Free Republic

There have been few languages in world history that were spoken by more people as a second language than as a first. English has had that distinction for several decades already. Now, there are more people learning it in a given year than it has native speakers The second President of the United States, John Adams, predicted in 1780 that “English will be the most respectable language in the world and the most universally read and spoken in the next century, if not before the end of this one.” It is destined “in the next and succeeding centuries to be...

The future of written English will owe more to Hollywood films than Dickens or Shakespeare, if the findings of a study into children’s writing are anything to go by. The analysis of 74,000 short stories found that their written work was littered with Americanisms, exclamation marks and references to celebrities. Researchers who looked at the entries to a national competition found they were increasingly using American words such as garbage, trash can, sidewalk, candy, sneakers, soda, cranky and flashlight. The stories, written by pupils aged seven to 13, show how fairy cakes are referred to as cupcakes and a dinner...

Hundreds of North County parents packed a public hearing Tuesday evening, frustrated and upset over proposed changes for incoming students at two Encinitas elementary schools. If this proposal passes, starting next year new kindergarten students at Capri Elementary School would only have the option of enrolling in a dual-language immersion program, in which classes are taught in both Spanish and English.

In Puerto Rico, for the price of 20 delegates, Mitt Romney sold out his conservative principles. There is a long history of Congress requiring English to be the language of government and schools for territories seeking to be admitted to the Union — e.g., Louisiana, Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma. For all of the territories that had large non-English speaking populations, Congress announced before the territories voted on the question of statehood that a change in language policy would be a prerequisite for statehood. In the case of Puerto Rico, where according to the latest Census only 15% of residents...

Rick Santorum's contention that in order for Puerto Rico to become a state English must be its principal language drew criticism Thursday from the U.S. territory's sole representative in Congress. "Santorum's view is narrow and a limiting view of what America is all about," said Pedro Pierluisi, a Democrat, on CNN's "Starting Point." "English is the predominant language in the U.S. and will continue to be so, whether Puerto Rico becomes a state or not." Puerto Rico will vote in November on a referendum regarding possible statehood. While campaigning Wednesday ahead of the island's primary on Sunday, Santorum told a...

The Puerto Rico primary is on Sunday and Rick Santorum made a quick campaign stop to the island. While there, he told Puerto Ricans that if they want to pursue statehood, they should make English their primary language, Reuters reports. Nevermind the fact that both English and Spanish are already the official languages of the territory. In an interview with El Vocero newspaper, Santorum said he does not support a state where English is not the primary language. "Like any other state, there has to be compliance with this and any other federal law," Santorum said. "And that is that...

The resistance has been broken. Wasn't going to post unless absolutely necessary, but a couple of these craigslist ads have got the Mr. Language Person part of me in a tizzy. First of all, check this one out. Seems the subdominant culture has come up with a brand new vehicle nomenclature system: Click here.That one is an all-time classic. Then, a new name has been invented for a Honda product. Check it out here: Click here.

A ruling that an activist's language skills are insufficient for a City Council seat unsettles border towns where Spanish is used in day-to-day life. An appeal is before the state Supreme Court. Reporting from San Luis, Ariz.— For almost a decade, Alejandrina Cabrera has had no trouble speaking her mind in this dusty Arizona border town. She's gone door to door campaigning for City Council candidates. She's addressed the City Council. She's even led two recall petitions against the mayor. But when she decided to run for San Luis City Council, she hit a surprising roadblock: her language. Like virtually...

An Arizona judge has ruled that a woman----supposedly a US citizen---running for council---is to be removed from a ballot b/c she has little or no ability to speak English. The woman was rigorously tested and could not even tell testers the name of the US HS that graduated her. She must have had a steady diet of "Raza Studies"..../s REFERENCE "La Raza" is a racist and anti-American organization. It's core goal is to overwhelm the American Southwest with illegal immigrants from Mexico who will eventually cause the region to break away from the US and become Mexican territory. In addition,...

When it comes time for math and phonics at Spring Lake Elementary School, first-graders in an experimental classroom stop speaking English and start learning in a language that's foreign to many of them. For about an hour a day, students at the Seminole County school who have never spoken Spanish will learn their numbers and letters, sing and play games completely in Spanish. The goal is ambitious: Teachers aim to have each student speaking, reading and writing both English and Spanish equally by the end of the year with the hope of giving English-speakers a leg up on a new...

This year, 2011, has marked the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. Check out this article: Happy 400th Birthday To The King James Bible -- The Most Influential Book In The English Language The headline of this article is no hyperbola. From a literature standpoint - this translation is one of the greatest piece of literature in the English language. (reference: Why the King James Bible Endures) From a scholarly standpoint - the bar was set very high in making this translation. (reference: An enduring legacy) From a cultural standpoint - no other book has influenced so much of...

A curious vocal pattern has crept into the speech of young adult women who speak American English: low, creaky vibrations, also called vocal fry. Pop singers, such as Britney Spears, slip vocal fry into their music as a way to reach low notes and add style. Now, a new study of young women in New York state shows that the same guttural vibration—once considered a speech disorder—has become a language fad. Vocal fry, or glottalization, is a low, staccato vibration during speech, produced by a slow fluttering of the vocal chords (listen here). Since the 1960s, vocal fry has been...

India has a rich linguistic history with more than 22 different national languages spoken throughout the length and breadth of the country. The 1991 census recognized 1576 mother tongues and grouped them into 114 different languages. Imagine the plight of a linguist trying to study all the languages of the country. So how does English survive in this linguistic caldroun? India’s tryst with its “own foreign language” (English) dates back to the 17th Century, when Emperor Jahangir welcomed the East India Company into the country. Considered a language of the elite in the pre-independence era, English managed to gradually percolate...

According to the criminal complaint, Sule broke into the man's home in the 6800 block of Seventh Street Northeast in Fridley about 8 p.m. Sept. 19, 2010, and made the man go with him to a bedroom. After repeatedly telling the man, "I love you, I want to kiss you," Sule sexually assaulted him, the complaint said. The man, who died earlier this year, told police he tried to fight back but was weak from ongoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments. His attorney argued Sule did not know the implications of agreeing to the swab because officers asked him in English,...

A Yuma-area official is pleased that state education officials will no longer force schools to retrain or reassign English immersion teachers because they speak with an accent. In an agreement with two federal agencies, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) will stop trying to single out teachers who they believe do not have a good command of the English language. For example, the federal agencies said, state officials documented instances where one teacher pronounced the word “the'' as “da.'' In a separate incident, a teacher pronounced “another'' as “anuder'' and where “lives here'' came out as “leeves here.''

severed from tradition and reali life, literature as it is taught in universities is strictly an intramural game.

THE LOW POINT of Joey Vento's career probably was facing trumped-up charges that dragged him before the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations. He was accused of discrimination, but no matter how high the kangaroos in the court jumped, they couldn't produce anyone who was discriminated against at his neon-loaded, nurse-clean sandwich shop. At the time of the hearing, Joey told me CHR "violated numerous civil rights of me." The high point of Joey Vento's career was showing up at Geno's before daybreak to prepare his iconic sandwich shop for the day's business. The 5-foot-5, tattooed, gold chain-laden South Philadelphian was...

A new immigration rule requiring people to be able to speak English to move to the UK to be with their spouse is a breach of human rights, a court heard today. A couple have launched a judicial review at the High Court to challenge the rule, which they claim contravenes their rights to a family life, their right to marry and constitutes discrimination. British citizen Rashida Chapti, 54, and husband Vali Chapti, 57, are applying for him to join her in the UK. The couple have been married for 37 years and have six children together. Mr Chapti is...

The university hands down a new edict about punctuation -- but the world's grammar nerds will never back downGrammar lovers today were saddened, shocked, and mightily displeased at the news that the P.R. department of the University of Oxford has decided to drop the comma for which it is so justly famed. As GalleyCat reported, the university's new style guide advises writers, "As a general rule, do not use the serial/Oxford comma: so write 'a, b and c' not 'a, b, and c'." Cue the collective gasps of horror. The last time the nerd community was this cruelly betrayed, George...

Another day, another whiny, 'offended' French-Canadian. One wonders when it is all going to stop. The latest example of the plight of the poor, downtrodden French-speakers made news today when a federal court judge ruled in favor of serial-litigator Michel Thibodeau in his latest attempt at becoming a language rights crusader. It seems Thibodeau and his wife were upset when, during several flights in 2009, the Air Canada crew failed to serve him in his preferred language. My God, the horror!