My intention is to introduce a series of entries here regarding the basics of fl teaching with a checklist of typical notions held by (Continue Reading)
Pat’s Polemics
On-going brilliance
Example of group genitive -s in dialect
03/23/2018 Pat Barrett Add CommentThe normal way to give the equivalent of French chez = at the place of, home of, business of, etc. (from Latin casa) in Black (Continue Reading)
Can you spot the phony English?
11/13/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentInternet scams often reveal themselves through their peculiar English. Here is one that came to me and I noticed immediately that the opening line did (Continue Reading)
Good example of deep Black dialect
10/23/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentThe widow of the slain Green Berets soldier, LaDavid Johnson (there, I did better than Trump) gave an example of deep Black English when she (Continue Reading)
Trump and the Soviets – how language is corrupted
06/15/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentI just started watching an appearance by Masha Gessen, a frequent guest on MSNBC and elsewhere. She returned to her native Russia in the early (Continue Reading)
McWhorter on Black English
05/28/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentC-Span had McWhorter discussing his book, Back Talk, Black Talk. In his talk he laid out, in his usual fashion, the structure of discourse on (Continue Reading)
Resemblances between language and music
05/17/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentThese quotes are from Simha Arom’s African Polyphony and Polyrhythm …. for each type of procedure observed, there must be an explanation of how it (Continue Reading)
No political/linguistic alignment
04/11/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentMackridge in Language and National Identity in Greece 1766-1976 notes that there was little to no alignment between cultural and political views and views on (Continue Reading)
Romantic view of Chomsky
02/21/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentJohn McWhorter, in Language Interrupted, quotes Orrin Robinson, author of the wonderful English and Its Closest Relatives, as saying, “He [Chomsky] has lost that wonder (Continue Reading)
How to suss out Trump’s mind
02/02/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentSussing out Trump’s mnd via grammar Trump said, “Frederick Douglas is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job that is being recognized more (Continue Reading)
Translating Trump
01/31/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentA note on translating Trump into French gives the example of a French Communist who was translated into Russian in the U.S.S.R. as speaking in (Continue Reading)
Complexifying sentences structure
12/02/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentI responded to the question (embedded in the response) with trepidation b/c this series of blogs on WordPress rates responses and kicks you off and (Continue Reading)
brilliant how?
09/09/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentYesterday MSNBC played Putin’s comment about Trump and he used the word yarkii. The normal word for brilliant is blest’ashchii which does indeed mean shining (Continue Reading)