The Old French language became the official language of business and court in the now Norman controlled England (Soon Magazine). Parents who wanted their children to amount to anything would have them schooled in this language, while English was reserved for the commoners.
In this case, one can understand the first pronounced case of language bias in the English language. Although many of today's descriptive grammar linguists would hold that neither language was superior to the other, the social climate of the culture certainly held that the use of French was more correct than the use of English, which must have been seen as a dialect like today's Appalachian dialect. The result of this language bias was an altered English, Middle English, which emerged around 1200, when the French and English kingdoms were again sovereign entities (Soon Magazine). Thus, language bias caused the English language to change, which is a positive property of language. Indeed, languages that no longer change are the stuff of history, dead languages ("A History of the English Language" 2-3).
During the European Renaissance, English continued to change, motivated by two different sources. The first was Shakespeare, whose plays and poetry added many phrases and words to the English language (Soon Magazine). In addition to these plays, the King James Bible, the first Bible that was authorized to be printed in the English language, emerged (Soon Magazine). These sources not only served to advance the English language, bringing it to a near modern state, but they also introduced common people to language, and the importance of spoken and written words. Stories have long been told of Shakespeare's Globe Theater, where peasants and royalty alike had the opportunity to view plays, despite the fact that the upper class had comfortable seats while the peasants crowded...
In conclusion, it becomes clear from reading this enlightening essay that the English language is peppered with racial stereotypes and slurs, even in words and phrases that seem quite harmless. The question remains. Is this intentional? Were many English words and phrases created with subtle references to black as "bad" and white as "good" intentionally, or are they simply a result of a long-term repressed and unconscious thoughts and feelings
Iraqi Students The literature review provides an abundance of material related to the educational and cultural aspects of Australian society and how those aspects play into the educating process regarding immigrants and especially high school students from Iraq who immigrate to Australia in search of education and a better way of life. The review focuses not only on the generality of those concepts but on specific aspects as well. Some of
Language's Role In Sustaining Inequality Between The Sexes Although it is disputed whether language causes sexism or sexism causes certain language, language does play a part in sexism (Wikipedia). Given that the development of society has gone hand in hand with the development of language, it is unlikely that the causation will ever be determined. However, whether language causes sexism or sexism causes certain language, it is clear that language plays
Note that inflated English has been more characteristic of the centuries preceding Orwell and of Orwell's own time than on the latter part of the 20th century. There has been a shift in linguistics. As linguists and historians of language have noted, the Western model of language follows the monological approach. The monological approach has roots reaching back to Aristotle who saw communication as one of rhetoric, namely persuasion,
Language and Literacy Jeanne S. Chall was born in Poland on January 1, 1921. She moved to New York at a tender age of seven with her family. Jeanne S. Chall was one of the chief educators and researchers in the field of literacy during the past century. The Harvard Reading/Literacy Lab has recently been renamed in accolade of Dr. Chall. What follows is an account of Dr. Chall's life and work.
While these are some of the more famous elements of rhetorical theory, they do not require extensive discussion here for two reasons. Firstly, they are fairly well-known. Secondly, and more importantly, they actually do not provide much insight into the uses of rhetoric, because Aristotle implicitly inserts an ethics into his discussion of rhetoric that precludes it from having as robust an application to the real world as would
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