AD's English Literature

The influence of the French language on English has been significant and enduring. This influence can be categorized into three main periods: Old Norman Influence (11th to 14th centuries):  The most profound French influence on English came after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 when the Normans, who spoke Old Norman (a variety of Old French), established their rule. During this period, English borrowed many words related to law, government, art, literature, and cuisine. For example, words like "court," "judge," "jury," "parliament," "council," "government," "beef," "pork," "chicken," and "music" have French origins. This infusion of French vocabulary enriched the English language and created a linguistic distinction between the Anglo-Saxon commoners (who raised and cared for animals) and the Norman aristocracy (who enjoyed the prepared dishes). Read More  Philology

Introduction: Language is an essential aspect of human communication, and understanding its nature is crucial in any field of study. George Yule,  a renowned linguist,   in his book " The Study of Language"  (1996)   observed various aspects of language that provide insights into its nature. In this essay, we will critically analyze Yule's observations on the nature of language. The Origin of Language: One of Yule's observations is that the origin of language is still a mystery. He notes that many theories attempt to explain how language originated, but none have been conclusive. It is to be agreed upon Yule that the origin of language remains an enigma, and it is a topic that linguists should continue to explore. The Structure of Language: Yule observes that language has a specific structure that consists of sounds, words, and sentences. He notes that the sounds of language, known as phonemes, combine to form words, which then combine to form sentences. Complyi...

Linguistics is a field dedicated to the scientific study of language, aiming to understand the structural and functional aspects of how humans communicate. G.H. Lewes, in The Study of Psychology , suggests that language is as essential to human nature as wings are to birds: “Just as birds have wings, man has language.” Language serves as the medium through which humans express intellect and emotions, making it a unique feature of human existence. Understanding Language Language permeates all aspects of human interaction. Whether conversing with family, colleagues, strangers, or even pets, we are constantly surrounded by language. In addition to face-to-face communication, we engage with language through television, radio, and digital platforms, adding to the constant “torrent of words.” Humans alone possess the ability to use words and create complex systems of language. According to linguist Henry Sweet, language is “the expression of ideas by means of speech sounds combined into word...

B esides the great differences in the character of the words and in the ways of expressing their relations and changes of meaning, there is also a marked difference between the spelling and pronunciation of Old and of Modern English. For a long time, indeed, everyone in England tried to write his words as he pronounced them, sometimes, indeed, with different spellings of the same word in the same sentence. And, judging from the varieties of spelling there must have been great variety in the pronunciation. Since the close of the fifteenth century, however, although many changes have taken place, the growth of national culture and the intermingling of people from various parts of the British Empire, have tended to make the pronunciation uniform; so that now, educated speakers of English, all over the world, differ only slightly in their modes of pronunciation. Our spelling, also, chiefly owing to the use of dictionaries and the influence of our printed literature, has become almost rigid...

 ‘Malapropism’ is a compound word derived from three French words ‘ma! a propos’ which means something ‘out of place’. It is defined as ‘a ludicrous misuse of word, especially for one resembling it.’ This confusion between sets of words is characteristic of Mrs. Malaprop—an immortal creation of Sheridan, fit to occupy a prominent place in the portrait-gallery of comic characters in world-literature. Mrs.pro..J. monumental instance of Sheridan’s highly developed artificial ‘humour’ as illustrated in her instinct for ‘a nice derangement on epithets’. Yet she is not a mere stock-character as her very name implies but one instinct with life and vitality, which is a measure of the genius of Sheridan . As a satirical portrait , she stands for, (i) the type of the provincial woman of the age in her bid for turning out to be a town-lady by her unconscious and wrong use of high-sounding classical words; (ii) the type of the old aunt, jealous in her guard over her niece with her ante-diluv...

A Set of 26 Objective Questions & Answers UGC NET ENGLISH QUESTION BANK:  Linguistic Know-how A. What is dialect? Dialect refers to the features of grammar and vocabulary, which convey information about a person’s geographical origin. Speakers of the same language spread across different locations may speak in ways that are slightly different to reflect their geographical setting. Dialects often result from historical and geographical dispersal or separation of members from the original speech community. For instance, English, which was originally located in the British Isles, has dialects spread across the world far away from its original community. So, English has the native dialect – dialects spoken by some people as their mother tongue in places such as Britain, America, Australia, Canada, and South Africa. Read More A to Z (Objective Questions)       B. What is accent? The term accent is different from dialect in the sense t...

The audio lingual method, or the Army method, or also the New key, is the mode of language instruction based on behaviourist ideology, which professes that certain traits of living things could be trained through a system of reinforcement. The instructor would present the correct model of a sentence and the students would have to repeat it. Read More about Philology   The teacher would then continue by presenting new words for the students to sample in the same structure. There is no explicit grammar instruction everything is simply memorized in form. The idea is for the students to practice the particular construction until they can use it spontaneously. In this manner, the lessons are built on static drills in which the students have little or no control on their own output. 

What is Velar Closure, and how does it differ from Velic Closure? Answer: Velar closure refers to the complete closure of the back of the tongue against the soft palate (velum) in speech sounds. Velic closure, on the other hand, refers to the incomplete closure, where there is a narrow constriction but not a complete blockage, allowing air to flow through the nasal passages. What is Contrastive Distribution in linguistics? Answer: Contrastive distribution occurs when two or more sounds or phonemes in a language are used in distinct, mutually exclusive contexts, and substituting one for the other can change the meaning of a word. It helps distinguish words from each other in a language. What is Free Variation in phonology? Answer: Free variation refers to the occurrence of multiple phonetic realizations of a single phoneme or sound in a language, where the variations do not affect the meaning of words or sentences. These variations can be influenced by factors such as speech rate, ...