ghoti

AntConc Tutorials page updated

I have finally updated the AntConc Tutorials page. It is now called AntConc Basics. It summarizes the mechanics of using AntConc without unnecessary detail on how to analyse a corpus (I leave that up to you). It also comes with a two page PDF version. The online version also comes with a quick-reference guide to…
Interaction of Color

We are the embodied. As humans we can nothing other. If we are then are deficient in some way. And as such we have the ability to see three colours. We have red, blue and green receptors in our eyes to interpret light which is abundant in the space around us (compare our eyes to…
What do teachers make?

If you ever have doubts about your self worth as a teacher then you should read this. Whoever said “those who can do; those who can’t teach” wasn’t a teacher. He (and I will use the masculine here) would probably have made a lousy teacher anyway. And here his jealousy had turned into spite. How…
Bisociation and Conceptual Blending Theory

New Yorker magazine cartoon editor, Bob Mankoff, talks about the anatomy of the New Yorker cartoon and what makes them funny. He cites Arthur Koestler’s idea of bisociation as explained in his Act of Creation as a major influence to his thinking in making choices for which cartoons get accepted into the magazine. Koestler’s book…
Loanwords and the growth and change of a language

We have truly come to understand that language is usage in the last thirty years. So when someone says that they disapprove of loanwords coming into their language they are really not understanding this point. They are coming from the Old School which thinks grammar (and vocabulary) is perscriptive, not descriptive. English is itself a…
metaphors we live by

“There’s just too much friction between us.” “It’s not my fault.” RELATIONSHIPS ARE GEOLOGICAL FEATURES.
English is Rough

“We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.” James Nicoll
Living abroad for three years will still only get you half the native speaker vocabulary size

It seems the average non-native speaker of English only has a vocabulary size of about 4,500 words. And over half of these learners will have a vocabulary size of greater than 7,826 words. This is a somewhat depressing picture for language learners considering the worst of native speaker adults still will have a minimum size…
the embodied

when exactly does one come to understand the embodied mind? concepts wholly dependent, spaces blend in ways possible through the very thing reality is not – that is, the word put simply, your metaphors no longer fool anyone
Short Book Review – Corpus Linguistics: Method, Theory and Practice

Corpus Linguistics: Method, Theory and Practice (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics) by Tony McEnery and Andrew Hardie, Cambridge University Press (2012). ISBN 9780521547369. 294 pages. As part of the Cambridge Textbook in Linguistics Series this book stays true to its title and doesn’t disappoint. Broken down into nine chapters on 1) a basic definition of the…