When is a question not a question? To answer this we need to look at the prosody of the utterance and its co-text.
Many people have seen the video of a bear in a forest stumbling across its own reflection in a mirror and destroying the mirror in the mistaken belief that the mirror is a threat to itself. Cats and dogs sometimes… Continue Reading →
It is relatively simple to measure speech rate and pause length in spoken output. Consider this audio sample here:
My latest article on TESL-EJ The article is free on the TESL-EJ website:
With the advent of chatGPT and AI text-generation software, the need for university tutors to design assignments which dissuade students from utilising these tools has never been more apparent. We can achieve this in part by setting second-order assignments which… Continue Reading →
My new monograph is available for free here. It looks at Nonrepresentational Linguistic Idealism (NLI).
Tomorrow (Monday) we learn who will be the next British Prime Minister. The bookies have Liz Truss as odds on favourite over her rival, Rishi Sunak. Both candidates appeared on the BBC’s new flagship programme ‘Sunday with Laura Kuennsberg’ this… Continue Reading →
Most Prime Ministers rise and fall. Liz Truss seems to fall then rise – in her spoken discourse, that is. In this post, I present a brief analysis of the some of the prosodic features of the Prime Minister’s language… Continue Reading →
As I was going to St. Ives I met a man with seven wives, Each wife had seven sacks, each sack had seven cats,Each cat had seven kits: kits, cats, sacks and wives,How many were going to St. Ives? [Answer… Continue Reading →
The notion of sentience has been in the news recently since a Google AI researcher, Blake Lemoine, claimed that a chatbot he had been interacting with was sentient. His claim has been rebuffed by some antagonists and he has been… Continue Reading →
The Voice Audio Rating Scale (VARS) is a rating scale I have developed for measuring the quality of voice audio over conferencing software such as Zoom, Teams or Skype. The scale has five levels (A to E) and two outliers… Continue Reading →
A lot has been written in recent days about the notion of academic freedom particularly after the plight of Prof. Kathleen Stock who resigned from the University of Sussex following sustained harassment and bullying for her academic views. In this… Continue Reading →
Kier Starmer, the Leader of the Labour party, was interviewed face-to-face on the Andrew Marr show this weekend. This was one of the first big face-to-face interviews Starmer has done in the last few weeks after COVID lockdown rules. Previous… Continue Reading →
Imagine you have a craving for cake and someone tells you there is free cake next door. You rush out of your house to see a sign on the gate saying ‘cake’ and pointing to the neighbour’s house. You pull… Continue Reading →
A photo essay of non-representational linguistic idealism by Michael Cribb. Fifty three sumptuous spreads in full colour narrated and interpreted through inspirational quotes. The book builds on Hannah Arendt’s lamentation that we live in a language, not with a language…. Continue Reading →
Sometimes asking questions in an interview is just not the right ‘structure’ if your interviewee does not want to answer them. Here we see Channel 4 news anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy (KG) interviewing the Conservative MP Tobias Elwood (TE) who clearly… Continue Reading →
Here is an example of an FTA to help you understand the concept. It is a non political example.
I heard this comment on Radio 4 this afternoon on the PM show and though it was worthy to bring it to you.
Here are some journals that will be of interest to students on ELT and Applied Linguistic courses. As a student, the key to success is to engage with the academic literature so you should be reading these journal morning afternoon… Continue Reading →
Slips of the Tongue from the Linguistic Graveyard: One shit, two c*nts and a Brexit Breakfast! by Michael Cribb
A single speech error (slip of the tongue) often cascades into multiple errors within the space of a few words as Boris Johnson found out yesterday. This has to be one of the all-time great slips that linguists will be… Continue Reading →
Many commentators and broadcasters have fallen foul of Jeremy Hunt’s name over the years. Some make light of the slip, some ignore it, others apologise profusely. Hunt himself has acknowledged the problems people have had with his surname over the… Continue Reading →
A lot was made on Twitter of Helen Watley’s appearance on Sky TV this morning. The claim by some distractors was that Whatley was saying that the government could blame scientists for mistakes made in the COVID-19 policy. Within ten… Continue Reading →
Poor Naga Munchetty was the latest presenter to fall to the dreaded ‘cunt’ slip of the tongue on the BBC Breakfast show this morning.
The quote below of Andrew Neil on the GMB show, said somewhat tongue-in-cheek, claims that a virus ‘can’t read’. Most people would agree with that I think. Andrew Neil01 well as you say02 the only reason for not making this… Continue Reading →
Ever thought there might be something missing from our understanding of the universe? Ever thought there may be some extra dimension curled up, hidden away right in front of us? What if language was that dimension, a fifth dimension in… Continue Reading →
What if the physical world had questions? What if electrons and protons, and all the subatomic particles were able to ask questions about themselves and their existence. That would be a pretty scary thing. What if a bunch of electrons… Continue Reading →
An interesting slip of the tongue here by Kay Burley, Sky news presenter, which can almost be called an internal Spoonerism.
In spoken discourse, we can usually predict when our conversational partner is about to finish a turn by listening to their intonation. This is not always successful, however, as demonstrated by the following clip in which a TV host assumes… Continue Reading →
See a full grammatical analysis of a text using Prezie in a new way which allows for infinite zoom and scroll.
The Verb Phrase (VP) consists of a main (lexical) verb with, optionally, a number of auxillary verbs in front. (AUX) VERB e.g. He might have been watching me
A Noun Phrase consists of a head noun, and optionally a determiner, some pre-modification and post-modification. Here is an analysis of a text to show you how to identify noun phrases.
Hesitation, Equivocation and Pausing Unveiling the micro-world of political rhetoric and spin £2.99 (eBook) /£10 (paperback) on Amazon Every day we are bombarded with political rhetoric in the form of interviews, debates and statements from our political leaders and commentators,… Continue Reading →
The Grammar family has been around for as long as this sentence has. The family is headed by Grandma Syntax and her younger sister, Minnie Morphology.
Political interviewers like to pretend that they are are asking genuine questions to their political guests. But sometimes it is revealed all too clearly that their questions are really designed to try and steer the guest towards a particular answer.
Andrew Neil interviewed Jeremy Corbyn on BBC television tonight. Neil is a forensic interviewer who usually pins his interviewees down to exact words and syllables. But Corbyn is know for his own brand of stubbornness, and there was one wonderful… Continue Reading →
When we speak, we tend to speak in ‘chunks’ – small groups of words. Each chunk has its own change in intonation and there is usually a brief pause before the next chunk. We call these chunks ‘tone units’ and… Continue Reading →
Politicians often get accused of not answering questions but sometimes they fight back as Andy McDonald did on Friday.
Politicians use all means to try and grab and hold the floor during interviews including non-verbal means. Nigel Farage has developed an interesting technique where he flutters his eyes for a few seconds, almost bringing them to a close, in… Continue Reading →
Brexit has not only changed the political landscape but has also given rise to a number of new species in the Homo genus according to scientists. Here is a quick run through some of the newcomers.
Sometimes being impolite and creating conflict doesn’t take much effort. All you need to do is raise your voice!
Grice’s maxim of relevance states that: “expect a partner’s contribution to be appropriate to immediate needs at each stage of the transaction”.Leech (1983: 94) In the following turns, we see in line 01 that A signals to B that he… Continue Reading →
Fight for control of the floor can sometimes produce odd utterances out of the mouths of the interlocutors. Here is Boris Johnson and Nick Robinson spluttering syllables like bird wings flapping in the air as they fight for the turn… Continue Reading →
once again we're living above the shop!
Sajid Javid, Conservative Party Conference, 30th September 2019
In this quote, Sajid Javid references the fact that he is the Chancellor of the Exchequer living upstairs in No. 11 Downing Street. The Chancellor and h...
Interruptions at PMQs (Prime Minister’s Questions) are recorded in Hansard in a limited way, usually through the insertion of the word ‘[Interruption.]’ and are often followed by the Speaker’s call to order. The house however is collective body and background… Continue Reading →
In a previous post I have argued that the house is a multi-faceted chamber with comments and background noise from members of the chamber combining with the current speaker to create a multi-modal discourse act. This is particularly important during Prime Minister’s… Continue Reading →
Hesitations are a natural part of unscripted spoken language. We all hesitate from time to time while speaking for various reasons: to plan what we want to say next, to correct errors or for dramatic effect. Hesitation is normally apparent… Continue Reading →
Political interviewing can be a frustrating affair when the politician being interviewed refuses to answer directly the questions put to them. John Humphrys, a BBC radio 4 presenter and interviewer, gave Chris Grayling, a Conservative MP, a grilling on the… Continue Reading →
Slips of the tongue can be embarrassing for anyone speaking in public, but when the slip occurs twice in quick succession, one has to ask whether the speaker subconsciously really wanted to say something different. David Cameron (DC) was outlining… Continue Reading →
We all have to make U-turns in our lives sometimes: reversing our car when we realise we’ve gone down the wrong road; changing our opinion on some topic; wearing something we swore we would never wear. For politicians, making a… Continue Reading →
“She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!”.
DONALD TRUMP, TWITTER, 23RD SEPTEMBER 2019
Which maxim does this break? Does it flout or violate the maxim?
John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, likes to pick up on members who ‘chunter from a sedentary position’ – a slightly politer, and perhaps archaic, way of saying ‘shut up and stop muttering’.
Certain words in the House of Commons are normally taboo but sometimes it is possible to get away with using them by quoting someone and asking for ‘leave’ from The Speaker.
Political commentators and journalists all have their own idiosyncratic styles when interviewing politicians. Emily Maitlis, the BBC Newsnight commentator, often shows exasperation and incredulity in her voice through sweeping intonation falls and facial expressions. Here is a brief analysis to… Continue Reading →
Michael Gove, Conservative MP, serves up some curious hand gestures while speaking including teacup gestures and steeple Vulcans. Here are some of the more interesting examples from his interview on the Andrew Marr show on Sunday.
Editor: The BBC’s Question Time programme on Thursday nights seems to court controversy these days as we hold it to ever more stringent impartiality standards. In this blog, Elena Ioannidou dissects the discourse that this programme produces from a CA perspective…. Continue Reading →
Editor: This is part 2 of the blog on the BBC Question Time programme. Part 1 is here.
Fighting for the floor can take on epic proportions at times with your interlocutor when you both want to get something out. In the following two examples, David Davis and John Humphrys almost end up rapping together as they negotiate… Continue Reading →
If you now try to hold us in against our will you will be facing perfidious Albion on speed.
Mark Francois, 10th April 2019
If you now try to hold us in against our will you will be facing perfidious Albion on speed. Mark Francois, 10th April 2019
The eyes play an important part in human communication. They can signal an intention to communicate and sometimes act to facilitate turn transition. In this example here, we see Tom Watson, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, using his… Continue Reading →
The dreaded Brexit slip strikes again!
A slip of the tongue.
If this doesn’t work out, I’ll probably will do it, maybe definitely.
DONALD TRUMP, 10TH JANUARY 2019
Trump on whether he’ll declare a national emergency.
Theresa May seems to have developed many ways of saying ‘no’ without actually meaning it. In her interview with Andrew Marr at the weekend, she frequently used reduced articulations of the word (e.g. ‘n-’) to preface her responses to Marr’s… Continue Reading →
Speech errors don’t get much better when they appear in front of a live audience of millions on the BBC for the final of Strictly Come Dancing. This Freudian slips will go down as one of the classics.
I believe that all fish should be in the sea.
Benjamin Zephaniah, BBC Question Time, 29th November 2018
I believe that all fish should be in the sea. Benjamin Zephaniah, BBC Question Time, 29th November 2018
I heard an interesting little neologism today in a meeting when someone misheard the word ‘ungrammatical’ for ‘angrammatical’. The neologism has quite a nice ring to it, don’t you think? Maybe a blend along the lines of ‘anger about some… Continue Reading →
Slips of the tongue (speech errors) nearly always include some repair whereby the speaker realises the mistake and then attempts to correct for their error.
Speech errors (slips of the tongue) often ‘borrow’ from language in the mind that is downstream of the target language. Here is a good example from Theresa May at PMQs.
Slips of the tongue can be annoying for interviewers when they happen once. But when one error leads into another and then another, all in the space of a few words, it can be triply frustrating.
One way to put a politician on the spot is to ask them how many people have been affected by their policy. Three times seems to be the optimum number of times to ask according to the Andrew Marr’s rulebook… Continue Reading →
Vince Cable should perhaps leave sexual innuendos to others after fluffing his lines at the Liberal Democrats’ conference on Tuesday. Cable had intended to say that hard-line Tories were locked in an ‘erotic spasm’ over Brexit, but instead the words… Continue Reading →
Standing up and speaking in public is not just a one-way affair from speaker to audience. The reaction of the audience to what is said can be just as important and defining as the speaker’s words themselves.
This is the most expensive round of golf in history.
Barry Gardner, BBC Question Time, 12th July 2018
The quote was in reference to Donald Trump's visit to the UK.
Conversation can sometimes be like a game of poker, raising and doubling stakes, as the Andrew Marr Show demonstrated on Sunday.
Sally Who? You don’t get a name like that unless you work for the BBC!
You wait forever for a bus question at PMQs, and then seven come along at once.
Scott Mann, Conservative MP at PMQs, 4th July 2018
The quote was in reference to Jeremy Corbyn who used all of his seven all...
An interesting slip of the tongue by Theresa May at Prime Minister’s question time occurred on Wednesday and suggested that perhaps we had voted for rather more than we thought during the EU referendum in 2016!
It seems strange that two of the smallest and most commonest words in the English dictionary could cause confusion between interviewer and interviewee but that is what ‘a’ and ‘the’ seemed to do on Sunday when Andrew Marr interviewed James… Continue Reading →
Richard Madeley knows when to shut down an interview. On ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he abruptly brought his interview with Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, to an end when Williamson refused to answer his question after four strikes.
Prime Minister’s question time (PMQs) is known for lengthy questions and answers from Prime Ministers and backbenchers so it was interesting to observe a brief bit of brevity from the Prime Minister in two of her answers on Wednesday.
Two slips of the tongue from the BBC.
RM
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