Category: Books

We have just heard about a terrible case of corruption. While Spain was suffering an economic crisis, the minister of economy was piling up a private treasure. Recent cases in political spheres show a complete lack of scruples, ethics and moral principles in some politicians. This is especially so in the right wing as neo-liberal philosophy prefers personal material gain over public welfare.

Not all politicians are corrupt. However, I perceive a general tendency towards selfishness and blaming others for any problems which arise. It may be immigrants or other races or religions. Some of our national and world leaders are psychologically unstable, seeking revenge, ignoring suffering and, obsessed with outdated ideals. Meanwhile, those who have a conscience hesitate because of economic interests.

Is there a solution? Unfortunately, we have to wait until those who are causing suffering fail, as they inevitably will, and hope that the perversity of human nature can eventually be controlled.

This month, a course on Climate Change taught me that what happens in one place deeply affects what happens in another. Winds blow from south to north and back again. In the Caribean is where they change direction from westerly to easterly and are heated up. So, warm winds from the Caribean make the climate in Norway more temperate.

My conclusion is that we cannot treat disasters like hurricanes just as unfortunate phenomena. We must be grateful that those who suffer them are contributing to our own wellbeing. This should make us feel more generous and responsible.

Having just finished a Future Learn course on Bonnie Prince Charlie, I find myself in a quandary. I believe the Stewarts had the right to the throne, but I am not Catholic and strongly dislike interference from Rome and authoritarian regimes. Which is stronger? Justice or religious and political criteria? This must have been a problem for many Brits at the time.

Having finished the course on Scottish Paleography, I have formulated several conclusions:

1. Constant change: Language is changing continually as new words are adopted and others fall into disuse. Scottish adopted English words and even French words. Now however, we are adopting American words. I am not at all happy with ‘surreal’, I’m good’ (instead of ‘well’), ‘like’ stuck in everywhere, etc.
2. Pronunciation: The ‘in’ accent is either American or common English ‘I’ pronounced /oi/ not /ai/ and all end ‘t’s omitted. In films (movies!), the heroes are American, the commoners use common English and the baddies use Standard (Oxford) English.
3. Writing: Spelling has been standardized by the Oxford Dictionary in G.B. and the Webster in the U.S.A. but both go behind changing speech norms and words no longer represent sounds, e.g. night, bough, cough, laughter, etc. Nowadays, we are unsure whether ‘realise’ or ‘realize’ is correct, especially as correctors dislike British English and even British authors adopt American spelling (Joanna Penn).
4. Dialects: The regional differences sometimes considered vulgar but really more colourful and legitimate than BBC English were preserved by lack of communication. Now, they are being eliminated by the spread of mass media.
5. Criteria: The James Tait Black Prize 2017 was given to a book without punctuation and not popular with many. The point of writing is to communicate and is a way of putting random thoughts in order. If the writing is confusing and disorganized, communication is compromised.
6. Marketing: Principles applied for effective sales are short sentences, easy language, and punchy lines. This leads to an impoverishing of expression. People get used to this style and are incapable of reading a classic literary work. Most children do not read books, lack rapid reading skills and worse still their writing suffers.
7. Adopt and adapt: English words are being adopted in other languages, often incorrectly, ‘le parking’ in French or ‘el parking’ in Spanish is a car park. Words like ‘scanner’ are adapted, as in Spanish which is syllabic ‘escaner’ changes a word with a main stress on ‘scan’ to a word with three stresses ‘es’ ‘ca’ ner’, with a long e at the end instead of schwa. To scan is ‘escanear’.
8. A.P.I.: There is an International Phonetic Alphabet whereby all languages can be transcribed phonetically with a common system of pronunciation. A language like English could be made easier for foreigners if we used it. I believe it would be fairly easy for people to learn. The problem lies in the different accents. /ai laik kofi:/ could be /oi loik kofi/ in London and /e lek ka:fi/ in the U.S. OR MAYBE people would adapt their pronunciation to the phonetics. Books could be written in phonetics –  /its kwait i:zi/
9. Surprise: I discovered that Scottish English is closer to Old English than Modern English. This is understandable as new influences come from the south, and the Scots have clung on to their own expressions. So Scottish is not at all alien, it is how our English ancestors spoke!
10. Tendencies: The further south in Britain, the more open the sounds seem to be. book is /bu:k/ in the north and /buk/ in the south. Each region has its sounds and the same words sound completely different, like in the joke ‘Where ‘st thou been?’ sounds like ‘Where’s the bin?’ A consciousness of the coincidence of phonetic spelling with sounds could even this out.

Continue reading “Linguistic conclusions”

His music:

Yesterday, I went to a concert given by Ara Malikian, a violinist of Armenian origin. His superb virtuosity is comparable to Yehudi Menuhin. He has broken the barriers between classical, rock and folk music. His repertoire includes pieces by Led Zeppelin and David Bowie as well as Paganini and Bach, with an Armenian folk dance to boot. Continue reading “Ara Malikian-violinist-personal opinion”

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This is the title of a Future Learn course (Open University) I’m doing which examines plot, characters, dialogue, point of view and setting (next week).  The experts have chosen extreme examples: ‘The Sport of Kings’ by C.E.Morgan which seems to go backwards and forwards, speeds up and slows down, with different points-of-view, to a confusing extent. Continue reading “How to read a novel.”

I just finished watching all the episodes there are so far of Game of Thrones and I wonder why it is so popular. I read five books and decided not to read more, the characters being so dispersed that I lost the thread of the story. However, the series seems to drop some threads and gather together the remaining ones. Continue reading “Game of Thrones”