The fascinating series The Slavery Business is still running on BBC2, and the BBC website linked to the programme is a great resource for social historians, but one particular part of it is especially of interest to linguists, and indeed anyone interested in the crossover of history, race and language.
In an article on the history of his own family, Dr Robert Beckford of Birmingham University looks at the origins of his surname and how he came to be "branded" with the slaveowner's name.
The article is well worth a read and also reminds me of how at a previous college with a largely white intake, it was fairly straightforward and uncontentious to look at the histories of family surnames, linking them to areas of the country, geographical features ("Cliff" or "Rivers") or even physical characteristics ("Fox" often meaning red-haired), but how, when moving to work at a much more racially mixed college, the whole discussion became much more sensitive.
Beckford's article (like the whole series) is a timely reminder about the legacy of slavery and its impact on the world today.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Black British English vs MLE
The latest episode of Lexis is out and it features an interview with Ife Thompson about lots of issues connected to Black British English, i...
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As part of the Original Writing section of the NEA, students will be required to produce a commentary on their piece. This blog post will pr...
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As lots of students are embarking on the Language Investigation part of the Non-Exam Assessment, I thought it might be handy to pick up a fe...
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When Dan asked what he should post about next on this blog, one of the most common responses was this, the World Englishes topic. Maybe ...