Language Myths

Description

Myth 1. The meanings of words should not be allowed to vary or change / Peter Trudgill -- Myth 2. Some languages are just not good enough / Ray Harlow -- Myth 3. The media are ruining English / Jean Aitchison -- Myth 4. French is a logical language / Anthony Lodge -- Myth 5. English spelling is kattastroffik / Edward Carney -- Myth 6. Women talk too much / Janet Holmes -- Myth 7. Some languages are harder than others / Lars-Gunnar Andersson -- Myth 8. Children can't speak or write properly any more / James Milroy -- Myth 9. In the Appalachians they speak like Shakespeare / Michael Montgomery -- Myth 10. Some languages have no grammar / Winifred Bauer -- Myth 11. Italian is beautiful, German is ugly / Howard Giles and Nancy Niedzielski -- Myth 12. Bad grammar is slovenly / Lesley Milroy -- Myth 13. Black children are verbally deprived / Walt Wolfram -- Myth 14. Double negatives are illogical / Jenny Cheshire -- Myth 15. TV makes people sound the same / J.K. Chambers -- Myth 16. You shouldn't say "it is me" because "me" is accusative / Laurie Bauer -- Myth 17. They speak really bad English down South and in New York City / Dennis R. Preston -- Myth 18. Some languages are spoken more quickly than others / Peter Roach -- Myth 19. Aborigines speak a primitive language / Nicholas Evans -- Myth 20. Everyone has an accent except me / John H. Esling -- Myth 21. America is ruining the English language / John Algeo.