Colloquial Words Research Articles

МОЖЛИВОСТІ ВИКОРИСТАННЯ КОНТЕКСТУАЛЬНОГО МЕТОДУ ПРИ ВИВЧЕННІ ЛЕКСИКОЛОГІЇ ТУРЕЦЬКОЇ МОВИ

The relevance of the Turkish Language learning is substantiated in the article for many reasons. First, because of its prevalence in the whole world. Secondly, due to the huge number of lexical and stylistic features, such as context, polysemantic words, slang, dialects, colloquial words, phraseological units and their diversity. Thirdly, because of its morphological features and also thanks to another pleasant feature of the Turkish language, which is closely related to its clarity and conciseness. The article defines the possibilities of the contextual method using in the Turkish language Lexicology studying. Such teaching methods as descriptive (for a general description of the context); contextual-interpretive (to identify the functional and semantic meaning of a word), as well as a method of creating a problem situation using a contextual task were used for achieving the goal. The essence of the term “context” is determined and the place of context in modern linguistics is considered. The emphasis was also placed on the problems of general Lexicology, which allow the use of contextual analysis and substantiated the primary role of the context in its different types in identifying meanings. The classification of the context is considered, namely the narrow context (microcontext) and wide context (macrocontext). The difficulties of translating words from Turkish and vice versa due to their ambiguity are stipulated. Context has been shown to understand the meaning of a word or phrase. It is a powerful weapon that sheds light on the meaning of unfamiliar and ambiguous words, and the semantic characteristics of the word are described, traced, studied and analyzed. They are based on a typical context. This feature is peculiar not only any foreign language, but to Turkish due to its emotional color and individuality.

The Zuqnin Chronicle as Evidence of Vernacular Aramaic in Eighth-Century Northern Mesopotamia

Abstract This article examines a Syriac historiographical writing of the late eighth century—the so-called Zuqnin Chronicle, or the Chronicle of Pseudo-Dionysius of Tell Maḥre—and certain lexical features that are found at the end of the work. It is argued that these lexical items were drawn into the chronicle from a colloquial Aramaic language spoken in the vicinity of Amid, and that this colloquial variant is linked with the Neo-Aramaic language Turoyo. In addition, the article offers a methodology for identifying colloquial Aramaic words in the corpus of Classical Syriac literature.

Analysis of the Characteristics and Translation Skills of American Slang in the Big Bang Theory

Slang is a carrier of culture and an important part of multiculturalism, which is informal language characterized by plain or colloquial words. Slang used in America has developed its own features which are integrated into all aspects of American people’s daily life. This paper aims to explore the characteristics of American slang and study the translation skills of slang expressions based on the slang in the American TV series The Big Bang Theory.

Neologisms in Hungarian terms of quality assurance

By employing a functional-cognitive frame, this paper, in which neologisms derived from English are analysed, focuses on the semantics of new Hungarian terms of quality assurance (quality management in general). Although the importance of unambiguous terms in scientific communication is often emphasised (Temmerman 2002: 211), it has been observed that the presence of conceptual metonymies and metaphors (Lakoff and Johnson 1980, Panther and Thornburg 2003, Kövecses 2015) also fosters understanding of technical languages. The author’s previous research in the field of the semantics of Hungarian neologisms (e.g. Sólyom 2014a, b, 2016) has also revealed that the presence of metonymies and metaphors has a significant impact upon the process of meaning construal. The present research assumes that various metonymic and metaphorical meanings occur in the semantics of novel Hungarian terms of quality assurance. To attest this, examples from a questionnaire filled by Hungarian quality engineers in 2018 will be analysed. Another question addressed in this paper is whether there is a mental reason for the fact that although there are colloquial Hungarian words and expressions for describing the processes of manufacturing, experts in the field do not use them, but rather employ neologisms with English roots. Indeed, this is how specialists distinguish technical terms from everyday expressions.

السمات الفنية للمسرحية المقدمة لطلاب التعليم الأساسى

ملخص البحث: هدف البحث إلى التعرف على السمات الفنية للمسرحية المقدمة لطلاب التعليم الأساسى، وأبرز القضايا التى يمکن أن تعالجها النصوص المسرحية بمرحلة التعليم الأساسى واتبع الباحث المنهج الوصفي التحليلي، وتوصل البحث إلى مجموعة من النتائج أهمها: أشار البحث إلى أن النص المسرحي هو الأساس الذي يقوم عليه نشاط المسرح المدرسي، وإن نصوص مسرحيات التعليم الأساسى مثلها مثل أى نص مسرحى آخر، ولکن يکمن الاختلاف في التوجه العام أو الهدف منها، وهو هدف تربوى فى المقام الأول. تتأسس رکائز البناء الدرامى للنص المسرحى المقدم لطلاب التعليم الأساسى من عناصر عدة لعل من أبرزها: الفکرة، والحبکة، والشخصيات، والصراع، والحوار، وغيرها من العناصر المختلفة، ولکل منها سمات محددة. من الضرورى أن تتسم الفکرة فى مسرحيات التعليم الأساسى بالبساطة، والتسلسل المنطقى، ووضوح القيم والمفاهيم، والقدرة على مخاطبة وجدان الطفل. من الضرورى أن يتسم الحوار بالترکيز، ويخلو من الکلمات العامية المبتذلة، ويبتعد عن شکل الخطب والمواعظ، ويتوافق والمستوى العقلى والفکرى للشخوص، مع الاهتمام بدوره فى تطوير الأحداث، والإفصاح عن مغزاها. يجب وضع الحبکة بشکل جيد، وبدقة وعناية محسوبة؛ حتى تنمى فى الطفل الإدراک السليم، والمشاعر النبيلة، والقدوة الحسنة. إن المعايير التى تخضع لها مسرحيات التعليم الأساسى تتمثل فى ضرورة ارتباط النص المسرحي بقيم إيجابية وبالثقافة العامة للمجتمع، وضرورة توافقه والمرحلة التعليمية التى يقدم لها من حيث المستوى اللغوى، ومستوى الخبرة الحياتية، وملاءمته للإمکانات المادية والبشرية. Research summary: Technical features of the play provided to students of basic education The aim of the research is to identify the technical features of the play presented to students of basic education, and the most prominent issues that can be addressed by theatrical texts in the stage of basic education, and the researcher followed the descriptive analytical approach, and the research reached a set of results, the most important of which are: • The theatrical text is the basis on which school theater activity is based, and the texts of basic education plays are like any other theatrical text, but the difference lies in the general orientation or aim of it, which is an educational goal in the first place. • The pillars of the dramatic structure of the theatrical text presented to students of basic education are based on several elements, the most prominent of which are: idea, plot, characters, conflict, dialogue, and other various elements, each of which has specific features. • It is necessary that the idea in the basic education plays be simple, logical sequence, clear values ​​and concepts, and the ability to address the child's conscience. • The dialogue must be focused, devoid of vulgar colloquial words, move away from the form of speeches and sermons, and correspond to the mental and intellectual level of the characters, with attention to their role in the development of events and the disclosure of their significance. • The plot must be well laid out, with calculated accuracy and care; So that the child develops common sense, noble feelings, and a good example. • The criteria to which the plays of basic education are subject are the necessity of the theatrical text being linked to positive values ​​and the general culture of society, the need for its compatibility with the educational stage presented to it in terms of the linguistic level, the level of life experience, and its suitability for material and human potentials.

المفردات العامية بوصفها احدى طرائق التعبير في قصة د. روبينا " لوبكا "

تناولنا في بحثنا هذا المفردات العامية البسيطة التي استخدمتها الكاتبة د. روبينا في قصة " لوبكا "، وقد اخترنا المفردات العامية البسيطة لغرض دراستها وتحليلها ومن ثم تقسيمها الى مجاميع على وفق منهج البحث. ومن خلال التحليل توصلنا الى ان اغلب المفردات العامية البسيطة المستخدمة في قصة الكاتبة د.روبينا " لوبكا " لها دلالة موضوعية محددة، حيث ان مجموع المفردات (66) ستة وستون مفردة، قسمناها بعد تحليلها الى ثلاث مجاميع لغوية حسب دلالتها، حيث تضمنت (42) اثنتان واربعون منها دلالة سلبية، اي ان توزيع المفردات العامية البسيطة مرتبط بمعناها الدلالي السلبي الاساسي.

LEXICAL FEATURES OF ENGLISH ADVERTISEMENT TAGLINES DURING PRIME TIME

Advertisement language employs certain characteristics which make its usage unique so that it is interesting to explore. There are 2 research problems addressed in this study. The first is to classify and analyze lexical features which are contained in English advertisement taglines during prime time moment. The second is to figure out what triggers the dominant lexical features used in English advertisement taglines during prime time. The data were taken from English advertisement taglines during the period of prime time in any local television stations in Indonesia. This study used document analysis method and was categorized as a qualitative research. Six lexical features were proposed to classify and analyze the data, namely colloquial words, coinages, loanwords, use of verbs, use of adjectives, and frequent use of compounds. The results of the study were there are six lexical features used in English advertisement taglines during prime time and the most three dominant features are colloquial words with 40%, use of verbs with 28.57%, and use of adjectives with 18.57%. There is a similarity between three of them that all of them employ monosyllabic words so it makes easier to catch by the audiences.

Лінгвоексплікація внутрішнього стану героя в драматичній поемі Лесі Українки “На полі крові”

The article highlights the peculiarities of the linguistic presentation of the hero's inner state and considers it as one of the Lesia Ukrainka’s idiosyncrasy. On the material of the dramatic poem In the Field of Blood, the author traces the ways and means of linguistic disclosure of the Bible character Judas' feelings and sufferings after the betrayal. The purpose of the research is to reveal the features of the linguistic objectification of the psychological state of the hero and the stylistic motivation of using them in the individual author's style. It appears a marker of the poetess's innovation in the context of the early twentieth century trends and inquiries. The method of associative-conceptual analysis was applied to measure the semantic capacity and stylistic loading of the fixed lexemes. The dynamics of the mental states are presented in the author's comments and the main character’s speech. The means to convey feelings expression in the author's directions/remarks include extralinguistic means (silence, pauses, laughter, a tempo of speech, voice and intonation), play on words, and description of the dynamic expressiveness. Verbal tools for expressing emotions are presented on lexical, grammatical, and stylistic levels. In Judas' speech, emotionality is conveyed by colloquial words, phraseologisms with negative markers, the size and structure of remarks/replicas, exclamatory statements, objections, and rhetorical figures. Emotional comparisons, colorful and vivid epithets in characterization, much attention to the semantics of lexemes, and their author's connotation testify to the mastery of Lesya Ukrainka in the linguistic development of the psycho-emotional state of the hero. The state of depression, exaltation, affect at the syntactic level is reproduced by remarks, different in size, structure, and complexity, in the form of exclamations, statements, objections, and rhetorical questions.

Composition and Functions of the Colloquial Vocabulary in N. Humeniuk's Novel “Heather Honey”

Modern linguistic stylistics interprets the colloquial vocabulary as a particular and unique stylistic category of an artistic text. The spoken words are contrasted with the stylistically neutral and bookish vocabulary of the literary language as the words with emotionally-expressive coloring and functional-stylistic loading. In the focus of the study is linguistic and stylistic analysis of colloquial vocabulary recorded in the novel “Heather Honey”. Extensive use of the colloquial vocabulary in the novel “Heather Honey” is a sign of the individual writing style of a Volyn writer Nadiia Humeniuk.
 The article explores the colloquial vocabulary of the novel as a means of stylization of the characters' oral speech and adding subjective notes to the author's story. The colloquial vocabulary includes words to denote the realities of mostly rural life, name-characteristics of people, actions, states, features. Spoken vocabulary is used in descriptions of everyday situations, dialogues, monologues. There are almost no part-of-speech restrictions in choosing colloquial lexemes. The colloquial elements are included in the literary text only in a spoken form, commonly used in the oral form of communication.
 In the literary work, colloquial words perform an informative function, because owing to them, the depicted events become vivid, correlate with the cultural-historical and spatiotemporal context of the realities of rural life of Polishchuks in the 30s of the last century. However, the main functions of colloquial vocabulary are socio-linguistic (which allows the author to accurately convey intonation of the expressions, level of education and culture of the characters), emotional, and expressive. To convey emotions, the author uses the words with low evaluative semantics, the word-forming elements with the meaning of tenderness or rudeness, which are opposed to the neutral lexemes. The expressiveness of colloquial vocabulary attracts attention, interests, causes emotional tension of the reader.

On the Study of Nonstandard Mineral Vocabulary in the Russian Language: Articulation of the Issue

This article introduces the reader to the variety of Russian vocabulary that denotes minerals, mineraloids, rocks, which lies outside the framework of the official scholarly nomenclature. The author suggests that the term nonstandard mineral vocabulary be used to refer to this layer of vocabulary; in a narrow sense, it includes the names of minerals themselves, and in a broader sense, it can include words of adjacent thematic groups naming processes and phenomena related to the existence of minerals in nature and culture, their extraction and processing, etc. The author identifies sociolinguistic layers that make up nonstandard mineralogical vocabulary in its narrow sense: dialect; professional vocabulary and slang; argotic; colloquial words. A special place is occupied by names that have emerged as a result of artificial nomination (in particular, trade names). The article also lists some thematic groups related to mineral vocabulary in a broad sense (a group of words denoting features of the structure of minerals; peculiarities of their occurrence; designations of people who mine and process stones; nominations of stone products; vocabulary from the sphere of mythology and beliefs related to stones, etc.). Each classification position is illustrated by language material from lexicographic and book sources; also data from the Vocabulary, Toponymy, Ethnography of Minerals card file, currently formed by the staff of the Department of the Russian Language, General Linguistics, and Speech Communication of Ural Federal University, is introduced into scholarly circulation for the first time. The author focuses on issues around nonstandard mineral vocabulary that exist in linguistics today: it seems to lie “in the blind zone” of linguistics as it is insufficiently collected, poorly introduced into scholarly circulation, and understudied. There is a need to fill this gap in a systematic way.

Linguistic personality of Ivan Franko in the matrimonial directive discourse

The purpose of this article is to reveal specific features of the realization of the linguistic personality of I. Franko in the matrimonial directive discourse. The source base for the analysis was I. Franko’s letters to O. Khoruzhynskaya. The analysis of I. Franko's linguistic personality done within a cognitive-discursive paradigm, using discourse-analysis, intent-analysis, contextual analysis, methods of analysis and synthesis, descriptive method. Іt was established that the intension of directive in the speech of I. Franko was aimed at the expression of advice, requests and questions. The writer seeks a positive settlement at regulating his wife’s health problems, her life and scientific work, financial issues. It also prompts the wife to take care of oneself and children, to perform / not to perform certain actions towards him / other persons, to write a work or to engage in literary activities of family’s acquaintances. I. Franko asks wife to determine his further actions in certain everyday situations. The question is a means of getting new information about the wife's daily affairs, the children’s health state, domestic problems, weather conditions, common friends or the reasons for the absence of letters from his wife. I. Franko uses a question for reconciling family planning. Linguistic means: declarative, imperative and interrogative / interrogative-imperative sentences, verbs of the imperative / conditional mood, imperative verbs together with the infinitive / negative particle not, the verb ask in the 1st person singular, personal pronouns, adverbs, restrictive / emphatic particles and exclamation, etc. Complex sentences provide expressions of incentives and their argumentation. The speech is characterized by obsolete / colloquial words, dialecticisms, polonizms, russisms and chekhisms. The writer uses phraseologisms, metaphors, similes, words in figurative meaning. Terms of endearment and means of expressing courtesy show favor to the addressee. Consequently, the directive discourse ensures the realization of Ivan Franko’s linguistic personality in family communication on the motivational, linguistic-cognitive and lexico-grammatical levels.

A WORD BUILDING GAME: FROM LINGUOCREATIVITY TO LINGUOCYNICISM (ON THE MATERIAL OF MODERN RUSSIAN MASS MEDIA)

The article traces the main features of the word building game (WBG) in the language of the Russian mass media of the early 21 st century in a representative corpus of examples. As a result of enhancement of the role of the journalist, mass media texts started to abound in “witty” derived neologisms reflecting the author’s desire to play with the reading audience. At the same time, the pursuit of originality finds expression in the emergence of “ostentatious” words which may be considered unsuccessful language experiment. Overindulgence in the use of expressive means, aimed to indicate evaluation, results in the emergence of provocative words contradicting the norms of morality and decency. The realization of the word building potential in the narrow sense of the term is accompanied by the use of the popular word building game technique: word formation according to a model, contamination, and tmesis. Hybridization is also used as a general principle of creation of derived neologisms. Word building jokes, in which humor is not complicated with evaluation, have become very rare in the language of the modern mass media, which means that the word building game is not oriented towards entertainment but focuses on evaluation, such as ridicule or humiliation, and has become one of the radical and efficient means of expressing social evaluation. Social evaluation is expressed by various vocabulary layers, and specifically low colloquial words and stylistically marked affixes, which often leads to the manifestation of verbal aggression. The emergence of linguocynicisms - cynical references to sacred themes: historical memory about the past, the Great Patriotic War, and death of people in the time of peace - is a matter of serious concern.

Dictionaries and translation

Abstract The article offers a bird’s-eye view of the use of dictionaries in translation, accompanied by down-to-earth exemplifications of the arguments. After propounding the essential difference between a bilingual dictionary and translation, a brief survey follows of problems that should be solved by both. They include the treatment and translation of technical and literary texts, of collocations, phrases and idioms, of colloquial, slang, dialectal, dated and obsolete words, of neologisms and nonce-words. Mention is also made of the problem of treating application. As a onclusion, translators may be given a piece of advice: Think of a dictionary as a counsellor and a friendly aide, but complement it with other sources of information and do not always rely upon it.

Lexical Features of Yang Mingkun’s Performance Language

Three transcribed versions of the Yangzhou storytelling of Pi Wu lazi 皮五辣子 (Rogue Pi Wu) describe how Pu Lin 蒲琳 (fl. 1780), Yu Youchun 余又春 (1919-1995), and Yang Mingkun 楊明坤 (1949-) tell the story of Pi Wu in performance (Wang Yingzhi 王穎芝, 1996; Wang Cheng 王澄, et al., 1985; Yin Boda 殷伯達, et al., 2015).1 The taoyu 套语 (stock phrases or setting phrases) and verses employed by Pu Lin in his oral performance have been transcribed to create the atmosphere of a storytelling event. In contrast to Pu‟s version, the transcribed texts of Yu and Yang are simple, as there are more stock phrases and verses applied to the Yangzhou pinghua in Pu's version than in the other two versions combined. Moreover, the differences in the use of colloquial words between the three versions are considerable. Yang Mingkun's narrative of Rogue Pi Wu relies on the lexicon of the Yangzhou dialect; the Yangzhou dialect acts as a vital comedic element in Yang's presentation. Why does his version demonstrate a specific linguistic style of expression among the three transcribed texts? In this article, I will examine the differences in wording among the three texts and explore the comedic elements in Yang's presentation with a view to illustrating why Yang's narration of the story of Pi Wu sounds colloquial and why Yang uses the current style of language expression. Firstly, I will explore the differences in the application of stock phrases, verses, and colloquial words among the three texts. Then, I will explore why Yang relies on the lexicon of the Yangzhou dialect when reciting the story of Pi Wu. Next, I will explore the comedic elements applied by Yang Mingkun during his performance. Finally, I will argue that Yang has developed a special style in line with the expectations and requirements of the audience.

IMPLICIT LINGUISTIC MEANS IN THE GENRE OF BLOGS ON BREXIT

The article deals with implicitness and the linguistic means of its expression. The theme is considered urgent since there is no consensus on the nature of implicitness and on the types of the means of its realization. The study has been carried out on the material of British online blogs. The genre of blogs is becoming more and more popular as a means of communication and as an opinion sharing platform. The collected data comprise blog entries and commentaries to them. They deal with one of the most pressing political issues of today - Brexit. The study has revealed a number of linguistic means which have been classified as follows: lexical means (colloquial words, deliberately altered proper nouns, idioms, language game), grammatical means (syntax of a sentence, and specifically elliptical questions), figures of speech (metaphor, allegory, simile, irony, allusion, antonomasia) and specific features of text composition (intertextuality). The analysis of functioning of the given means allows making a conclusion about the nature of the implicit meanings which are constructed in the blogs on the issue of Brexit. Many blog users make a negative implicit assessment of the disintegration procedure and of the politicians who promote the withdrawal of the country from the EU.

О ПРОЦЕССАХ ВЗАИМОДЕЙСТВИЯ АВИАЦИОННОЙ ТЕРМИНОЛОГИИ И ОБЩЕУПОТРЕБИТЕЛЬНОЙ ЛЕКСИКИ (В НЕМЕЦКОМ, АНГЛИЙСКОМ И РУССКОМ ЯЗЫКАХ)

The article examines the processes of the determinologization of colloquial words, the despecialization and determinologization of aviation terms as a result of the interaction between common colloquial vocabulary and aviation terminology in the Russian, English and German languages. The author considers domestic and foreign linguists’ views on terminologization and determinologization, differentiates the conceptions “despecialization” and “determinologization”, discovers the stages of these processes, identifies the common features of terminologization, specialization and determinologization in the Russian, German and English languages.

Cyber Language used by University Students: Textual Analysis of Facebook page Confessions

La presentación del ciberlenguaje como una de las variantes de la lengua incluye una discusión sobre su carácter como forma intermedia entre la oralidad y la escritura y las fuerzas responsables de los cambios lingüísticos. Por una parte, la vertiente popular que ha dado origen a la evolución constante de la lengua; y por otra, la culta que se esfuerza por recuperar la forma etimológica (Betancourt, 2010). El objetivo del presente estudio es analizar los fenómenos lingüísticos presentes en los textos que figuran en la página de Facebook denominada “Confesiones” de 6 universidades peruanas: tres arequipeñas y tres filiales de universidades limeñas en esta ciudad. El corpus de análisis consta de 70 textos, el diseño es descriptivo transversal de tipo documental y como instrumento se utilizó una ficha de registro de variaciones lingüísticas en la que se recogen y analizan los rasgos ortográficos, léxico-semánticos, léxico-sintácticos, además de la función que cumple el lenguaje utilizado en este medio. El estudio evidencia la existencia de una variedad heterogénea con un marcado carácter creativo de los textos. En lo que se refiere a los rasgos ortográficos, destacan la elisión de vocales, sustitución y multiplicación de grafemas consonánticos. Los rasgos léxico-semánticos de los textos analizados muestran un marcado uso de eufemismos, palabras coloquiales y anglicismos. Desde el punto de vista léxico-sintáctico, el análisis muestra que, pese al carácter más o menos informal del medio que se utiliza (Facebook), los mensajes que se transmiten son textos que desarrollan argumentaciones completas y complejas. Finalmente, las funciones que prevalecen en los textos son la emotiva y fática.

LINGUOCULTURAL FEATURES OF BRITISH TALES

The paper examines linguocultural features of British tales. The relevance of the study is determined by great interest of linguistic science to the issues of national and cultural specificity of folk texts, which is caused by peculiarities of historical development, beliefs, traditions and customs of native people. The objective of the study is to reveal national and cultural characteristics of the British tales by means of their linguocultural analysis. This paper is divided into three sections. The first section analyses linguocultural specificity of the British folk tales. These texts are characterised by the abundance of colloquial words, violation of grammar rules, and prevalence of simple sentences. Among the most frequently used stylistic means are graphons, parallel constructions, repetition, and inversion. We have also revealed male gender preference in folk tales. The second section examines linguocultural features of the British literary tales. They are characterised by the variety of lexical and stylistic means and a diversity of characters and plots. These tales reflect individual worldviews of writers and their aesthetic tastes. The third section gives an overview of adaptation of traditional stories to modern times. Retellings of classic stories appear to meet the needs of people of different ages or population strata, to satisfy the demand for emerging trends or to come alive on screen. Both types of tales express cultural peculiarities of the British people, describe their lifestyle, surrounding and world outlook. The results of the investigation can be effectively used for a further profound comparative analysis of sociolinguistic and linguocultural features of English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish tales.

The Green Bear

The Green Bear Stephanie Rauschenbusch (bio) The Welcome David Joel Friedman University of Illinois Presswww.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog 96Pages; Print, $15.95 Soldier Quick with Rain David Joel Friedman Augury Books www.augurybooks.com/books-orders 72Pages; Print, $12.00 Of David Joel Friedman’s four books, two are long, two are short. One of the short chapbooks, Seven (2011), is tiny. From The Welcome (2006) through Soldier Quick with Rain (2013) there is a continuity of purpose and practice that is remarkable. Each book contains prose poems and only prose poems that nonetheless read quite clearly as poetic. They are poetic, because they contain thousands of unusual words, thus fulfilling T. S. Eliot’s edict that the poet keep the words of English speech alive and vivid. They are poetic, because their rhetoric is as emphatic and organizing a principle as Wallace Stevens’s in Harmonium (1923). There is poetry even behind the rhetoric and vocabulary—a sort of quicksilver feeling. Many of Friedman’s prose poems are stories about a Green Bear. He is a brilliant disguise for a shy author who can recount his triumphs, failures and muddlings-through without the boastful “I” or “You” so prevalent in modern American poetry. The contemporary poet is often addressing herself as a double—“You”—in a way that almost slaps the reader in the face. “NOT you,” she means, “I’M you. This is all about ME.” Friedman’s Green Bear is a most endearing character, at times a sort of Babar of gentility, but most often a stalwart hero of adventure—of wars, ocean voyages, trips to the moon, explorations and encounters of all sorts. Most of the technical words from All Quiet on the Western Front (1929) and Two Years Before The Mast (1840) turn up here—nautical terms, military terms, terms of archaic weaponry, Shakespearean diction, along with colloquial words like “i-chat,” wonderfully mixed. Fragments of conversations appear and disappear. There is a whole prose poem to prove that all the world is coffee (one pictures the narrator leaving his Grove Street apartment and hitting each coffee bar in the Village until he is in a state of caffeinated ecstasy.) In The Welcome, chosen in 2004 for the National Poetry Series by Stephen Dunn, we find “A Brace of Firearms” which shows us one of Friedman’s verbal games, an exercise in parallel expressions for a group of individuals—“a brace of pistols”, “a pride of lions,” “a pack of wolves,” “a nest of vipers.” Of the Green Bear, he writes: “Since there was only one of him, he deserved a brace of pistols to fight a pride of lions.” “Typewriter” is a complete tour de force of typewriter lingo: I am a typewriter. Practically an antique. Before I pass into oblivion, let me assert myself; so you may come to honor in passing the machine that has been a good companion to writers. Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their typewriters. In my sculpted black steel body I house as zany a bunch of characters as you might want to meet, from A to Z; plus enough signs, symbols and numbers to read the future without animal entrails. I get good character references (this being one of them) despite the fact that I am occasionally shiftless. Upper or lower, I’m a case in point. If you keep tabs on me, you’ll find that I’m usually all keyed up. Nevertheless I travel in style, by carriage to the margins of existence. Feed me the old papyrus; I will produce literature (or camp or trash or tractate). Carbon paper, with whom I always had an uneasy relationship, has gone the way of the quill pen. Keep my platen clean, and I’ll always be on a roll. Stop by for a drink at my Space Bar (far out); try an ink cocktail, otherwise known as a Typewriter Mary. Scotch whiskey will clean my keys and your whistle. Rubbing alcohol makes a good (but lethal) chaser and will also clean your keys. Apply the proper dose of White-Out...

Reduction of intervocalic coronal stops in colloquial words, formal words and pseudowords in American English: A large-scale production study

Words occurring in reduction-favoring contexts have been hypothesized to become associated with reduced sound variants, reducing more than other words even when the contexts disfavors reduction. In a controlled production study, this paper investigates both this hypothesis and its converse: that words occurring often in reduction-disfavoring contexts become associated with non-reduced sound variants, compared to pseudowords. 130 speakers of American English were recorded reading sentences. Interspersed among fillers, designed to prime either formal or colloquial style, were sentences containing intervocalic /t/ and /d/ in the flapping environment. These sentences formed triplets placing different words in the same context, e.g., “She is looking for the {butter; jitter; witter}.” Words expected to disfavor reduction were overattested in formal registers of the British National Corpus. Those expected to favor it were overattested in American movie subtitles, compared to British ones, and overattested in colloquial registers. Colloquial words exhibited significantly more flap and approximant realizations of the /t/ and /d/ than either formal words or pseudowords. Furthermore, within sound variant (flap vs. stop vs. approximant), colloquial words exhibited shorter closure durations, even with local speech rate controlled. However, pseudowords behaved like formal words, suggesting that full pronunciations are used by default, despite their vanishingly low frequency.