Is this what insomnia feels like?
Aargh!!
It's 2:23am... I should not be awake. This is not natural!
I was sleepy at 11:15ish when driving home from having coffee with friends (and no, I didn't actually have coffee, I had peppermint tea, so that doesn't explain the wakefulness). Anyway, I was reading in bed till 12:30 when I turned off the light and expected to pass out any minute... but, lo and behold, an hour came and went and I was STILL AWAKE!
Basically it's because I've had a cold, and when I get a cold it is invariably followed by a nasty cough. So anyway, the cough stage of this particular bout of sickness kicked in just yesterday, and tonight (ie. last night) it really flared up.. leaving my throat so raw that it hurts to swallow. It hurts even more to yawn, wherein lies the problem - the longer I'm awake, the tireder I get, and the tireder I get, the more I yawn, and the more I yawn, the more pain I'm in, and the more pain I'm in, the harder it is to get to sleep... and so, you see, it comes full circle and keeps spiralling down into the murky depths of insomnia.
Ugh... it's enough to make me want to.. write on my blog :S
Yeah, anyway.. Getting out of bed and drinking a cup o' soup and writing on my blog hasn't removed the pain, but it has taken my mind off it somewhat (ironic, considering I just spent 10 minutes describing it in some detail). Sleeplessness is so much more excruciating when your head is on a pillow, the lights are out, and you've only your self-pity to keep you company.
Thank God I don't have to work tomorrow or anything.
PHOTO FRIDAY - 'Masterpiece'
I chose this photo as my representation of the latest PF theme, "masterpiece", for two reasons:
1) It was one of the very first photographs I took with my Dad's old Pentax SF50, after he gave it to me about 6 years ago. I was (and still am) VERY proud of this photo, and definitely consider it a masterpiece!
2) Any part of God's creation is automatically a masterpiece - designed and formed by the Master himself. And I think this one looks particularly pretty...
A branch of the orange tree in my backyard
Why Englishes?
While I've got some momentum going on this blog of mine, I'm going to have a go at processing some of the heavy discussion fodder that I come across in my studies. If, perchance, there is someone out there reading these posts, please feel free to join in the discussion as it evolves!
One of the units I'm taking this semester is called 'World Englishes'.
I know, I know.. since when is there a plural of the word 'English'!? Well, apparently there is, and here's why:
The English language has become decidedly the most important language in the world. That's not some kind of linguistocentric statement of English superiority; it is merely an observation of fact. English is spoken by more people, and with a greater geographical spread, than any other single language. It is the global language of trade, travel and tourism; in many places where English is not the primary language, it is nonetheless 'institutionalised' as the medium of instruction in schools and especially universities, as well as being used for creative writing and other purposes. It is the language pilots use to communicate with control towers all over the world. English alone truly deserves to be called a (or, rather, the) global language.
Do not mistake what I'm saying; by 'most important', I definitely do not mean 'best', nor do I think the English language has some inherent value that has earnt it this position. Politics probably have more to do with its present dominance than any linguistic factors.
Despite this, however, there is a strong and often invisible temptation (for Native Speakers and Non-Native Speakers, although grounded in different attitudes) to believe that there is one English, which some people speak properly (namely, NS) and others do not (NNS).
So the successful attempt over the last 20 or so years to pluralise the word 'English', is really an attempt to acknowledge not merely the existence, but also the validity of all varieties of English.
English has made contact with hundreds of other languages, and therefore cultures, as it has wrapped its artful tendrils around planet earth; and as a result it has adopted different features and functions in different 'speech communities'. Or, it could be said, the reason English has been able to win its position as the global language is precisely because it has the ability, and the tendency, to adapt linguistically to contexts outside its own.
It does this, primarily, by adopting linguistic features of other languages. Phonology, grammar, vocabulary; you name it, and English has probably already stolen it!
Hence, we've ended up with the same language being used by hundreds of different speech communities in hundreds of different ways. What my lecturer has been arguing is that many of these communities have come to use English in a manner so decidedly their own (and no one else's) that they can legitimately claim to speak, and identify themselves with, their own variety of English. Examples would include Singapore English (SgE, or Singlish), Black American English (BEV - Black English Vernacular, or AAVE - African-American Vernacular English), Aboriginal Australian English, etc.
The real discussion begins when one tries to construct a system or framework which explains the different varieties and their geneses, without being sucked in by the temptation (for a NS) of considering NNS varieties somehow deficient. This attitude often usually has ethnocentrism at its root, and ignores NS deviations from 'Standard English' while being quick to point out any deviations made by NNS varieties, even though - linguistically speaking - they are no less 'correct'.
Anyway, I need to do some study now! Keep your eyes peeled for future additions to this as-yet aimless train of thought!
PHOTO FRIDAY - 'Adolescence'
Hello there! I've taken on a new challenge in my little blogdom - namely, Photo Friday. This means once a week (or when I get around to it), I will be posting photographs that represent a given weekly theme. You will hopefully also see some works of art posted, possibly less frequently, in response to the topics put forth by the lovely people at Illustration Friday.
So here is this weeks PF entry:
Some girls from my old youth group
