Another point to raise is that English itself it also diverse. Check out: World Englishes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Englishes): "World Englishes is a term for emerging localised or indigenised varieties of English, especially varieties that have developed in territories influenced by the United Kingdom or the United States. The study of World Englishes consists of identifying varieties of English used in diverse sociolinguistic contexts globally and analyzing how sociolinguistic histories, multicultural backgrounds and contexts of function influence the use of English in different regions of the world."
Yes, Sharif! Thanks for bringing that up. The researchers make that clear right up front, and note despite it's diversity only a narrow set are featured prominently.
"In addition, while English itself is constituted of a number of distinct varieties around the world, including regional dialects, vernaculars, and Creoles, it is only a narrow set of
these that participate in this near monopoly, most prominently Standard American English and British English."
I love languages which is why I minored in French and almost got my masters in linguistics instead of design. Although...design is a language, too, albeit a visual one (there’s a great paper by Ellen Lupton where she uses rhetorical writing devices as a framework for designing identity systems). But anyway...one thing I learned from speaking French: they use passive phrases to the English direct ones. You can see the results of this in shampoo bottle descriptions, for example. The French text is often twice as long as the English text. Their vocabulary is smaller, too: the English vocabulary, no doubt large because so many from most cultures contribute to it –mixing, matching, slicing, dicing, adding, subtracting– allows very nuanced descriptions that aren’t available in French.
Enjoying reading
Thanks, Mary! I appreciate that.
Another point to raise is that English itself it also diverse. Check out: World Englishes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Englishes): "World Englishes is a term for emerging localised or indigenised varieties of English, especially varieties that have developed in territories influenced by the United Kingdom or the United States. The study of World Englishes consists of identifying varieties of English used in diverse sociolinguistic contexts globally and analyzing how sociolinguistic histories, multicultural backgrounds and contexts of function influence the use of English in different regions of the world."
Right! Like how I sometimes need subtitles to understand Scottish films. Even some dialects in the U.S., too.
Yes, Sharif! Thanks for bringing that up. The researchers make that clear right up front, and note despite it's diversity only a narrow set are featured prominently.
"In addition, while English itself is constituted of a number of distinct varieties around the world, including regional dialects, vernaculars, and Creoles, it is only a narrow set of
these that participate in this near monopoly, most prominently Standard American English and British English."
I love languages which is why I minored in French and almost got my masters in linguistics instead of design. Although...design is a language, too, albeit a visual one (there’s a great paper by Ellen Lupton where she uses rhetorical writing devices as a framework for designing identity systems). But anyway...one thing I learned from speaking French: they use passive phrases to the English direct ones. You can see the results of this in shampoo bottle descriptions, for example. The French text is often twice as long as the English text. Their vocabulary is smaller, too: the English vocabulary, no doubt large because so many from most cultures contribute to it –mixing, matching, slicing, dicing, adding, subtracting– allows very nuanced descriptions that aren’t available in French.