Some (new insights) on verbal tenses
Everybody here has studied verbal tenses. In English, in French, in whatever language. One who speaks a language correctly uses the verbal tenses correctly. For instance, in English we know that the present perfect is somehow used for past situations with a certain relationship with the current moment, whereas preterit is for a past and […]
MAMMA MIA!
How “mama” was the first word in recorded history 8th of march – the international women’s day. Bulgaria celebrates it as well, acknowledging all the wonderful women that contribute to our lives, as well as society, however we have put a little twist on it – we mainly celebrate is as mother’s day, how and […]
I hate morphology!
I hate morphology… or rather I should say that as a language learner/speaker, I hate flexional morphology, tho’ as a linguist I somehow love it, but that would have been too long and not sexy enough for an article title. So, a little context here, before the rant. As a French native speaker living in […]
Reclaiming Scots as slang
Some thoughts on Scottish English – and on Scots. The first Scots sentence I can consciously recall was ‘Mars is braw in cramassy.’ It was before I had set foot in Scotland, before I had met and married a Scottish woman, that I encountered London Underground’s ‘Poems on the Underground’ poster series, which brought to […]
Ancient antagonists: how our ancestors cursed at each other. Part one — the Greeks
We naturally perceive our ancestors as the “old and wise” ones. “Listen to your grandfather! He knows better!” is what your mom would say when you start arguing about the back garden and where the tomatoes would grow. Old photos would show our great-great-great aunt sitting for a sepia-toned photo that cost a fortune along […]
What’s In an Accent?
I would like to begin by stating the simple fact that there is no such thing as “not having an accent”. Every language has accents; if they are not regional, they are foreign, and none are better than the other. I understand the desire to “sound native”, which is sometimes referred to as “speaking properly”, […]
