LL-L "Lexicon" 2009.11.12 (01) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 12 November 2009 - Volume 01
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From: DAVID COWLEY <DavidCowley at anglesey.gov.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Lexicon" 2009.11.11 (04) [EN]

On Sandy's comments:

Sandy: ''fordo, onbeload, unbefought: I have no idea what these might be
intended
to mean.''

ANS: Try these for examples:
- 'I aimed to get you keen on updated words, but feel that plan may have
been fordone (... well, they're not to everyone's taste!)'
- 'My friends are very busy now, really onbeloaded with work as it happens
...'
- 'Three local authority councillors in x kept their seats, these being
unbefought at the election ...'

(Note: you may say you'd express the above in different ways; fine, these
are just giving more options for saying things. b t w, John Humphries seemed
to get - and like - unbefought straight away)

Sandy: ''Overmuchness: "overmuch" isn't an unusual word in English,
"overmuchness" would be a fairly normal way to use such an adverb as a
noun. So it's not exactly a neologism (or "oldologism" :)''

ANS: 'Updated words' is the term I'm using for this kind of material -
they're old words brought into today's spelling and pronunciation.

Sandy: ''Certainly putting a mode of speech into the mouths of Stephen Fry
or the
Queen would be a way of making me avoid such words!''

ANS: I was pointing out the fact that there are trendsetters who can and do
influence speech, which as we know can be a key factor in linguistic change.

Sandy: ''Of course the whole idea of "How we'd talk if..." is a fantasy
isn't it?
We've no idea what _else_ would have happened if the Norman invasion
hadn't.''

ANS: Its one scenario, and even that only part-answered (and it leaves aside
the likely different spelling conventions there'd be). Of course lots of
other different things could have happened later on. The point is that 1066
is so often seen as a year of really key, big change, and that the English
we speak has been shaped by the French connection in deep and significant
ways. Surely something worth thinking about at least?

I recall a programme many years ago in which a presenter read the news in
Scots, in a 'what if Scotland had never been joined with England' scenario.
And yet now, many years later, there's a Scottish Parliament which at least
has some token Scots on its website, and I understand that kids are being
allowed to use Scots a bit more in school - at long last. I'm not Scottish,
but doesn't the 'what if?' idea grab you a bit? And the idea of using the
past and how things went for thinking about now, and the possible future
too?

David

•

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