Hot take: Deep fried Mars bars are better with whipped cream than with ice cream.

🚀 New Article!

@luciafrai.bsky.social @celesterl.bsky.social @matthuntgardner.bsky.social, Glenys D Collard and James Walker examine social practices and (ING) variation in Aboriginal English. What are the meanings associated with different realisations of (ING)?

Find out 🔗 buff.ly/uaG8VoH

Freakin’ Swimming and Everythink: School Practices and Variable (ING) in an Australian Indigenous Boarding School This original sociolinguistic ethnographic study examines social practices and (ING) variation in Aboriginal English, an indigenized variety of English spoken by First Nations people in Australia. Ba...

So happy this article with the fabulous @luciafrai.bsky.social (and others) is now published: Freakin’ Swimming and Everythink: School Practices and Variable (ING) in an Australian Indigenous Boarding School doi.org/10.1111/josl...

A Guide to Build (ING) Generalised Linear Mixed Model Trees in Canadian Maritime English: Part 1, Social Factors This two-part guide/research report introduces the Generalised Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) tree analysis technique to variationist sociolinguistics using (ING) variation in Canadian Maritime English (C...

New article alert: doi.org/10.1111/lnc3... Looking at a classic variable with a new-ish tool. Part 2 coming soon. #linguistics #langsky #Maritimes

Do you #softblock (blocking and then immediately unblocking) QMUL Linguist Caitlin Hogan @caitlinhogan.bsky.social explores how it represents emerging norms of politeness on social media. Check out Caitlin's new article in Social Media + Society. doi.org/10.1177/2056...

Not gonna lie, twice I’ve missed my stop because I was too busy ranting online about them.

I commute on the London Underground and I’ve been seeing new ones like every day.

I refer you to earlier equally poor choices

bsky.app/profile/matt...

I mean it’s just all kinds of incorrect. Make is correct in PDE if 2PP, but then taketh is incorrect. But, let’s say it’s 2PS, then it should be Takest. If Taketh was intended (which is weird, but let’s give them TBOTD) make should be makes (3PS).

At this point I feel like someone should call Channel 4’s marketing department and give them a Middle English reader #channel4

Subway sign that reads: Taketh the hellish path or make everyone pay.

Ok, now it’s just too easy. Both “take” and “make” should have the same ending. Given context the subject should be thou, giving Takest not Taketh. If Taketh’s subject is an unstated he/she/it/one (which prompts -eth ending) then make should be maketh or makes. #linguistics

Monty Python's Flying Circus - "Working Class Playwright" YouTube video by karatelunchbox

#linguistics Great example of how comedy almost solely relies on subverting the tropes of class/regional representations of English in stories using language variation. youtu.be/rQDeU6dHX-c

It's been delayed a little, but here — at last — is the CFP for Schmidt Sciences' Humanities and AI Virtual Institute, to support research "at the intersection of AI and the humanities." Expressions of interest are due April 4th. Pls RT! www.schmidtsciences.org/humanities-a...

*prescriptivists wanted shall

Snippet that reads: The distinctions are elaborate: they are fully set forth in the OED; & no formal grammar of dictionary can be held to have done its duty if it has not laid down the necessary rules. It will therefore be assumed here that the reader is aware of the normal usage so far as abstract statement can bring it home to him: & the object will be to make the dry bones live by exhibiting groups of sentences, all from newspapers of the better sort, in which on or other principle of idiom has been outraged. The 'Scotch, Irish, provincial, or extra-British' writer will thus have before him a conspectus of the pitfalls that are most to be feared."

Though, it's not Channel 4ths fault. Apparently no one ever really followed the rules (though mostly it was using will where prescriptivists wanted will) not the cheeky shall here. From Fowler (1926: 525) section "shall & will". Such shade.

Subway sign reading "Thy matcha mod mash shall awaken their wrath"

Another bad borrowed prestige using grammatical forms. #linguistics Trad. grammars state (basically) "shall" for positive polarity, "will" for negative for 1PSig, and the reverse for other subjects. Thus "Though shalt not pass" is okay but "Thy XX shall awaken..." is technically an error.

I agree. In fact, I think it would actually probably make more sense as third person, either single or plural, "Blessed be he/she/they that/who resist(s) the call home".

You are absolutely right! I should have clocked that too.

Should deconstructing this be an exercise in my History of the English Language: 1500-1800 tutorials. All signs point to Aye!

I actually find this interesting because it’s using borrowed prestige associated with grammatical choices from two different periods in the history of English.

Also, contextually shouldn’t it be “Blessed be they who/that resist the call home”???

Subway add saying “Blessed be thou who resisteth The Call Home”

The use of “thou” was pretty much dead (outside Bible quotes) by the end of the 17th century. The use of “who” to introduce a restricted relative clause didn’t take off until the 19th century. Just saying. #linguistics

I don’t think it’s wrong per se, I just think it’s spreading.

This is true, one American, one British, but there are also corpora of spoken English that have none or nearly none so I wouldn’t read much into it.

Here's a link to the data. Not the actual tokens but the counts and relative percentages

www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/pskyh...

Of note, "by purpose" was a common kiddie expression when I was growing up. So the "by accident" -- "on purpose" prescription was drilled in to us. Perhaps that's why my sociolinguistic sensor piques when I hear "on accident".

Dotchart showing the relative frequency of "on accident", "by accident", and "accidentally" across corpora of English

#linguistics I have been hearing so much more "on accident" lately that I decided to check its presence across a bunch of English corpora. The variation between "on accident", "by accident", and "accidentally" is robust, but "on accident" is a relatively minor player (0%-10.7%).

Call centres using AI to ‘whiten’ Indian accents World’s biggest operator claims technology improves empathy and communication with callers

#linguistics Come on humans, be better.

www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...

Two signs reading “We wish to apologize for any inconvenience cards during these works” and “No pedestrians or cyclists”

Walked by an Intro to #Pragmatics course assignment today. #linguistics #langsky

Does anyone else feel some kind of conspiracy is brewing based on the unreasonably frequent appearance of “oboe” as a @nytimes.com crossword answer? I mean, somebody is communicating something to someone.