language

  • Technology encourages boys and poorer children to read for longer

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Tech

    New technology is unlocking the key to the biggest problem that has been bedevilling the education world for years – the poor performance of white working-class boys in reading, The Independent reports.

    The Early Years Literacy Survey shows the role touch-screen devices play in the home and pre-school learning environments.

    image of Kindle ebook reader

    Figures show that a higher number of children from low income groups (DE households) are more likely to read stories on touch-screen devices for longer and use them for educational activities than those from high income groups (AB households). Findings show that:

    • Twice as many young children from DE households than from AB households read stories on a touch-screen for longer than they read printed stories (29.5% vs. 17.4%);
    • A higher number of children from DE households than AB households use technology more for educational activities than for entertainment (43.2% vs. 30.4%). Figures also reveal that boys are more likely to use touch-screen devices for reading and educational activities for a longer period than paper;
    • Twice as many boys as girls look at or read stories on a touch-screen for longer than they look at or read printed stories (24.0% vs. 12.0%); and
    • More boys than girls use a touch-screen device for educational activities than for entertainment (36.0% vs. 28.2%).

    The survey also found that 91.7% of children aged 3-5 have access to touch-screen technology at home and access to touch-screen technology in early years settings has doubled since last year. Moreover, the majority of pre-school teachers and practitioners said they would like to see more touch-screen technology in use in early years environments.

  • Travelodge produces guide to the West country accent

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language

    Alright me babber? Have you heard that hotel chain Travelodge has produced a guide to the West Country accent? The Gloucestershire Echo has.

    The Echo article has a brief list of common phrases – presumably from Travelodge’s publication – to help visitors get by in the West:

    • Alright me Babber: How are you?
    • Oldies: Holiday
    • Fotawl: Photograph
    • Pown: Pound (Money)
    • Safternun: This afternoon
    • Laters: See you later
    • My luvver: A term of endearment
    • Tiswas: Confused
    • Gurt lush: Really good
    • Babba: Baby

    Adge Cutler
    Adge Cutler – an archetypal West Country man
    The West Country accent is the third most popular in the country, according to research, behind the Geordie and Yorkshire accents (don’t tell my Lancastrian brother-in-law! Ed.).

    One noticeable omission from the glossary above is ‘daps‘, Bristolian dialect for those shoes used for PE in schools, otherwise known as plimsolls or pumps. Bristolians also use the term to describe trainers.

    The research also found that people who speak in West Country accents are less likely to be able to understand the accents of other people from elsewhere in Britain than they could understand Spanish or Italian. Curious (Blige! As one would say in Bristol. Ed.).

    My copy of the Oxford Companion to the English Language, published 20 years ago, says the following about West Country accents:

    The range of accents in the West Country extends from broad in the working-class and in rural areas through accents modified towards RP in the town and the lower middle class to RP proper in the middle and upper classes. Local speech is rhotic, with a retroflex /r/ in such words as rap, trip and r-coloured vowels in words such as car/cart. Postvocalic /r/ is widely retained in such cities as Bristol and Exeter, despite the influence of RP, which is non-rhotic. In other cities, such as Plymouth and Bournemouth, rhoticity varies. Traces of variable r-pronunciation are found as close to London as Reading and Berkshire.

    The entry then goes on to deal extensively with local grammar, vocabulary and the literary West Country.

    Hat tip: Yelena McCafferty.

  • Man wins boring competition with boring entry

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Oddities, Politics

    Selby District Council’s website is not one of your correspondent’s regular online haunts. However, last week’s news section of the site carries a report with exclusive spectacular news: a Mr Steve Wadsworth has won a competition to name the new Selby Leisure Centre, which is due to open in 2015, by naming it, erm, Selby Leisure Centre!

    There was even someone armed with a camera to record this historic event, whose like has probably not been equalled in that part of Yorkshire since the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066. 😉

    photo of boring winner getting prize

    Hat tip: MJ Lee.

  • Calibre 2.9 recognises footnotes

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Open Source, Open Standards, Tech

    The newest version 2.9 of Calibre, the cross-platform ebook management software, recognises footnotes and shows them in a separate window section, heise reports. Scrolling with the mouse wheel in the cover browser has also been improved.

    screenshot of Calibre

    Calibre 2.9 displays footnotes separately. Shortly after the update to version 2.8, which provided a driver for the Tolino-2-Vision e-reader, Kovid Goyal released a new version of his e-book manager. Calibre 2.9 recognises footnotes and displays these in a separate window section if they are clicked on in the preview. Calibre is thus using both the footnote label of the EPUB 3.0 format and heuristics too.

    In addition, mouse scrolling in the program window’s cover browser has also been improved. An additional shop for e-books has been added with Portugal’s Bubok. Calibre will now load large libraries which use user-defined columns from templates more quickly.

    Calibre 2.9 also corrects a number of errors, e.g. those involving the global menu in the Linux Unity desktop and Imagemagick. The changelog on the Calibre website lists all the new features of Calibre 2.9, where the new version can also be downloaded for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows.

  • Bristol opens Europe’s first speech lab for non-native English speakers

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Tech

    Earlier this week Bristol University announced the opening in Bristol of Europe’s first speech laboratory designed to break down communication barriers faced by those who speak English as a second language.

    microphone and recording equipmentIn a linguistically diverse society, with many people speaking English as their second language, researchers at Bristol University are pioneering a new approach to help understand how factors such as accent influence communication.

    The speech lab, which is funded by the European Commission through a four-year €100,000 Marie Curie grant, uses state-of-the-art audio technology to capture and analyse second language speech samples and to train people to assess the speech in a purpose-built environment.

    The insights gained will then be used to train those who speak English as a second language and also to improve the teaching of English by targeting the elements of speech most likely to achieve successful communication.

    Dr. Talia Isaacs, Director of the Second Language Speech Lab, conducts research at the lab as part of a research programme with international collaborators to identify aspects of speech that are most important for engaging in effective communication when English is not the speaker’s primary language.

    general view of speech labShe said: “Reducing language barriers is a pressing social and educational challenge, especially in countries like the UK where the linguistic palette is very rich.

    “Improving oral communication skills for non-native English speakers will help with many aspects of everyday life – from success in the workplace and in education to improving social integration and accessing vital services.

    “Although accents are very noticeable to listeners and may lead to social stereotyping, someone who sounds different is not necessarily communicating ineffectively. In fact, a whole host of factors, such as pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, contribute to the successful transmission of a message. So we often need to listen beyond the accent.

    “Research conducted at the lab will enable us to study the linguistic factors that contribute to breakdowns in communication in greater depth and identify ways to mitigate these.”

    By way of an example, future research could collect data from GP consultations, where either the doctor or the patient is speaking English as a second language. This could help to ensure such consultations are conducted with greater clarity.

    Furthermore, there could be instances where engineers from various countries are collaborating on a joint project and there’s a need to ensure that everyone fully understands each another and can communicate their findings effectively.

  • The British pub – undergoing gastration?

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Oddities

    I’m a great lover of no-frills, working-class pubs. They’re what I grew up with and frequented when I first started drinking. Indeed I still give them my custom and can often be found at the Little Russell in Barton Hill, Bristol (posts passim).

    One worrying development in recent years is the rise of the ‘gastropub‘.

    Eagle_Gastropub_Clerkenwell_2005
    The Eagle, Clerkenwell, London, reputed to be the first victim of gastration. Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
    The term gastropub is a portmanteau of gastronomy and pub, and originated in the United Kingdom in the late 20th century. The establishment itself is defined as ‘a bar and restaurant that serves high-end beer and food‘.

    My Bristol Wireless colleague Rich has devised the verb ‘to gastrate‘ to describe the phenomenon of converting boozers to gastropubs. I would define the verb as follows:

    gastrate (v.) – to ruin a perfectly good pub by converting it to sell small, overpriced portions of food.

    See also: gastration (n).

    The process of gastration is also being actively encouraged by the media, as shown in a piece last week on the Bristol Post website.

    Will traditional drinkers soon be struggling to find traditional boozers if this trend continues?

  • Male? Welsh? Problems with your love life? Try Tesco!

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Media, Oddities

    If you are male, speak Welsh and have problems with your love life, particularly those related to erectile dysfunction, then maybe the new Aberystwyth store opened by Tesco (motto: every little helps) can come to your rescue.

    The Daily Post reports that the cash machine installed at Tesco’s new outlet in Aberystwyth is offering a “free erection” (codiad am ddim) to Welsh speakers whilst Anglophones have to be content with withdrawing cash free of charge.

    shot of cash machine at Aberystwyth Tesco
    Sexual favours for Welsh speakers?

    According to the Post, a Tesco spokesperson is reported to have said: “We’ve taken down the sign and will replace it with the correct translation. We appreciate this is a sensitive area.”

    Here’s a little help for Tesco: next time use a professional translator! 😉

    Hat tip: M J Lee.

  • Overshare: Chambers word of the year

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Social Media, Tech

    speech bubble with speechLanguage is dynamic, constantly mutating and changing. One sign of this dynamism is the appearance of neologisms, i.e. newly coined word, or phrases or familiar words used in a new sense.

    There are plenty of neologisms in evidence in this year’s Chambers Dictionary annual search for its word of the year, many prompted by or associated with information technology.

    Chambers has this week announced that overshare is its word of the year for 2014, The Guardian reports.

    “Overshare” topped a shortlist compiled by the Chambers editorial board, which included “bashtag”, defined as “a hashtag used for critical or abusive comments”, and “digital native” – “a person who has learned to use computers as a child”.

    And the meaning of overshare? To reveal an inappropriate amount of detail about one’s personal life.

  • Nominations open for Women in Open Source award

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Open Data, Open Source, Tech

    RedHat logoOpensource.com reports that Linux purveyor Red Hat is now accepting nominations for the Women in Open Source Award. Created to highlight the achievements women making major contributions to an open source project, to the open source community or through the use of open source methodology, this award is the first of its kind.

    The award celebrates all different kinds of contributions to open source, including:

    • Code and programming;
    • Quality assurance, bug triage and other quality-related contributions;
    • Involvement in open hardware;
    • System administration and infrastructure contributions;
    • Design, artwork, user experience (UX) and marketing;
    • Documentation, tutorials and other forms of communication;
    • Translation and other internationalisation contributions;
    • Open content;
    • Community advocacy and management;
    • Intellectual property advocacy and legal reform;
    • Open source methodology.

    Nominees can qualify for one of two tracks:

    • Academic award: open to women enrolled in college or university; and
    • Community award: open to all other women.

      The Women in Open Source Academic Award winner will receive:

    • $2,500 stipend, with a suggested use of supporting an open source project or efforts; and
    • A feature article on Opensource.com.

    The Women in Open Source Community Award winner will receive:

    • Ticket, flight and hotel accommodation for the Red Hat Summit to be held in Boston, Massachusetts on 23rd-26th June 2015;
    • $2,500 stipend, with a suggested use of supporting an open source project or efforts;
    • A feature article on Opensource.com; and
    • Speaking opportunity at a future Red Hat Women’s Leadership Community event.

    Nominations are open until 21st November. Judges from Red Hat will whittle down the nominees to a subset of finalists for both the Academic and Community awards, from whom the public will decide the winners. The winners will be announced in June during an awards ceremony at the 2015 Red Hat Summit in Boston, Massachusetts.

    Originally posted on Bristol Wireless.

  • Stephen Williams MP caused by Al Qaeda – Post exclusive

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media, Oddities, Politics

    It’s not very often the Bristol Post manages to come up with an exclusive, but today’s online edition proved a winner on that score.

    The text below was concealed in a letter to Post from reader Stephen Farthing:

    THE news of 15-year-old girl Yusra Hussien leaving Bristol to become a supporter of IS, allegedly, is a worrying outcome and I echo what Stephen Williams said, that such an objective is not only foolish but profoundly unwise.

    In some ways, what Al Qaeda started in 2001 has produced many problems of his kind.

    Yes, you did read that correctly: “problems of his kind“, i.e. problems like him, if you prefer to paraphrase.

    image of Stephen Williams MPThe Post has exclusively revealed that Bristol West MP Stephen Williams is a problem that has been caused by Al Qaeda, an organisation never before known for its links to the UK’s Liberal Democratic Party, let alone elected members thereof.

    Perhaps Mr Williams would care to comment on his links to Al Qaeda below; or alternatively perhaps the Post could employ a little more care when publishing reader’s letters where a lost or missing consonant can give a phrase a whole new meaning.

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