which language variety to teach?

Well, any self-respecting linguist knows the answer is pretty simple:

"You should teach variety "x", because variety "y" is not understood in countries "a", "b", and "c" - but the majority of the people who speak "a", "b", and "c" (and don't forget "d") understand variety "x". We have also always felt an acute attraction for dialect "z", so you might consider that as well. You must realize, however, that variety "x" might not be understood outside of that particular city, so you really should teach variety "x.1", which is not to be confused with dialect "x", due to the sensitive nature of vernacular discrimination and language identity. Did we mention the lack of codification for variety "x" in general? We hope you won't try to standardize variety "x.1" without the consent of the local populace, who might not even wish to consider "x.1" a real "language".

Simple, isn't it? :) Well, the truth is there is no straightforward answer to this question. It depends on various factors including your target group, their goal from learning this variety, whether you are talking about spoken or written varieties, etc. Actually, this issue was discussed in regards to teaching a spoken variety of Arabic in the States. Probably more than any other language, Arabic has so many varieties of spoken dialects which can be considered different languages in their own right. Of course, in such a discussion, Egyptian Arabic (to my pleasure) is generally mentioned as a favourite. Yet,

"Egyptian dialect is probably understood over a wider geographical area than the other dialects, because it has been "exported" from Egypt in Egyptian films, songs, and TV programs. But the Arabs who understand Egyptian Arabic do not speak it with each other and only use it when they meet Egyptians or foreigners. So this is not an especially good reason to choose Egyptian."

as Bill Young from University of Maryland says.

p.s.
he is right of course, still Egyptian Arabic Rules :)

Mai

bananas and monkeys and football and pragmatics

First, I suggest you have a look at this link.. Then I suggest you try to find the whole speech at the official Hearts website. Then, I suggest you give the text to linguistics students everywhere for pragmatics analysis. Then, I suggest you try not to laugh too much. Finally, I suggest you dwell on this particular sentence for a while:

"I beg you Mowgli, take the monkeys back to the safari park."

Now, I suggest to think about this question: who is linguistically more interesting: Vladimir Romanov or Jose Mourinho?

Who knew football could offer linguistics so much?!! :)

Mai

i am a thousand winds

I just came across this short poem, not sure who wrote it though. It's simply brilliant.

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.

Mai

food poison

Well, now I feel I have enriched my life expereince by having food poison! I can't go into the painful details as I still can't talk about any deep food experience fondly. Let's just say that there is a certain type of food I will forget about for a looooooooooong time.

So, with a couple of days with an exhausted body lying in bed, the only good thing was I had time to read a bit in my bedside table novel. It's called Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree. It's great so far, my first time to read for Tariq Ali. It's set in the last years of Islam in Andalusia, depicting the drama of one Muslim family in Gharnata as they cope with the changing times. As I read I can't stop thinking how easily I can relate to the details of life of this family and their own perspective to the relationship between Muslims and Christians at that time. But I also can't help wondering what would be the attitude of a Christian reading this novel and how would s/he relate to it? It takes a lot of objectivism I guess. Will tell you more about it as I read along.

Mai

valentine's day

Well, I admit.. I always thought that Valentine's day is stupid.. I wasn't in love :) Last year it was the first time in my life I celebrated Valentine's day.. I was engaged then, and I have to say, it was great. Now yesterday was our first Valentine's day as a married couple, and yes.. I enjoyed it even more :) Without going into much details (wink), I can say that it was different from last year's in that we spent the night in, then a candle-lit dinner was involved, romantic music, exchanging of cards and wonderful gifts.. ahhhh, it was magical.

Mai

9 months anniversary

Yes, it's 9 months already yesterday.. I can't believe how fast time goes. But you know what? I am really excited about getting closer to our one year anniversary :)

So how did we celebrate? Well we wanted to go to the movies for quite some time so we did. The movie was hardly an anniversary romantic sort of thing.. it was Blood Diamond. What can I say about it? It is a horribly good movie. Some of the scenes were really heart-aching but it revived in me the feeling that Africa is a truly unfortunate place. The terrible chain of diamonds starts with the poorest people in the world digging it up in the worst conditions to go to the hands of the rich Europeans who buy them, then to hands of the poor people of India cramped in factories to actually manufacture them only to end up in the hands of the rich people again who buy them as gifts and wear them in rings and necklaces. In this chain, who does all the work? and who gets all the enjoyment? It's sadly ironic.

anyway, to end on a happy note again, I can't stop thinking about celebrating our first annual anniversary.. hmmmm.. what will Ali do to surprise me? :)

Mai

quote of the day

Life is too short to dwell on every bump on the road.

Frasier Crane

Mai

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow..

Sick with a cold and a runny nose (yes, again! don't ask), I woke up to this beautiful view from our bedroom window:


And the view of our small garden:


And the view of poor Ali having to go to work in this weather:


About 40 minutes later, the views became clearer and whiter:




And it is still snowing as I'm writing.. I think I'll do something crazy and go out to my garden and play with some snow. I can't stand watching it from every window in the house and not touching it. I really wish it will go on snowing until Ali comes back from work so we can play together. Why don't they give people in London a day off from work when it snows so they can enjoy it? It doesn't snow very often here, you know!

Mai