As a new blogger to Blogger.com, I blog,ˈblog, ˈbläg, all the time.

As a new blogger to Blogger.com, I blog,ˈblog, ˈbläg, all the time.

Multiple processes is the “operation of more than one process at work in the creation of a particular word” (Yule, 60). In the beginning, searching for words with multiple processes for this assignment seemed straight-forward and without fuss. However, this task, to search for the most interesting word with multiple processes, proved to make me conscious of each word I heard or saw. Ziploc or ziplock was my original choice because of its compounding and conversion processes but it did not satisfy me. It was almost consuming to find a word for this blog. So, rather than curse the blog, I recognized that it would be better to see the glass half full and accept the blog, and this is how blog became my new word for the new world.

The word blog could be relatively new to most people in the world, but not to the British. According to www.etymonline.com, in the 19^th century blog meant “a servant boy” and described this use as a “perversion of bloke”. In 1969, Joe Bloggs was British slang for “any hypothetical person” which is the same as the American’s Joe Blow. Around 1994 there’s record that blog is short for weblog. Finally, launched in 1999 is the online publishing service The Blogger.

The multiple processes in the word formation for the word blog are:

Blending: combination of two separate forms to produce a single new term, taking only the beginning of one word and joining it to the end of the other word; web + log = blog

Borrowing: taking over words from other languages; British slang for ‘any hypothetical person’

Backformation: a noun reduced to form a verb; a blogger blogs frequently

Conversion: change in function of a word; someone has to blog about it on The Blogger

Eponyms: new words based on the name of a person or place; British slang ‘Joe Bloggs’ equals America’s ‘Joe Blow’, we could be blowing instead of blogging.

Works cited

Blog. Etymonline.com. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=online&searchmode=none web 03.29.12

Yule, George. The Study Of Language. 4^th Ed. Cambridge, NY: 2010. Print.

Say, Camille

Dear Linguists,

I hope that the following is correct. Although my name is French, please use English pronunciation. For example, use Camille instead of Cami.

camille lauren way pene

| kəˈmiːl ˈlɔːən ˈweɪ |

First we start with the k sound, like kite, it is a [k] velar, stop.

Next for a sound, like the word at, is [ə] central, mid, monophthong. Then make a voiced sound for [m] bilabial, nasal sound. Continue with a high sound that is exactly like the word me, use [i] front, monophthong. The double L's will be voiced and use [l] which is alveolar and liquid.

For Lauren, we start with the [l] alveolar and liquid. Second, is the mid-low of [ɔ] back, monophthong which goes with the [ə] central, mid, monophthong. End with the nasal [n] which is alveolar.

For my last name, Way-Pene, are two names but said as one word. Begin with a voiced [w], which is bilabial, glide. Use mid-sound [ə] central, monophthong and use the [ɪ] as a high, front, monophthong. Next is the voiceless p, use [p] bilabial, stop and mid [e] front, and end with the voiced [n] alveolar, nasal.

To say Camille, try while exhaling to say kkk and in the back of your mouth open wider and say aaa, to make ka then with a nasal mmm and a short eee with your lips flat on your teeth, and add a short lll with the tip of your tongue behind the top teeth.

To say Lauren, do the same lll as above with the tip of your tongue behind the top teeth and say aw like you feel bad someone, and roll the tongue to make a rrr sound and then a short nasal sound with the nnn.

To say Way, purse your lips together like you are going to whistle and make the www sound, then without inhaling say aaee to make wwwaaee.

Camille Blog 1: Language Story

I do not recall exactly how I learned to speak English or Chinese. It seems to me that I just always spoke both languages. The effort to dually excel in both languages academically failed miserably and I am literate in English only. I remember receiving Chinese lessons on how to write what I thought and heard, copying text I read in Chinese but I always wrote on the side of the page my own English sounding translation so I could remember the characters. I didn’t know it then, but I was using what is now referred to as Chinese pingyun, which is the phonetic sound of a Chinese character written in Roman characters. This translating of Chinese words into English so I could remember better leads me to think that perhaps English is my first language and, although I spoke mainly Chinese with my parents (who also gave me lessons in Chinese) I thought and dreamt in English. Like many kids I grew up translating all correspondence and at PTA meetings, it was not fun.

There was no transitional bilingual education in public schools or private schools when I was growing up, at least not that I am aware of, and if you wanted lessons your parents had to pay tuition. Knowing my parents paid hard earned money for me to go to Saturday Chinese school really stressed the need to do well so as not to disappoint. But I begged them to let me quit by the sixth grade, they wanted me to write an essay in Chinese and I just didn’t know enough sentences. In high school, I chose French because my parents and siblings are fluent (they emigrated from Madagascar, a French colony) and I wanted to be like everyone else. My parents accepted that I was not going to “get it” with Chinese so, in hopes that I would learn French they sent me to France to live with relatives for a couple of months to learn the language. What happened was that I mostly communicated the important stuff in Chinese to the parents, my cousins spoke to me in French and I responded in English, and I translated in Chinese for them English records so they could understand it in French. They are also from Madagascar, so along with my family peppering the conversations with bits of French, Chinese, Malagasy, and English they did it too, and it all seemed so normal.

Ultimately I’ve got the reins only on English, barely. It’s my prime form of communication, and I have found over the years that I am improving on my communication skills with the use of English. And for the most part, so far, in my travels, I have always found someone who could speak some English. I almost feel like I don’t need to learn another language, other than math, is that a language too???