Just got this passed along by somebody, on the emergence of "a new language", frananglais, in Cameroon. I'm saying saying the BBC should actually hire a linguist or anything, but couldn't they maybe find one to talk to about stuff before they publish big articles?
I trust the folks over at Language Log are already working on something about the continuing mistreatment of language and linguistics by the BBC and I sure hope Dennis Baron at Web of Language comments on this one too.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
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4 comments:
Actually, they use the term "frananglais" in the article. Sounds even more like a smoothie.
Hmmmmmm, smoothie.
Oh, that's unbelievable ... I had thought about going into the American names for various 'mixed languages' (usually English used by bilinguals with codeswitching and borrowing): Spanglish, Denglish (Deutsch + English), Hmonglish, and so on. Franglais is related to those terms, and I slipped it in without thinking. These terms, naturally, are often discussed by people working on language in these communities in various ways. I've heard enough of them that X-lish seems like a productive pattern.
Why is a schnoddle (schnauzer + poodle) not called a pauzer? Or a labradoodle (labrador + poodle) not a poobrador? Or a cockapoo (cocker spaniel + poodle) not a pockle? (To my ears cockapoo doesn't sound like anything you'd want to cuddle, but that's just me.)
Yeah, we need a post or two on patterns of blends ...
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