Recently, I’ve been engaged with a research project looking at the discourse of RateMyProfessors.com, a website where students rate and comment on their university or college instructors. I’ve been paying special attention to how students talk about instructors who are…
Lingua Franca is a blog at the Chronicle of Higher Education that I enjoy reading especially for Anne Curzan‘s and Geoffrey Pullum‘s excellent posts, but all of the contributors write about language, and so I’m a regular reader. Today, there was…
Recently, I’ve come across a number of articles by self-proclaimed language experts trying to sell business leaders on the idea that being aware of their current and potential employees’ grammar and spelling is important. This article calls written language problems…
The Louvre (large museum in Paris, France, pictured below, home to many important works of art, for example, the Mona Lisa) closed today. Hundreds of staff members walked out citing complaints about rampant crime in the museum that was targeting both visitors and…
Last week, a man who most people have probably never heard of died: John Gumperz. He was, however, a very important discourse analyst and sociolinguist. His work has had an impact on my own thinking particularly about my approach to…
linguistic pulse 