Myth 1 Meanings of words should not be allowed to vary or change Summary: All languages change throughout history.

. Even the meaning of some words change as languages evolve. Change can occur because of new developments in society of the people that use a languages or because of an initial misuse of a word that graduate becomes accepted and spreads throughout the society. Some say that these changes or developments are wrong and that they contribute to the downfall of a language. In reality language adapts to the people that use it. As society changes so will their language. There is nothing that can be done about that, nor is it right or wrong. Myth 2 some languages are just not good enough. Summary: If we look at languages spoken in the world today, we notice very wide differences in the use to which they are put. Most have a wide spread and are used in an entire community or nation. Others have a more restricted use, like Latin was restricted to the catholic church. Some languages have a wider function than others, English is used as a universal language for example. These differenced unfortunately lead people to believe that some languages are better than others. This of course is not true, differences arent wrong or right. Perhaps in earlier times people might have perceived English as not being good enough. Myth 3 the media are ruining English Summary: The delusion that language is sick is a reoccurring one and the blame is put on different groups. Parents, teachers and the press have all been blamed for this. In recent years the blame has mostly been put on the media; TV, newspapers and radio have all been portrayed as linguistic criminals. Journalists are regarded as linguistic trouble makers and the concern about spoken an written speech has grown. It is surprising that some believe the changes to be caused by TV and other media. Of course the media can bring forth certain catch phrases due to popularity of a certain program. Deeper reaches of language change however, sound changes and grammatical changes, on those the media have no significant effect at all. The media simply portray speech that is used in current society, they are not responsible for changes but make them clearer, easier to pick up on. Myth 6 Women talk too much. Summary:

It is believed that women talk far more than men, but is this really true? Most evidence actually suggests the opposite because when women and men are together, men tend to dominate the conversation. This goes for every situation, whether its compared in a domestic, professional or teaching environment. Looking for explanations we find that talk is often undertaken by people of higher social status or power, or those who claim to be. In classrooms boys often dominate the share of talking time that remains for the pupils. If we look at what is said, this piece of evidence also supports the interpretation. Men tend to contribute more information and opinions while women contribute more agreeing, supportive talk. The kind that contributes others to contribute. It seems that the amount of talking has to do with social confidence and women are taking steps forward when it comes to this. Myth 7 some languages are harder than others: Summary: People speak of languages as easy or difficult, meaning that they are easy or difficult to learn. No one finds their own native language hard, its the other languages that are difficult. The learning of a foreign language is perceived more difficult when the language differs a lot for the mother tongue. A Swede will have more difficulty learning Chinese than learning Norwegian because the second has more similarities to the native language. As are all Germanic languages alike in a way and therefore easier to learn for someone whos native language is Germanic. Languages are not easy or hard, its peoples references to them, or lack thereof, that make them more difficult.

Myth 8 Children cant speak or write properly any more. Summary: There have been complaints about the state of the English language. It is said that language is in decline, this is often related to moral decline. Certain sections in society have been held responsible, and the most frequently used is the younger generation. It is said that they are liable to misuse language, or not learn it properly. Generally the problem is claimed to be found in schools , hey are supposedly failing their duty to teach children. Evidence does however not suggest that children of today are less competent at speaking and writing than older generations where. Persuasive evidence is the fact that illiteracy amongst children hardly exists anymore whereas in the past times, a large percentage of the population was illiterate. Looking at Universities we also see that nowadays they are much larger and have lager student bodies now. This means that a higher education level has become accessible for the mass.

If there is no evidence for the declining standards of literacy what is said about speech? First of all, children do not learn to speak in school, spoken language in children is acquired without explicit instruction. Therefore the schools cant be to blame. We also have to keep in mind that in speaking enlist, varietys exist that are neither wrong or right. Myth 10 some languages have no Grammar. Summary: Its not uncommon to hear people say that a language has no grammar, this of course is an absurd statement. Grammar is a set of rules which the speakers of a language follow when they speak ore write. If a language had no grammar it would be impossible to make a mistake, there would be no difference between word classes and there would be no word order. Looking at this, a language with no grammar would not be understandable. Every person using it could make up their own habits and no one would understand each other. Therefore there is no such thing as a language without grammar. Could it be that some languages have less grammar then? This isnt true either. Languages may have different forms of grammar but that doesnt mean that you can speak of a lot of grammar versus little grammar. Myth 11 Italian is beautiful, German is ugly. Summary: Everyone has an opinion about different languages or dialects. They can be thought of as beautiful or ugly. Most English speakers think that German is an ugly language and so is Cockney thought of as an ugly dialect. Why do people have such strong opinion on the beauty of a language? The first answer can be found in the inherent value hypothesis, stating that some languages are inherently more attractive than others. It is biologically wired into us. A second explanation can be found when looking at associations that are combined with a language. If we take German as example, the fist things that comes to peoples minds are the world wars. So German has a negative association. The same goes for accents. Some accent can be associated with poverty, crime and being uneducated. While other accents are associated with wealth and good manners. Languages are not beautiful or ugly, it is what people believe them to be that causes the stigma. Myth 13 Black children are verbally deprived. Summary: African-American culture has an extensively en widely recognized oral tradition so it is ironic to find Young African-Americans verbally deprived, language impoverished or linguistically retarded. These statements show how far from reality perceptions of language ability may wander. All of this has to do with the angle of the observer. Of course there are varieties of English that correlate with ethnicity. Some speech does simply not sound the same when pronounced by an African-American compared to an Anglo-American. The basis of these differences are historically, socially and linguistically very natural and understandable. Even though the status of

black Americans has shifted throughout the years, there still remains a common unifying theme in mythology namely, the linguistic inferiority principle. This principle states that the speech of an socially subordinate group will always be interpreted as inadequate by the socially dominant group. As for anatomic based explanations that exist about lip size for example are also easy to reject because this has no influence what so ever on speech. Myth 15 TV makes people sound the same. Summary: Changes in languages are taking place in all communities around us, and have always taken place in this way. It is difficult to point out the reasons for the changes because they are almost always very subtle. Changes happen without consciousness and are hard to detect or measure. Knowing the above, it is surprising that some believe the changes to be caused by TV and other media. Of course the media can bring forth certain catch phrases due to popularity of a certain program. Deeper reaches of language change however, sound changes and grammatical changes, on those the media have no significant effect at all. The media simply portray speech that is used in current society, they are not responsible for changes but make them clearer, easier to pick up on. Myth 17 They speak bad English down south and in New York City. Summary: Language variety does not correlate with intelligence. Nevertheless, popular associations of certain varieties of English, with professional and intellectual competence, run so deep that the myth remains. It is said that some varieties of language are not as good as others. It is proven that some varieties are more standard than others, this is a product of social facts, but one is not proven to be better than the other. If you test this myth in the US, respondents from all over the country confirm it. They believe that some regions speak better English than others and they indicate that NYC and the South are on the bottom of the pile.

Myth 18 some languages are spoken more quickly than others. Summary: Everyone makes judgments about how fast someone is speaking, it is however not easy to work out what these judgments are based on. From an outsiders point of view, a language always sounds different than their own and it may even sound faster than their own. If we look at scientific establishments, there really are some characteristic differences in speaking speed. There are three possibilities.

Some languages are really spoken more rapidly than others as a natural result of the way their sounds are produced. The impression of more quickly spoken languages exist because of a sort of illusion. In some societies it is socially acceptable to speak faster while in others speaking slow is preferred.

Myth 19 Aborigines speak a primitive language. Summary: There are many sub myths about Australian Aboriginal languages; There is only one Aboriginal language. While in fact there were once around 250 and most speakers where multilingual and able to communicate with each other. Aboriginals have no grammar While in fact their grammar is so sophisticated that a system of case endings allows parts of sentences to be specific in ways that arent always clear in English. The vocabularies of Aboriginal languages lack detail and The vocabularies of Aboriginal languages have too many details to deal with abstractions. Both these sub myths are wrong. Detail and nuance in Aboriginal vocabularies is very great. Aboriginal languages cant deal with the 20th century. Aboriginals may lack terms because of the fact that in their speech there is no need for their use, but their rich grammars enable them to develop terms when they are needed.

Myth 20 everyone has an accent except me. Summary: Everyone has an accent. It gives us a sense of belonging to a certain group. Accent can tell us and therefore are formed by; the way the speaker was born and raised and where that was. what occupation the speaker has, what gender, what age, their height, their weight and how they are feeling at the moment. We may only realize we have an accent when we are confronted with people that speak different from us. Use different words for certain expressions ore have a different pronunciation of words. Some accents are more accepted than others and are therefore less known as an accent. ABN for example is the common way of speaking Dutch but is still an accent in itself.

Myth 21 America is ruining the English language.

Summary: America is ruining the English language, we hear it all the time, from everyone. There for it must be true! But in what does this ruination lie? In earlier days, British travelers often commented on the purity of the English spoken in the new world. Somehow this idea has changed. One way of possible ruination is change. American languages changes and therefore has an effect on the changing of English in general. Manny people regard what is foreign to be corrupt and barbarous, when the assumption exist that everything new is American, these changes are viewed to be for the worse. Change in language is inevitable however, it happens everywhere, all the time. Judgments on what is wrong or right or beautiful or ugly, are highly personal ones and are not based on truth. There are no linguistic tables of law, and there never will be.