomas Jefferson’s <a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/jefinau1.asp">1801 inauguration principles</a> “peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations” by merely deciding to drop the Oxford comma and echo the rest of his words has resulted in this egregiously inept wording.</p>
<p>As admirable (or pedantic, depending on your feelings about the Oxford comma) as Pullman might be in advocating for the use of the Oxford comma on the coin, it’s clear this coin has committed more than one crime against the rules of grammar.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130699/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roslyn Petelin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Philip Pullman’s call for a boycott against the new 50p coin is just the latest Oxford comma controvery.Roslyn Petelin, Course coordinator, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1283632019-12-05T11:45:52Z2019-12-05T11:45:52ZApostrophes: linguistics expert imagines a happier world without them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305364/original/file-20191205-38988-1hhpj7n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3059%2C272%2C2892%2C1718&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">rawf8 via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Alas, the Apostrophe Protection Society <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/dec/01/laziness-has-won-apostrophe-society-admits-its-defeat">is no more</a>. John Richards, who founded the Society in 2001 in order to help maintain the correct use of the “much abused” punctuation mark, has thrown in the towel, claiming that “the ignorance and laziness present in modern times have won”.</p>
<p>This is understandable. <a href="https://www.apostrophe.org.uk/">Mr Richards is 96</a>, and undoubtedly has more interesting things to be doing than fretting over whether Waterstones will ever see the light and reinstate the apostrophe it so <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16529653">wilfully discarded back in 2012</a>. </p>
<p>But where does this leave the rest of us? If there is no APS, who is actually in charge of apostrophes? How will we know how to use them? Without the APS’s (APS’? – see, it’s happening already) guidance, how can we know for sure when to be outraged at their misuse? </p>
<p>As a linguistics expert who researches and teaches the use of the English language and the way it changes over time, I am interested in how people view its different aspects. I actually like to think of the APS not only as a guardian of good apostrophe use, but also as a supplier of quality apostrophes. You can probably pick up cheaper apostrophes from supermarkets and online retailers, but the APS will give you the real deal.</p>
<p>A supermarket or online apostrophe might come packaged in a jumbled set of other punctuation marks with no guidance as to how to use them – whereas a genuine APS apostrophe will come with its own provenance and will be made to fit precisely the context for which it is needed. </p>
<p>Much like a traditional tailor or shoemaker, every item will be infused with craftsmanship and tradition, and a lifelong guarantee if used correctly. </p>
<p>So, no more APS, no more quality apostrophes. And no guidance as to how to use the ones we might already have – even the quality APS ones. It will be a shame to see genuine APS apostrophes being used willy-nilly in badly punctuated signs at the village fete pointing people towards the Tea’s and Coffee’s. But this is what we will be faced with.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1201257433584279553"}"></div></p>
<p>Of course, without new quality apostrophes being provided, people might eventually simply stop using them altogether. Maybe they will keep hold of the few APS-certified examples they have left to use for things like wedding invitations and legal documents, and – rather than risk using sub-standard online-sourced punctuation – decide to go without them the rest of the time. </p>
<p>Eventually, those last remaining apostrophes will be used up, leaving us with nothing.</p>
<h2>Comma chameleon</h2>
<p>Imagine that. Imagine a world where proper apostrophes ceased to exist. What would happen? There would probably be a period during which people misguidedly tried to re-task commas to do the job of an apostrophe. But this is clearly unsustainable (it’s a gravity issue). We would soon be left apostrophe-less.</p>
<p>To be honest, one outcome of this state of affairs would be to remove a whole source of ammunition for pedants to use against the less-enlightened. The “teas and coffees” issue is immediately rectified – along with every other example of the so-called “<a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-greengrocers-apostrophe-1690826">greengrocer’s apostrophe</a>” (apple’s, tomato’s and pear’s) that seems to get some people so worked up. </p>
<p>Hardcore apostrophites would no longer be able to roll their eyes at people’s inability to work out where the apostrophe goes in examples such as “The Joneses front door”, “Holding each others hand” or “Others opinions”. Neither would they be able to indulge in their habitual mocking of someone who has used the wrong form of “its”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1202147919945535489"}"></div></p>
<p>In fact, by removing apostrophes altogether, the pedantry arsenal is vastly reduced. Without their favourite <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-do-you-think-youre-apostrophising-the-dark-side-of-grammar-pedantry-75793">punctuation mark of judgement</a>, your average pedant will be forced to make do with old favourites such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/shortcuts/2017/sep/25/to-boldly-go-split-infinitive-grammatical-error-research">split infinitives</a> and insisting on the “correct” meaning of “<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/the-original-definition-of-decimate">decimate</a>”.</p>
<h2>Who’s rules anyway?</h2>
<p>Put this way, the demise of the APS and its guardianship over the apostrophe can only be a good thing. Far from indicating a win for ignorance and laziness, this is a victory for common sense and freedom. In most cases (and certainly in almost all cases of possession), an apostrophe is not actually necessary for understanding. There are very few examples where the lack of an apostrophe genuinely creates confusion or ambiguity, despite what many would have you believe. </p>
<p>The most persuasive illustration of apostrophes not being necessary is the fact that we get along fine without them in spoken language. If something is ambiguous in speech, we rephrase so that it isn’t. We can easily do (and routinely already do) the same in writing. If we all took this view, we would be left with just a handful of genuinely useful apostrophes. </p>
<p>In reality, the Apostrophe Protection Society did not, of course, hold dominion over apostrophes or any other aspect of English. Nobody does. Linguistic conventions (for this is all they are) <a href="https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/english-changing">come and go</a>, and are often based on idiosyncratic preferences from another era. A good grasp of apostrophe use says more about your ability to remember inconsistent patterns than it does about your intelligence. </p>
<p>It seems to me that apostrophes are used to judge others as much as they are used to clarify writing. Maybe the APS finally saw the light and realised this, and decided it wanted no further part in the snobbish pedantry that surrounds this fetishised punctuation mark. Or maybe John Richards will read this article, and, passion renewed, decide he must carry on the fight.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128363/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rob Drummond does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>‘Greengrocer’s’ may be in mourning, but the rest of us can sigh with relief.Rob Drummond, Reader in Linguistics, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1257812019-10-29T17:10:21Z2019-10-29T17:10:21ZFive common words we’re all using incorrectly<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299256/original/file-20191029-183128-26qll0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Stark naked? Not quite...</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU3MjM4Mzk3MSwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMTEzNzA0MTg0NiIsImsiOiJwaG90by8xMTM3MDQxODQ2L21lZGl1bS5qcGciLCJtIjoxLCJkIjoic2h1dHRlcnN0b2NrLW1lZGlhIn0sIkhwYWw3MnVYSFZtN0dwSHpnV004bHhwYk10QSJd%2Fshutterstock_1137041846.jpg&pi=33421636&m=1137041846&src=1sejcIo5-9_bgvm-QbfIWQ-1-26">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many people think they know their main language intimately. But there are many words and phrases <a href="https://theconversation.com/lost-in-translation-five-common-english-phrases-you-may-be-using-incorrectly-67011">in English</a> that people often use wrongly. Whether these erroneous uses truly count as “wrong” is up for debate – after all, a mistake that has become widely adopted should <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Bagels_Bumf_and_Buses.html?id=OSe3DwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">really be considered acceptable</a>. But whichever side of this argument you err towards, here are five examples of ones that we are all making. </p>
<h2>1. Stark naked</h2>
<p>Someone who has no clothes on is widely described as being <em>stark naked</em>. Originally, however, the phrase began as <em>start naked</em> – from the Old English <em>steort</em>, meaning “tail”. The phrase literally meant “naked to the tail”, probably referring to the buttocks.</p>
<p>Although the word <em>steort</em> is not recorded in this sense, <em>tail</em> has often been used in this way – as it still is in the American phrase <em>work your tail off</em>. The word <em>steort</em> fell out of general use around 1300, surviving only in the names of birds like <em>redstart</em> and <em>wagstart</em> (better known today as the <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/pipits-and-wagtails/"><em>wagtail</em></a>).</p>
<p>The switch from <em>start</em> to <em>stark naked</em> was triggered by <em>start</em> becoming obsolete, combined with an association with <em>stark</em>, meaning “completely”, in phrases such as <em>stark dead</em>, <em>stark blind</em> and <em>stark naught</em> – first recorded in the early 16th century in the savage put-down: “Ye count your selfe wele lettred [educated], your lernyng is starke nought.”</p>
<h2>2. Sneeze</h2>
<p>The verb <em>to sneeze</em> is imitative in origin – the sound of the word mimics the sound of the thing it names, as with words like <em>drip</em>, <em>fizz</em>, <em>beep</em> and the noise created by a sneeze: <em>atishoo</em>.</p>
<p>But the original form of the word was <em>fnese</em>, along with <em>fneosung</em> (“sneezing”), and <em>fnora</em> (“a sneeze”). The change from <em>fnese</em> to <em>sneeze</em> arose through confusion caused by the way the word appeared in medieval manuscripts.</p>
<p>Medieval handwriting employed several different forms of the letter “s”, including an 8-shaped form, another resembling a kidney bean, the <a href="https://www.greeksymbols.net/sigma-symbol">Greek letter sigma</a> and a long form – still found in printed books of the 18th century. This last letter closely resembled the letter “f” and it was <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/researchguidance/medievaldocuments/letterformsandabbreviations.aspx">confusion between the long “s” and “f”</a> that resulted in <em>fnese</em> being adapted into modern English <em>sneeze</em>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lost-in-translation-five-common-english-phrases-you-may-be-using-incorrectly-67011">Lost in translation: five common English phrases you may be using incorrectly</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. Gravy</h2>
<p>While <em>gravy</em> may seem a quintessentially English sauce, the word is actually French in origin. <em>Gravy</em> was originally <em>grané</em>, meaning “spiced”, from Latin <em>granum</em> “grain”.</p>
<p>The letters “u” and “n” were often indistinguishable in medieval handwriting – both were formed using two single vertical strokes <a href="https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/palaeography/where_to_start.htm">called minims</a> – so that it would be easy for a scribe to misread the word as <em>graue</em>.</p>
<p>While the letters “u” and “v” are distinguished by the sounds they represent today, in medieval English they varied according to position: “v” appeared at the beginnings of words (<em>vntil</em>, “until”) and “u” in the middle (<em>loue</em>, “love”), irrespective of the sound. As a result, the word <em>grané</em> came to be misread as <em>gravy</em>, and this form has been used ever since. </p>
<h2>4. Adder</h2>
<p><em>Adder</em> (the snake) goes back to the Old English word <em>nædre</em>; it is one of a small number of English words where the initial “n” has been lost due to confusion over where the boundary falls when following the indefinite article <em>a/an</em>.</p>
<p>As a result of this process, known as <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=81GLV2XHjRYC&pg=PT63&lpg=PT63&dq=does+spelling+matter+metanalysis+horobin&source=bl&ots=MCoz3WwOwq&sig=ACfU3U3-XU53bSFMLccV60BSzBMV1YlWJg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwixsqP08MHlAhVFonEKHbXGA3gQ6AEwA3oECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false">metanalysis</a>, <em>a nædre</em> became <em>an adder</em>. The same misapprehension lies behind words like <em>apron</em> (from <em>napron</em>, related to <em>nappe</em>, “tablecloth”) and <em>umpire</em> (originally <em>nonpeer</em>, “no equal”).</p>
<p>The word <em>orange</em> was also formed this way, although in this case – since it is a borrowing into English from French – the mistake had occurred before it was adopted into English. The French <em>orange</em> is itself a borrowing of the Arabic word <em>naranj</em> (the initial “n” is still found in modern Spanish <em>naranja</em>); it was confusion following the indefinite article <em>un</em> that produced the modern form.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299258/original/file-20191029-183128-1jiiglb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299258/original/file-20191029-183128-1jiiglb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299258/original/file-20191029-183128-1jiiglb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299258/original/file-20191029-183128-1jiiglb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299258/original/file-20191029-183128-1jiiglb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299258/original/file-20191029-183128-1jiiglb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299258/original/file-20191029-183128-1jiiglb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Watch your indefinite article.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU3MjM4NDEwOCwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMTMxNzE1OTUzMyIsImsiOiJwaG90by8xMzE3MTU5NTMzL21lZGl1bS5qcGciLCJtIjoxLCJkIjoic2h1dHRlcnN0b2NrLW1lZGlhIn0sIms5U25UMktQcnd0MEV0amdpNDZGZTdicTY5ZyJd%2Fshutterstock_1317159533.jpg&pi=33421636&m=1317159533&src=kPsZf-iIXaba3Vxuy5uU1w-1-0">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>5. Cherry</h2>
<p>The word <em>cherry</em> originates in the northern French dialect word <em>cherise</em> (a variant of the standard modern French <em>cerise</em>), which was adopted into English after the <a href="https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/1066-and-the-norman-conquest/">Norman Conquest of 1066</a>.</p>
<p>Because it ended in an “s”, English speakers mistakenly understood it to be a plural form and so the false singular <em>cherry</em> was born. The same process lies behind the word <em>pea</em>, erroneously derived from the singular form <em>pease</em> (ultimately from Greek <em>pison</em>) – preserved in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FldDfAG_atU">nursery rhyme</a> “pease pudding hot, pease pudding cold”. </p>
<p>Although these changes took place hundreds of years ago, the process can be observed today in the emergence of <em>bicep</em>: <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/biceps-plural-singular">a singular form of <em>biceps</em></a>. This may seem logical, but <em>biceps</em> is an adoption of a singular Latin noun, from <em>bi-</em> “two” and <em>-ceps</em> “headed”, referring to a muscle with two points of attachment.</p>
<p>The tendency for speakers to associate the “s” ending with plurals has also given rise to erroneous plural forms. Despite <em>phenomena</em> being the plural of Greek <em>phenomenon</em>, <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/phenomena">the false plural <em>phenomenas</em> is sometimes used</a>. But the error of this type that is most likely to make pedants reach for their red pens is <em>paninis</em> – the supposed plural of Italian <em>panini</em> (singular <em>panino</em>) – <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=5L9EDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=horobin+very+short+introduction&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj1ksyq-cHlAhWBtXEKHWJwBYIQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q&f=false">a reminder that what is acceptable for some remains anathema for others</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125781/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Horobin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pedants should reach for their red pens now.Simon Horobin, Professor of English Language and Literature, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1220562019-08-19T14:52:47Z2019-08-19T14:52:47Z‘Like’ isn’t a lazy linguistic filler – the English language snobs need to, like, pipe down<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288504/original/file-20190819-123741-vwicn3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C137%2C2048%2C1768&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Use it at your peril.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU2NjIzNjU2MiwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfOTU2NjExMzkiLCJrIjoicGhvdG8vOTU2NjExMzkvaHVnZS5qcGciLCJtIjoxLCJkIjoic2h1dHRlcnN0b2NrLW1lZGlhIn0sIjhWWUloNk1ZdzdrUVk5UnNFcXhJeUpuN2tDOCJd%2Fshutterstock_95661139.jpg&pi=33421636&m=95661139&src=TYfEtFN5y9wXNy2sOmqDwQ-1-33">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The latest series of the television show <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-love-island-can-tell-us-about-the-history-of-love-119751">Love Island</a> is over, with Amber and Greg now snuggling up as the most recent winners – at least until the winter version starts in January 2020.</p>
<p>As well as bringing us a fresh group of islanders and a new villa to admire, the January series is likely to throw up many of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/love-island-audience-reaction-shows-deep-snobbery-about-accents-98418">same linguistic debates as previous series</a>.</p>
<p>Yes, you read that right – linguistics. For nary a season of Love Island, or any programme predominantly aimed at young people, may pass without a flurry of grumpy think pieces on the protagonists’ language habits. And few linguistic habits cause as much ranting from those seeking to protect the fair English tongue as use of the word <em>like</em>.</p>
<p>After several decades of <em>like</em>-bashing, which long predate Love Island’s arrival on our screens, <a href="https://www.theoldie.co.uk/blog/so-annoying-like">commentators</a>, <a href="https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/17714166.copthorne-primary-school-says-like-word-is-not-banned/">headteachers</a> and <a href="https://www.theodysseyonline.com/the-excessive-use-the-word-like">professors</a> all continue to denounce the “excessive” use of the word <em>like</em> among “the young”.</p>
<p>But seeking to protect English grammar from <em>like</em> is misguided for one crucial reason: <em>like</em> has a grammar, too. And by understanding the grammar of <em>like</em>, we can learn a lot about what it means and what it contributes to someone’s speech.</p>
<h2><em>Like</em> it or not</h2>
<p>To shed light on <em>like</em>’s grammar, I’ve built what is known in linguistics as a corpus. A corpus is a representative sample of language as used by certain speakers. We can then examine this corpus to understand how language is used – rather than relying on our perceptions, opinions and memories.</p>
<p>My corpus is not based on Love Island, but on a programme with similarly young participants – and audience members – that has also attracted much criticism for its participants’ <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/apr/06/stacey-dooley-glow-up">language use</a>: the BBC’s make-up competition <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00031yf">Glow Up</a>. </p>
<p>After transcribing the show and removing the kinds of <em>like</em> that are broadly “accepted” – that is the <a href="https://xkcd.com/1483/">verbs, nouns, quotatives</a> and those used for comparisons – I found that participants used <em>like</em> 229 times in eight episodes. That’s about 29 uses of <em>like</em> per episode, or one every two minutes.</p>
<p>First, it was notable that <em>like</em> was rarely either preceded or followed by a pause. So even though this use of <em>like</em> is regularly dismissed as a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/um-like-filler-words-discourse-markers-why-use-er-you-know-a7665721.html">meaningless, lazy filler</a>, it doesn’t, in fact, behave like <em>um</em> or <em>er</em>. In the programme, the participants knew what they wanted to say, and using <em>like</em> was part of that. </p>
<p>We can further understand the meaning of <em>like</em> by noticing that there are places in an utterance where <em>like</em> can appear and places where it sounds really unnatural. According to the Glow Up corpus, here’s where <em>like</em> might appear in an utterance such as “I am going to create a beautiful look in 15 minutes”:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Like</em>, I am going to create a beautiful look in 15 minutes.</p>
<p>I am <em>like</em> going to create a beautiful look in 15 minutes.</p>
<p>I am going to <em>like</em> create a beautiful look in 15 minutes.</p>
<p>I am going to create <em>like</em> a beautiful look in 15 minutes.</p>
<p>I am going to create a <em>like</em> beautiful look in 15 minutes.</p>
<p>I am going to create a beautiful look in <em>like</em> 15 minutes.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And here are the places where <em>like</em> never, or very rarely, appears:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I <em>like</em> am going to create a beautiful look in 15 minutes.</p>
<p>I am going <em>like</em> to create a beautiful look in 15 minutes.</p>
<p>I am going to create a beautiful <em>like</em> look in 15 minutes.</p>
<p>I am going to create a beautiful look <em>like</em> in 15 minutes.</p>
<p>I am going to create a beautiful look in 15 <em>like</em> minutes.</p>
<p>I am going to create a beautiful look in 15 minutes <em>like</em>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Of course, we can’t assume that this kind of <em>like</em> never appears in the positions marked in the second set of examples. But a large scale study of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249874276_Like_and_language_ideology_Disentangling_fact_from_fiction">North American English speakers</a> also found that speakers regularly produced utterances like the first set of examples but didn’t produce utterances like the second set, making my finding somewhat stronger.</p>
<p><em>Like</em>, then, can’t just be used anywhere, but it can still appear in about six different places in our example sentence – so what is it doing?</p>
<h2>The meaning of <em>like</em></h2>
<p>The corpus shows us that an utterance that starts with <em>like</em> always follows on from another utterance. The speaker who starts an utterance with <em>like</em> in this way might be adding their support to what someone else has just said, or emphasising that they really believe something that they have just said themselves. For example:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Dom: This is bloody marvellous. Like this is really beautiful. You have won me over 100%.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Or:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Leomie: Nah well done, Nikki. Like the eye, the colour, like it proper worked.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288501/original/file-20190819-123705-1fbaua7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288501/original/file-20190819-123705-1fbaua7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288501/original/file-20190819-123705-1fbaua7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288501/original/file-20190819-123705-1fbaua7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288501/original/file-20190819-123705-1fbaua7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288501/original/file-20190819-123705-1fbaua7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288501/original/file-20190819-123705-1fbaua7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Screenshot from BBC’s Glow Up.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">BBC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Like</em> in the middle of an utterance is similar, but subtly different. It may be used to highlight the part of the utterance that’s telling us something new and relevant, or that the speaker thinks is most interesting or important. You might think that this would mean that <em>like</em> could highlight any and every part of a sentence but, as we’ve already seen, <em>like</em> can highlight certain types of constituents (combinations of words and phrases), but not others.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Ellis: I’m layering up the powder to kind of get, like, this velvety finish</p>
<p>Stacey: Is Ellis putting, like, a gluestick on his eyebrows?</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288503/original/file-20190819-123754-5janoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288503/original/file-20190819-123754-5janoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288503/original/file-20190819-123754-5janoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288503/original/file-20190819-123754-5janoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288503/original/file-20190819-123754-5janoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288503/original/file-20190819-123754-5janoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288503/original/file-20190819-123754-5janoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Screenshot from BBC’s Glow UP.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">BBC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In both cases, then, speakers use <em>like</em> to make sure that their message is properly understood by the person they’re speaking to, both in terms of its content and how it fits into the conversation.</p>
<p>We can make an analogy between <em>like</em> and how intonation is used in English. We could remove it from an utterance and that utterance would still be grammatical, but it wouldn’t convey its message in the same way. It could also sound really odd in the context of a conversation.</p>
<p>English speakers use and interpret both <em>like</em> and intonation without thinking about it consciously. Intonation has also been a target for language commentators who decry, for example, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/24/vocal-fry-strong-female-voice">“uptalk”</a>, when a speaker uses rising intonation at the end of their utterance.</p>
<p>But why do <em>like</em> and uptalk annoy people so much? <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249874276_Like_and_language_ideology_Disentangling_fact_from_fiction">Alexandra D’Arcy at the University of Victoria in Canada</a> argues that the multi-purpose nature of <em>like</em> might be part of its downfall. Because all of the uses of <em>like</em> are pronounced in the same way, its apparent repetition makes it stand out.</p>
<p>More generally, though, these language gripes just seem to be a proxy for demeaning <a href="https://debuk.wordpress.com/2015/07/26/a-response-to-naomi-wolf/">certain groups</a> that share characteristics other than their (perceived) language use – they tend to be young, female and not in positions of power.</p>
<p>If we criticise a person or group based on how we think they speak, we not only draw attention away from what they’re saying, but we’re likely to stop them from wanting to speak (up) at all. <a href="http://accentism.org/">Language prejudice is real</a> and needs to be called out.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122056/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Woods does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The word ‘like’ has a grammar, and by looking at it, we can learn a lot about what ‘like’ means and what it contributes to someone’s speech.Rebecca Woods, Lecturer in Language and Cognition, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/968502018-05-27T19:57:43Z2018-05-27T19:57:43ZWar of words: why journalists need to understand grammar to write accurately about violence<p>The recent killing of unarmed Palestinians by Israeli forces has sparked not only a reasonable outcry, but commentary on the language journalists use to report these events.</p>
<p>For instance, writer and English professor Moustafa Bayoumi, of City University of New York, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/16/israel-palestine-us-news-headlines-mysterious-deaths">wrote</a>: </p>
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<p>It is the peculiar fate of oppressed people everywhere that when they are killed, they are killed twice: first by bullet or bomb, and next by the language used to describe their deaths.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/us-can-no-longer-be-counted-on-to-end-israel-palestinian-conflict-96716">US can no longer be counted on to end Israel-Palestinian conflict</a>
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<p>Bayoumi draws attention to one of the most important but contested roles of modern journalism: the act of putting political violence into words.</p>
<p>The bad news for journalists is there is no neutral mode. If your words sound neutral, it’s likely you’ve simply avoided laying responsibility for the killings, or have imputed responsibility only indirectly. </p>
<p>Linguistically, there are many ways of doing this. </p>
<h2>Grammatical voice</h2>
<p>One well-known grammatical structure is the passive voice. While it is well known, it is largely misunderstood. For example, Bayoumi criticised a New York Times tweet that construed the killing of Palestinian protesters in the following way: </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"996009245853265920"}"></div></p>
<p>Bayoumi, like many commentators on Twitter, took umbrage as this reporting, arguing that with these words the perpetrators of the violence were not made visible. The accompanying image, which shows Palestinians but not Israeli soldiers, echoes this choice.</p>
<p>Bayoumi wrongly called this structure the passive voice. The passive voice version would look like this: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Dozens of Palestinians <em>have been killed</em> in protests as the US prepares to open its Jerusalem Embassy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The passive voice puts the object of the action first. More specifically, the passive voice involves making the object of the action the subject of the clause. We use it to give more prominence to the people or things affected by an action.</p>
<p>Because the passive voice puts the people or things acted on before the verb, writers have a choice about whether or not to name the agent of the action. The passive voice lets you leave out the agent: in my example above, the Palestinians were killed, but who or what killed them is not mentioned.</p>
<p>Equally, you can put the agent in the clause, as urged by many on Twitter. In these examples, “Israeli soldiers” and “Israeli forces” are named as the perpetrators.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"996147138978504704"}"></div></p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"996278939113918464"}"></div></p>
<h2>Active, passive and middle voice</h2>
<p>The headline of the The New York Times article actually identified the perpetrator and opted for active voice:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/world/middleeast/gaza-protests-palestinians-us-embassy.html">Israel Kills Dozens at Gaza Border as US Embassy Opens in Jerusalem</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Active voice is a structure where the agent of the action is also the subject of the clause.</p>
<p>The active and passive voices have something important in common: they construe action as involving two participants: one that carries out the action, the other that is affected by the action. These kinds of actions are called “transitive”.</p>
<p>The New York Times’ tweet – “Palestinians have died …” – construed the killing of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers using the “middle voice” or “intransitive” structure. </p>
<p>By construing the violence in this way, The New York Times offered its readers one and only one participant: Palestinians, who died without reference to any cause.</p>
<h2>Laying responsibility with something that is not human</h2>
<p>Another way to avoid making the perpetrators visible is to assign responsibility to a non-human entity. CBS news, for instance, recently gave further killings of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers the following headline:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Israeli fire in new border protest kills 4 Palestinians</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219863/original/file-20180521-14984-1euxj1a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219863/original/file-20180521-14984-1euxj1a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219863/original/file-20180521-14984-1euxj1a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219863/original/file-20180521-14984-1euxj1a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219863/original/file-20180521-14984-1euxj1a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219863/original/file-20180521-14984-1euxj1a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219863/original/file-20180521-14984-1euxj1a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Recent CBS Headline.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CBS</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rather than putting responsibility on people, journalists gave responsibility to “Israeli fire”. Grammatically, the action of “firing” has been turned into a noun and put in the grammatical role of agent. </p>
<p>This has the effect of taking responsibility away from humans, which avoids any suggestion of intention. Let’s note also that CBS coupled this indirect way of construing agency with an image showing a Palestinian as an agent of violence.</p>
<p><a href="https://gulfnews.com/news/mena/palestine/16-palestinians-killed-in-clashes-near-israel-border-1.2196829">Here’s</a> a common variation on this theme, from the Gulf News:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>16 Palestinians killed in clashes near Israel border</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The headline uses passive voice and leaves out the agent of the action. Instead, the deaths are explained as a consequence of “clashes”. Not only is human agency avoided, but the violence is construed as between two equal parties, involved in bi-directional action.</p>
<p>Given 60 Palestinians were killed, but no Israelis, the idea this was a fight on equal terms is a bit of a stretch. </p>
<h2>Main versus dependent clauses</h2>
<p>Yet another way of avoiding making the perpetrators of an act of killing visible is the choice to distribute the information across two separate clauses.</p>
<p>For example, USA Today <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/03/30/least-5-dead-israeli-troops-fire-palestinian-protesters-gaza-security-fence/472408002/">reported</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Israeli troops fire on Palestinian protesters, leaving at least 14 dead near Gaza border.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By using two clauses, these journalists separated the actions of Israeli troops from their consequences. The action of firing on Palestinians is put into one clause, while the effect of this action happens in a separate clause.</p>
<p>Note the grammatical choice to put the deaths of 14 Palestinians in a dependent clause.</p>
<p>This grammatical choice means the actions of Israeli troops are given prominence (by occupying the main clause in this structure), while the deaths of Palestinians, which are the direct and predictable result of these actions, are construed as secondary, as if an unfortunate byproduct of these actions.</p>
<p>The causal link between what the Israeli troops did and the consequence is even more attenuated by the choice of lexical verb. To “leave dead” is not the same as “to kill”. To “leave (them) dead” turns the action of killing into an adjective describing the victims of the action.</p>
<p>These few examples are the tip of the iceberg. A fuller discussion of the many and varied ways journalists avoid attributing responsibility for the deaths in political violence is available in <a href="https://www.springer.com/series/13311?detailsPage=titles">my forthcoming book</a>.</p>
<h2>Why aren’t journalists taught about the mechanics of grammar?</h2>
<p>Despite the importance of understanding the invisible machinery of language, few journalism or communications students are taught the intricate patterns from which they must choose in the act of writing a news story.</p>
<p>Journalism educators might eschew this knowledge. But journalists cannot get away from the effects of these linguistic structures on the meanings they give to important events. It’s better to know their implications rather than be at their mercy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96850/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annabelle Lukin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When reporting violence, grammar matters: the use of voice is key to apportioning blame and, importantly, an accurate depiction of what has taken place.Annabelle Lukin, Associate Professor in Linguistics, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.