Top 5 Most Frustrating Writing Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

 

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Here are the top five worst writing mistakes and how to avoid and correct them.

1.Incorrect verb forms — 51%

Irregular verb forms are one of the most difficult grammar concepts to master, even for native speakers—many of whom use incorrect irregular forms without realizing it. While these “mistakes” are part of English dialects all over the world, these non-standard forms carry a stigma that can significantly damage your credibility if used in formal settings, like business or school. Here are the most common verb conjugation mistakes:

I seen vs. I saw

I seen the movie last week.

I saw the movie last week.

I been vs. I have been

I been there!

I have (I’ve) been there!

I done vs. I did

I done the homework.

I did the homework.

We was vs. we were

We was just about to start the reading.

We were just about to start the reading.

2.Subject-verb disagreement — 20%

In many languages, it is important that the subject of the sentence aligns correctly with the verb conjugation in terms of number and gender. Since English does not conjugate verbs to reflect the gender of the subject, you only need to pay close attention to the number of the subject—is it a singular or plural noun?

The struggles that the horse experiences while climbing the mountain is intense.

Here the subject the struggles does not align with the verb “is.” Because struggles is plural, the verb should are.

The struggles that the horse experiences while climbing the mountain are intense.

In English, irregular verbs and compound subjects make subject-verb agreement somewhat tricky. Irregular verbs, like those above, must be memorized, but compound subjects follow a simple rule—they are plural. See below for an example using the compound subject Jane and Mark.

Jane and Mark are running a marathon this month.

3.Run-on sentences — 10%

According to Grammarly’s research, run-on sentences are among the top grammar mistakes made by writers worldwide. A run-on sentence contains two or more independent clauses (a group of words that contains a subject and a verb and that can stand alone as a sentence) that are not connected with correct punctuation. Though there are different kinds of run-on sentence errors, most often writers neglect to use a comma before a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, etc.).

I enjoy writing immensely but my deadline is looming I am starting to feel overwhelmed.

I enjoy writing immensely, but my deadline is looming; I am starting to feel overwhelmed.

Each independent clause must be set apart from other independent clauses with punctuation or a comma and conjunction. Punctuation marks that are ideal for marking complete sentences are periods (full-stops), semicolons, and em dashes.

4.Comma splices — 6%

Comma splices and run-on sentences go hand in hand. In fact, all comma splices are run-on sentences.

He was very hungry, he ate a whole pizza.

He was very hungry. He ate a whole pizza.

He was very hungry, so he ate a whole pizza.

To splice means to connect or join. When a writer joins two independent sentences with a comma instead of separating them with a period or a coordinating conjunction, that’s a comma splice.

The comma has its own jobs to do, but connecting two independent sentences isn’t one of those jobs. Besides, the period gets testy when his sister, the comma, steals his thunder. Periods have their jobs, and so do commas, but never the twain shall meet—unless it’s in the form of a semicolon. Semicolons can also take the place of a coordinating conjunction, such as “and,” “but,” or “so,” among others.

John had a card for Helga but couldn’t deliver it because he was in her way.

John had a card for Helga but couldn’t deliver it because Tim was in Helga’s way.

When you use the pronouns “her” or “him,” readers need to know to whom those pronouns refer. A pronoun without a clear antecedent is ambiguous.

In our example sentence demonstrating an ambiguous pronoun, the reader is unsure who the second “he” is. Was John in the way, or was there another “he” involved? As noted in the corrected example, the pronoun “he” refers to Tim, who is card-blocking Helga. Always be sure your pronouns refer to a specific antecedent.

Additionally, 5% of respondents said that the worst error was not listed in the poll. Participants listed homophone, apostrophe, and contraction spelling errors as the most frustrating, while others cited using textspeak in professional settings and plagiarism as the most egregious writing mistakes

**Grammarly’s weekly polls are published every Wednesday and cover a range of subjects related to the state of writing, grammar, and education. You can find and participate in our most recent poll here.**

Why Do We Use the Semicolon?

By Shundalyn Allen

Kids have a reputation for asking question after question: Why is the sky blue? What makes the sun hot? What happened to the dinosaurs? These inquisitive children grow into adults. Adults have a reputation for asking more difficult questions: What is the purpose of life? What brings true happiness? What is the definition of success? Among writers, there’s another enduring question: Why do we use the semicolon? This important question will be answered today.

The History of the Semicolon

Generally, Aldus Manutius receives credit for the invention of the semicolon. Though Aldus used the symbol for different purposes than today, the legend goes that he adopted a Roman symbol of a dolphin and an anchor as his printer’s mark. It seems appropriate that the inventor of the semicolon should choose to represent himself with a symbol that means “hasten slowly.”

Why?

A couple of centuries after Aldus began using it, other writers began to use the semicolon to help with reciting poetry or prose aloud.

A reader would pause longest for a period and shortest for a comma. A semicolon indicated an intermediate pause—shorter than a period, but longer than a comma. For this reason, semicolons were sometimes referred to as “hard commas.”

Have you ever read a play or a poem aloud? Do you pause longer at semicolons than commas? If you do, you are part of a rare minority. This function of semicolons is virtually obsolete, and some people think that the other functions aren’t strong enough to keep the semicolon in play.

How Semicolons Function

Semicolons can perform a few tricks. One is to connect two related independent clauses.

I need to go to bed early tonight; my interview is early tomorrow morning.

The semicolon indicates that there is a relationship between the two statements. And it is possible that you might pause more briefly for a semicolon than for a period if you were reading the sentences aloud.

Semicolons are also handy when an overabundance of commas might cause confusion.

I prefer strawberry, peach, or banana yogurt for my smoothies; plain yogurt with meat dishes; and lemon, lime, or vanilla yogurt if I am eating it alone.

The semicolons make it easy to see the different divisions of the sentence.

Why Use Semicolons?

If you thought the above section answered this question, consider this fun fact: All of the previous semicolons could have been avoided.

For example, you can rewrite lists as separate sentences, eliminating the semicolons.

I prefer strawberry, peach, or banana yogurt for my smoothies. For meat dishes, plain yogurt is best. If I am eating the yogurt alone, my favorite flavors are lemon, lime, or vanilla.

Instead of using semicolons to connect independent clauses, you can use a conjunction.

I need to go to bed early because my interview is tomorrow morning.

Some argue that conjunctions are stronger and more precise than semicolons. For example, “because” indicates a cause-and-effect relationship between the two phrases.

I need to go to bed early if my interview is tomorrow morning.

When exactly is the interview? Here, “if” indicates uncertainty. Semicolons can’t convey the meaning that conjunctions can. In fact, they don’t carry any inherent meaning at all.

Opponents of the semicolon don’t frown on them simply because they fail to provide context. In an article on writing tips, Alan Milner suggests that news writers avoid semicolons at all costs. Good news writing is intimate, as if the journalist is talking directly to the reader. In a conversation, you need to keep your partner’s interest. According to Milner,

“Semicolons interrupt the flow of the conversation, at least in part because they usually introduce a series of subordinate clauses which is usually right around the point where the reader loses interest.”

Some writers find semicolons pretentious. The truth is, many people have no idea how to use a semicolon properly. Further, they don’t understand what semicolons do when they see them in a text. The people who do use them may seem like they are making a showy display of their smarts.

Is the Semicolon in Trouble?

In 1995, one study compared the frequency of semicolons in texts from different periods. Researchers counted almost seventy semicolons per thousand words in eighteenth-century texts. However, by the nineteenth century, the average count was down to 17.1 semicolons per thousand words. What caused this significant decline?

Blame the telegraph. The longer the message, the more it cost to send it. Apparently, punctuation cost as much as words. Brevity became a part of the culture, spreading to journalism and modern writing. The finger also points at Romanticism, an intellectual movement that favored dashes, not semicolons, in its prolific literature.

The semicolon is definitely at risk of disappearing from modern literature. Let’s compare the semicolon with a more popular counterpart. English writers use question marks to signal that a question is a question, not a statement. The question mark is straightforward, easy to use, and nearly impossible to avoid. Semicolons, on the other hand, are disposable. Some people don’t like them; other people leave them out because they don’t know how to use them. Lately, animated smiley faces have made them obsolete even in emoticons!

If you favor semicolons, you may want to do what you can to keep them around for as long as possible. Use semicolons in your writing. Review and practice how to use them correctly. Never use semicolons capriciously, or you will lend support to the argument for them to be eradicated. Teach your children how to use semicolons. Don’t assume they will learn it from school. Read books together. Discuss how punctuation and grammar help the author tell the story. Finally, encourage them to use punctuation as a tool of creative expression when they write their own stories.

Adults are asking, “Will the semicolon survive?” If semicolon use doesn’t revive, the children of the future might be asking a different question: What is this funny-looking punctuation mark that combines a comma and a period? You might not be able to explain what happened to the dinosaurs, and you may not know what the purpose of life is, but at least you know the story of the semicolon.

Hyphens and Dashes

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A hyphen (-) is a punctuation mark that’s used to join words or parts of words. It’s not interchangeable with other types of dashes.
A dash is longer than a hyphen and is commonly used to indicate a range or a pause. The most common types of dashes are the en dash (–) and the em dash (—).

The Hyphen

Some compound words, such as self-restraint are hyphenated. Numbers between twenty-five and ninety-nine should also be hyphenated when they’re spelled out. But when you’re not sure whether a compound word should have a hyphen or not, check a dictionary or style guide. Hyphenated words tend to become closed compounds (single words with no hyphens) over time. Email instead of e-mail, for example, is increasingly common.
You should also use a hyphen with a compound modifier before a noun. A compound modifier (also called a phrasal adjective) is made up of two or more words that must be understood as a unit. For example, “a big, bright hotel” does not contain a compound modifier because big and bright don’t form a unit of meaning. But “a dog-friendly hotel” does contain a compound modifier; unless you understand “dog-friendly” as a unit of meaning, the phrase doesn’t make sense. The hyphen shows the reader that the words should be taken together as a descriptor for the noun. Most often, compound modifiers are made up of an adjective plus a noun or participle. They’re also commonly composed of a noun plus a gerund.

a dog-friendly hotel
closed-door meetings
a book-loving student
an expensive, flower-filled vase (this means that the vase is expensive)
an expensive-flower-filled vase (this means that the vase is filled with expensive flowers)

But, remember, a compound modifier only needs a hyphen when it comes before a noun. If it comes after the noun, leave the hyphen out.

the hotel is dog friendly

There’s one other caveat: don’t use a hyphen when you have a compound modifier that consists of an adverb ending in -ly plus a participle or adjective. The -ly is sufficient to show that the compound is a unit of meaning.

a highly respected scientist
an extremely embarrassing Facebook post
a superbly cooked steak

When you have a compound modifier that is interrupted by some other word that’s not really part of the modifier, use a suspended hyphen:

Take a five- or ten-minute break.

Hyphens are also commonly used to divide words that fall at the end of a line of text and continue on the next line. Book and newspaper publishers still set type this way, but it’s rarely necessary to manually insert word breaks in your own writing because modern word processors automatically justify and align your text. If you do need to split a word at the end of a line, it’s best to break the word between syllables.

The En Dash

En dashes, which are about the width of an upper-case N, are often mistaken for hyphens. But, traditionally, en dashes function as a kind of super hyphen. They’re meant to give you a little extra glue when you have a compound modifier that includes a multi-word element that can’t easily be hyphenated. For example, the phrase Elvis Presley–style dance moves uses an en dash because Elvis-Presley-style dance moves is awkward; “Elvis Presley” isn’t a compound modifier, so hyphenating it looks odd. But, keep in mind, not all readers will notice en dashes or understand what they mean. Sometimes, it’s better to simply reword the phrase.

Elvis Presley–style dance moves
or: dance moves like Elvis Presley’s

pre–World War II buildings
or: buildings constructed before World War II

En dashes are also used to show ranges of numbers, such as times, page numbers, or scores (I’ll schedule you from 4:30–5:00). But, outside of formal printed publications, this type of en dash is commonly replaced with a simple hyphen.

The Em Dash

The em dash (about as wide as an uppercase M), is a relatively artistic punctuation mark, compared to the more technical hyphen and en dash. An em dash is most often used to indicate a pause in a sentence. It’s stronger than a comma, but weaker than a period or semicolon.
You can use a pair of em dashes to draw special attention to parenthetical information:

The new nurse—who was wearing the same purple scrubs as the old nurse—entered the room with a tray of Jello.

You can use a single em dash like a colon to add explanatory or amplifying information, especially when the information is surprising:

I opened the door and there she stood—my long lost sister.

Em dashes can also signal a sudden interruption, particularly in dialogue:

“Wait! I forgot to tell you—”
The door slammed shut between us and I missed whatever she was trying to say.

Whether or not you use spaces around your em dashes (word—word or word — word) is a matter of style. Whichever style you choose, use it consistently throughout your document.
Remember, em dashes are not interchangeable with hyphens. Using a single hyphen instead of an em dash can confuse readers and make your writing look unprofessional. If you’re writing text in a program or on a website where the em dash character is completely unavailable, use two hyphens together (–) to signify an em dash.

17 Everyday Words You Just Might Be Mispronouncing... And Why You Need To Stop

Claire Fallon Culture Writer, The Huffington Post

Elke Hesser via Getty Images 

There’s nothing more irritating to a pedant’s ear than someone saying “mischievious” instead of “mischievous,” and nothing more embarrassing than realizing you’ve been pronouncing the word mischievous with an extra i for your whole life. Despite the judgment we exhibit toward people who err in enunciating, we all mispronounce a word from time to time, despite our best efforts.

A recent study attempted to determine the most frequently mispronounced English words in Britain, concluding that 82 percent of Britons frequently mispronounce words. The study’s list of the most common mispronunciations included terms like prescription, espresso, and several location names. One of the locations, the railway station St. Pancras International, commissioned the study due to their frustration at the constant confusion of their name with the word pancreas.

Writers were quick to jump to the defense of their errant countrymen, arguing that mispronunciations don’t matter and have actually shaped English as we know it today. 

David Shariatmadari notes in The Guardian that former mispronunciations like "bird" (formerly "brid") have become the correct pronunciations over time. These widespread errors eventually become so pervasive that they must be deemed acceptable and added to the dictionary; these processes account in large part for why English today no longer remotely resembles Middle English. Sometimes pronunciations still commonly considered incorrect are added to dictionaries merely because the pronunciation has become ubiquitous, causing fury among prescriptivists.

Trying a different angle, also in The Guardian, Steve Poole argues that policing pronunciations, especially counter intuitive ones (he uses the example of Magdalene College in Cambridge, which is somehow pronounced "Maudlin"), enforces in-group/out-group distinctions that serve to perpetuate class and cultural divides. As he writes, "Like so many linguistic arguments, the power-struggles over correct pronunciation are most often proxies for issues of snobbery and class." And yes, that’s a valid concern.

However, just because a snobbish fixation on “the proper pronunciation” can be taken overboard, that doesn’t mean we can completely disregard the value of consistent, clear pronunciation. There’s a reason we prefer words to be pronounced the same way each time: 

It reduces barriers to understanding. Take Houston Street, a major thoroughfare in New York City. It's pronounced "How-ston," though it's spelled the same way as the large city of Houston, Texas, which is pronounced "Hyoo-ston." Accordingly, it's understandable that tourists and newcomers frequently mispronounce the name of Houston Street, and they're frequently snickered at for doing so. And sure, it might be my smug inner New Yorker (or New York resident, at least) sneering when someone refers to “Hyooston Street,” instantly marking himself as a tourist, but it also genuinely takes me a beat longer to realize the street he’s referring to than it would have if he’d pronounced it “How-ston.” Even though they’re pronouncing Houston in a perfectly logical way, my ears have become so accustomed to the New York pronunciation over the past few years that it takes me a moment to process the alternate pronunciation.

This applies to words as well as local place names with obnoxiously illogical pronunciations. While pronunciation guides often carp about common errors like espresso and prescription, these are actually unlikely to cause much confusion. The usual mispronunciations (“expresso” and “perscription,” respectively) are aurally similar to the correct ones, and there are no common near-homophones with which the mispronounced word are likely to be confused. When someone says “expresso,” we might cringe, but there’s not even a slight difficulty in understanding the word.

There are, however, some words we really need to stop mispronouncing. They’re easily confused with other words when not clearly and correctly enunciated, and you’re just sowing bewilderment behind you if you misuse them heedlessly. 

Here are 17 words you might be mispronouncing, and why you need to stop now.

Ask: David Shariatmadari, defending mispronunciations in The Guardian, notes that pronouncing ask as “aks” is a “very common, perfectly natural” error referred to as “metathesis.” But there’s already a pretty well-known word pronounced “aks,” and it refers to a hatchet-like tool or weapon. Let’s keep axes out of this.

Cache: English speakers often seem befuddled by words that end with “-che.” It’s tempting to pronounced this “cash-ay,” but that pronunciation belongs to the word cachet, which means the state of having high status or prestige. Cache is actually pronounced the same way as cash, and it means a group of items hidden in a secret storage place.

Cavalry: Cavalry, which refers to soldiers mounted on horseback, is tricky to pronounce, so it’s unsurprising that people often blur it into “cal-vary.” But Calvary is already taken -- it refers to the hill outside Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified. Avoid that whole awkward conversation by enunciating cavalry carefully.

Fiscal: We’re often tempted to toss extra vowels into words with juxtaposed consonants -- ath-a-lete instead of athlete, for example. But “fis-i-cal” isn’t just incorrect, it’s confusingly close to “physical.” For clarity, make sure you’re restricting yourself to the two-syllabled fiscal, which means pertaining to government revenues and expenditures.

Hyperbole: What? A hyper bowl?! Where?? And how can a bowl even be hyper? Oh, oh, you mean hyperbole. Yes, that’s pronounced “hy-per-ba-lee,” not “hyper-bowl.” Don’t make people struggle to understand why a bowl might be characterized as overactive or frenetic when you’re simply trying to refer to hyperbole, the literary technique of exaggerating for effect.

Irreverent: Speakers often blur the “i” and the “t” in this adjective, resulting in a much different noun: “A reverend.” Irreverent should be pronounced more like “ear-rever-ent” than “uh-rever-end.” You don’t want to accidentally refer to a singular minister when you’re trying to describe a person as showing disrespect to something or someone normally treated with respect. Is your friend Teddy irreverent, or is he a reverend? This is a pretty important distinction.

Liable: Both of those vowels after the l need to be enunciated: “li-a-ble.” It’s easy to drop the a, but then you’re saying “lie-bull,” and that’s how you pronounce another legal term: libel. When it comes to the law, it’s best to be as clear as possible: say “li-a-ble” when you mean “legally responsible” and “lie-bull” when you mean “written defamation.”

Moot: Moot, meaning “open to discussion and unlikely to come to a definite answer,” or “not of practical value to discuss,” may seem similar to mute, meaning “silent” or “not making a sound.” But they are not pronounced the same way. Moot should always be pronounced with the “moo” of a cow, not the “myu” of mute. It may seem to be a moot point, but in reality, a moot point is quite different from a mute point (which, somehow, must be made silently).

Niche: Like cache, niche should end with a soft “sh.” However, we tend to say “nitch” instead of “neesh.” Technically both pronunciations are now considered correct, but if you want your interlocutor to know that you’re referring to “a niche,” a small wall recess or a position for which someone is well-suited, and not “an itch,” an unpleasant tickling sensation that induces scratching, we recommend using the original French pronunciation.

Peremptory: Meaning “leaving no opportunity for disobedience or refusal,” peremptory is usually used to refer to a dictatorial command, and it’s correctly pronounced “per-emp-tor-y.” It’s frequently pronounced “pre-emp-tor-y,” with a careless switcharoo of the first e and r. This sounds an awful lot like preempt, and while preemptory isn’t actually the adjective form of preempt (that would be preemptive, meaning “intended to prevent or forestall a future event”), the fact that you’re now using a totally fictional word leaves your conversational partner totally at sea in interpreting this. Are you trying to say peremptory or preemptive? How are they supposed to know? Save them the trouble and say it right the first time.

Picture: Guys. It’s "pic-shur" or "pic-tchur," not “pitch-er.” This is very important, because both pictures and pitchers are items you might have lying around your house. Do you want to be handed the pitcher sitting on the table, or the picture sitting on the table? Would you like a nice framed picture for your birthday, or a lovely glass pitcher? Make sure to enunciate that hard “c” so everyone knows for sure.

Prostrate: You lie prostrate on the ground (face down on the ground), not prostate (“ gland near the bladder in male mammals). For that matter, don’t reverse them either. The two words are so close it’s common for an “r” to be dropped -- or for an extra one to slip in. But come on, they’re two entirely different words! Make sure you’re using the right number of rs, and saying the word you mean to say.

Silicon: Silicon and silicone seem like basically the same word -- they’re both materials of some sort, and there’s only one pesky e differentiating them, right? But silicon, which refers to the chemical element often used in electronics, and silicone, which refers to a rubbery compound used in non-stick cookware and breast implants, are not only different materials but have different pronunciations. Silicon, as in “Silicon Valley,” is pronounced “sill-i-con,” while silicone is pronounced “sill-i-cone.”

Specific: It’s unclear why it’s so hard to enunciate the s at the beginning of the word specific, but many people seem to skip right past it to the p. Which means that specific becomes pecific... and suddenly it sounds a lot like you’re saying pacific. Do you mean “particular” and “clearly defined,” or do you mean “peaceful”? Don’t make us guess.

Suite: Suite, a term for a group of things being used for the same purpose (usually a set of rooms), looks more like suit than sweet. But it’s pronounced like the latter, not the former. Pronounce suite as “sweet,” or people will wonder why you had to rent a suit for the wedding instead of just bringing your own to the hotel.

Tack: Like anyway, tack often suffers the indignity of having another letter just, well, tacked right onto the end. Tack is pronounced as written, not as “tact.” The word refers to a short pin or to the act of changing direction, and the latter definition most commonly suffers from mispronunciation. Because tact means the ability to deal with difficult situations without giving offense, it seems like an appropriate word to use when referring to altering your approach in conversation in order to get a better response. But the correct phrase, and pronunciation, is “changing tack,” as it was originally a metaphor drawn from sailing.

Tenet: Tenet has been so frequently mispronounced that the error has begun to plague print instances as well. Tenet, meaning a central principle or belief, has only one n and is pronounced “ten-et,” not “ten-ent.” Of course, there is a word pronounced “ten-ent” -- tenant, which refers to someone who inhabits a rented dwelling. But just to be clear, freedom of speech is not a “basic tenant of American society,” it’s a “basic tenet of American society.” 

CLARIFICATION: A previous version of this post only listed one of the correct pronunciations for the word “picture.”

Shadows and light languege

The Origins of Human Language: One of the Hardest Problems in Science

How human language began has been a question pestering researchers for centuries. One of the biggest issues with this topic is that empirical evidence is still lacking despite our great advances in technology. This lack of concrete evidence even once led to the prohibition of any future debates regarding the origins of communication by the Linguistic Society of Paris. Despite the obstacles, a number of researchers including psychologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and linguists continue on studying the topic. The results of the numerous studies on early communication can be divided into two major categories of communication: vocalizations and gestures. Here the focus is on vocalization. 

Our Hyoid Bones and Complex Brains: Part of What Helps Us Do More than Chatter Like Chimps

As spoken language is by nature impermanent, the best empirical evidence for this field of thought is the hyoid bone. This bone as it appears and functions in modern homo sapiens is only believed to be found in our predecessors, Homo heidelbergensis, as of 300,000 years ago and in our prehistoric "cousins" the Neanderthals. Nevertheless, the appearance of the Kebara 2 hyoid in both species does not definitively prove that they were set to use speech or complex language.

Bronze statue of male Homo heidelbergensis, Smithsonian Museum, Washington D.C., USA (Tim Evanson/Flickr)

That being said, the hyoid bone is believed by many researchers to be the foundation of speech for humans and without our specifically shape hyoid bones in exactly the right place, functioning alongside a precisely descended larynx, it is believed that we would sound much like chimpanzees.

Image depicting the location of the hyoid bone and larynx in a modern human (Lasaludfamiliar)

Thus, we had a nicely complex and precise throat anatomy, but alongside this part of the anatomy we also had to have sufficiently complex brains to have something to talk about. Researchers believe that our ancient ancestors had, what Noam Chomsky calls the LAD (Language Acquisition Device), the ability to learn language and to use it in a creative way. This creativity can be evinced by the art created some 300,000 to 700,000 years ago by our Paleolithic predecessors.

The oldest example of "art": the cupule and meander design at Bhimbetka, India (290,000-700,000 BC) (Collado Giraldo)

Hardware and Software in place: Ready To Begin?

Combining these two ideas, perhaps our human ancestors were all set to begin speaking (or at least making well-constructed sounds with a thought-out purpose) around 300,000 years ago. Despite this, most vocal theories say the date was much later - only 100,000 years ago when there was an increase in brain volume as well. This is a summary of the natural evolutionary acquisition of language.

Opposed to the evolutionary point of view, there is also debate on if language was a divine gift, or perhaps a conscious invention by early humans. Both of these theories are based on the complexity of human language.

The Creation of Adam (1511), Michelangelo (Wikimedia Commons)

Apart from trying to pinpoint the date, continuity, and provider of the first spoken word, another very important question which scholars have tried to explain is: What did the early ancestors say?  

The Early Theories on Vocal Language Origins: La-la, Bow-wow...

There are six principal theories that were made between the late 1800s to the early 1900s which were meant to explain the origins of the words used in vocal language. They have humorous nicknames attached which provide a hint into the idea behind the theory.

1. The Bow-Wow Theory: This theory suggests that the first words were onomatopoeic (words that use sounds associated with objects/actions they refer too) - such as hiss, bang and splash. The Bow-Wow theory has been discredited by the fact that many "onomatopoeic" words are different across languages, not really derived from natural sounds, and recently created.

2. The Ding-Dong Theory: is a theory that harmony with the natural environment created the need for language, and sound and meaning are innately connected through nature. While it is true that there are some examples of "sound symbolism" (fl- words in English associated with light and quick), studies have not been able to prove an innate connection between a sound and a words meaning.

Illustration of paleoindians hunting a glyptodon, an animal supposedly brought to extinction by the arrival of ancient humans in South America (1920) Heinrich Harder (Wikimedia Commons)

3. The Pooh-Pooh Theory: Suggests that language began with interjections (expressions such as "Ow!" "Oh!" "Ha!"). One problem with this theory is that it can be said that many animals make these/similar sounds yet they do not create other words. Another issue with the Pooh-Pooh theory is found in the lack of interjections currently found in most modern languages.

4. The Yo-He-Ho Theory: This is a theory based on the grunts and groans people make when doing heavy physical labor. While these sounds can be related to some of the rhythm of some language, it does not really explain the origins of most words.

5. The La-La Theory: Is an idea that vocal language came about through play, song, and love. A counterpoint is that the theory does not explain words that are less emotional.

6. The Ta-Ta Theory: believes that words arose from a desire to imitate gestures via the use of the tongue and mouth. For example, ta-ta would be a tongue waving goodbye. An obvious difficulty in this theory would be that many gestures could not be reproduced solely by the mouth and tongue.

Despite their drawbacks, most of these theories are still taught today as a starting point for research into the area of human speech.

Expanding on the Ding-Dong Theory:

One recent study on the iconicity of both gestures and vocalizations as the origins of language suggests that there may be something to the concept of sound symbolism. In the study conducted by Perlman, Dale, and Lupyan they asked participants to create vocalizations for 18 different meanings (such as rough, small and fast). The participants then communicated these sounds to a partner who had to guess the meaning of the "word/sound." They found that through repetition pairs were able to interpret the meanings of the vocalizations quickly and easily. Then the researchers played recordings of the vocalizations for people not present in the generation of sounds and here too they found that a higher percentage than by chance (36% correct) were able to interpret the meanings.

Conversation (1881) Camille Pissarro (Wikimedia Commons)

Evolutionary Game Theory and Protolanguage

Nowak and Krakauer are two researchers who used game theory to try to explain the origins of language. As they believed that misunderstanding would be common in early language they created a model depicting this problem which limited the number of objects that could be described. Then they tried to find out how to get past the miscommunication. Their results show that increasing sounds did not help in passing the "error limit," instead combining small sets of the sounds that could be understood created "words."
One Original Language or Many?

Another issue plaguing researchers interested in the origins of vocal language is, was there one original language or many? Looking at the diversity of languages today, the dispersion of our ancient ancestors, studying modern language acquisition, and other factors have led to hypothesis on both sides: Monogenesis and Polygenesis.

The belief that there was one original language (monogenesis) is the older of the two theories. It has been proposed by believers that language was a divine creation. Monogenesis is also the preference of supporters of the Mother Tongue Theory - associated with the Out of Africa Theory (both based on one human evolutionary origin from Africa). The polygenesis theorists go against this singular origin based on the high number of languages that are spoken today as well as the diversity of location of the early ancestors.

Route and date of migration according to the Out of Africa Theory (Wikimedia Commons)

As scholars have yet to provide concrete evidence of the first spoken word no one can be completely certain which of these theories is correct.
An Ancient Question with No Fossil Record

The fact is that we may never be able to explain definitively the origins of human vocal language. As Christine Kenneally said in her book The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language (2007):


"For all its power to wound and seduce, speech is our most ephemeral creation; it is little more than air. It exits the body as a series of puffs and dissipates quickly into the atmosphere. . . . There are no verbs preserved in amber, no ossified nouns, and no prehistorical shrieks forever spread-eagled in the lava that took them by surprise."

Featured Image: Cro-Magnon man communicating with each other and producing cave drawings (public domain).

By Alicia McDermott

References:

• Collado Giraldo, H. (2012). "Primeras manifestaciones de arte rupestrepaleolítico: el final de las certidumbres."
• D’Anastasio R, Wroe S, Tuniz C, Mancini L, Cesana DT, et al. (2013) "Micro-Biomechanics of the Kebara 2 Hyoid and Its Implications for Speech in Neanderthals." PLoS ONE Journal 8(12).
• Dessalles, J-L. (n.d.) "The Brain From Top to Bottom: The Origins of Language."
• Harrub, B., Thompson, B., Miller, D. (2003) "The Origin of Language and Communication." Available at: http://www.trueorigin.org/language01.php
• Holloway, A. (2014) "Neanderthal study reveals origin of language is far older than once thought."
• Kenneally, C. (2007) "The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language."
• Langley, L. (2015) "Bonobo "Baby Talk" Reveals Roots of Human Language."
• http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/08/150808-animals-bonobos-apes-evolution-speech/
• Nowak, M. and Krakauer, D .(1999) "The Evolution of language." Available at: http://www.pnas.org/content/96/14/8028.full
• Nordquist, R. (2015) "Where Does Language Come From? Five Theories on the Origin of Language" Available at: http://grammar.about.com/od/grammarfaq/a/Where-Does-Language-Come-From.htm
• Okrent, Arika. (n.d.) "6 Early Theories About the Origin of Language." Available at: http://mentalfloss.com/article/48631/6-early-theories-about-origin-language
• Perlman, M. (2015) "Is This How Language Evolved?" Available at: http://www.livescience.com/51766-is-this-how-language-evolved.html
• Perlman, M., Dale, R., and Lupyan, G. (2015) "Iconicity can ground the creation of vocal symbols." Royal Society of Open Science. Available at: http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/8/150152
• Vajda, E. (n.d.) "The Origin of Language." Available at: http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test1materials/origin_of_language.htm
• Whipps, H. (2008) "How the Hyoid Bone Changed History." Available at: http://www.livescience.com/7468-hyoid-bone-changed-history.html

The true meaning of Paganism

Featured image: Cernunnos,"The Horned One", ancient god of nature and fertility. (Source) 

The word "paganism" has come to refer to various pre-Christian religions belonging to a number of ancient cultures—those from Greece, Rome, Egypt, Scandinavia, and so on. 

It has come to also represent, in some circles, the modern ideology of Wicca and the followers of revived versions of the old practices.  The truth about "paganism", however, is that it is a historically inaccurate phrase in the context of these aforementioned faiths.  Although it is now the accepted term for these religions, it is important to examine where the word truly came from and what it initially meant, allowing for a better, all-inclusive understanding of the world's religious past.

The term "paganism" was revived during the Renaissance when writers were trying to differentiate the old traditions from their contemporary Christian faith. 

The term itself stems from the Latin paganus translated loosely along the lines of "country dweller" or "rustic"; thus it was initially a word describing a person of locality rather than a religion.  However, because of its usage in ancient texts, medieval authors mistakenly believed it referenced a religious sect and thereby gave it the corresponding connotation. 

In actuality, there was a different word used to describe the "pagans" as they are called today, and that word too stemmed first and foremost from thelocation of the religious supporters.

According to scholar Peter Brown of Princeton University, "Hellene" was initially utilized in place of "paganism".  "Hellene" was a reference to Ἕλλην (Hellas), the native ancient Greek name for what is now called Greece. 

Brown explains that when Christianity started making appearances in the eastern communities, "Hellene" was used to differentiate the non-Christians from the Christians.  Those from Hellas tended to remain faithful to the old religions, but with the strife between Judaism and Christianity beginning, the Jewish faction needed to ensure they were not incorrectly associated with them.  As they were not from Greece, "Hellene" became the perfect title.

An ancient temple devoted to the god Zeus. Credit: MM, Public Domain

In the Latin west, it was more common for the various religions to refer to themselves by their ethnic origins rather than by the gods they worshiped—they simply referred to themselves (in their own language) as Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, etc., simultaneously insinuating their religious factions as well.  This form of labeling was largely due to the fact that the political and religious aspects of life were a unified entity.  Thus, the tradition of ethnic titling appears to have been continued by the early Christians. 

As far as ancient sources can tell, it wasn't until the Late Roman Empire that the term "pagan" began to be used instead, as it was an easy way to lump all the non-Christians together in conversation, decrees, etc.   It rose to popularity as a matter of convenience rather than of accuracy and respect.

It is important to note that "paganism" is not intended to differentiate the polytheistic religions from the monotheistic.  The number of gods does not apply to the term because many so-called "pagans" would have not considered it important to differentiate themselves based on the number of gods they worshiped. 

Followers of the ancient religions did not necessarily have anything against Christianity based on its preference for a singular deity—many cults within each sect had a primary deity at the center of the religion, beneath which subordinate deities were also worshiped. 

"Paganism" as a title was intended only to reference the non-Christians (and the non-Jews), isolating them into one solitary category that could be more easily destroyed and replaced.

‘The Triumph of Civilization’ by Jacques Reattu (Wikimedia). Many ancient religions were polytheistic and believed in a pantheon of gods.

This effort of combining all non-Christian religions under one umbrella was, in fact, a clever strategy by the early Christians to remove the "pagan" faiths altogether. 

Using the Norse traditions as an example, the Vikings of the early medieval period had no true name for their religious following.  In truth, the word religion would have been an unknown, foreign term to them. 

The Nordic tribes preferred the word "customs" as—like the Greeks and Romans—their rituals, beliefs, and traditions were undefined and fluidly interpreted, orally passed down rather than rigidly studied.  There was no all-encompassing word for the belief in the Aesir and Vanir, and the various other beings and deities the ancient Norse worshiped, and there was no written text discussing their practices until the Christian author Snorri Sturluson wrote their mythology down in the 13^th century.

Detail of Runestone 181, in Stockholm. Norse gods Odin, Thor and Freyr are represented as three men. Credit: Berig, Wikipedia

According to Gareth Williams in Viking: Life and Legend, what is now considered the Norse religion is actually the "legacy of the Christian missionaries", their textual product a "concentrated target" that is much easier to remove and erase than the amalgamation of gods liberally worshiped.  Consolidating the various Norse—and every other "pagan"—tradition into a simplified faith with recorded rules and codes provided the early Christians with a more straightforward target to remove and replace.

Though the phrase "paganism" is widely used to describe followers of the various ancient religions, it is important to understand from where the term originates and the misconceptions behind its usage.  

Too many centuries have passed now—the word "paganism" will continue to label these supporters despite its original meaning.  But it is never too late to be informed of the origins of the term, thereby allowing a better comprehension of the history of the ancient followers.

Bibliography

• Brown, Peter. Late Antiquity: a guide to the postclassical world (Harvard University Press: Massachusetts, 1999.) s.v. "Pagan".
• Cameron, Alan G. The Last Pagans of Rome (Oxford University Press: New York, 2011.)
• Davies, Owen (2011). Paganism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press: New York, 2011.)
• Robert, P. & Scott, N. A History of Pagan Europe (Barnes & Noble Books: New York, 1995.)
• Swain, "Defending Hellenism: Philostratus, in Honour of Apollonius," in Apologetics, p. 173
• Williams, Gareth, Peter Penz, and Matthias Wemhoff. Vikings: Life and Legend (Cornell University Press: New York, 2014.)
• York, Michael. Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion (New York University Press: New York, 2003.)

By Ryan Stone

The Ancient Origins of Some Dead or Dying Languages

By Tara MacIsaac,

Language is said to be the key to understanding a culture—the medium by which the arts and ideas of a people have been passed down over generations. Many languages are dying in the modern world, and linguists strive to mine and save the cultural gems embedded therein.

Some of these languages prove particularly precious for their rarity. “Linguistic isolates” are languages that have no connection to any known language. Some, such as Korean, are spoken by large swaths of people; some, such as Kusunda in the Himalayas, are currently spoken by only about 7-8 people; some, such as the Indus script, haven’t been spoken for thousands of years.

Did these languages spring up on their own? Did they come from a remote ancestral tongue long lost from the annals of history?

Artificial Intelligence Shines Light on 4,000-Year-Old Glyphs

An example of the Indus script. (Sheldon Lee Gosline via Wikimedia Commons)

The undeciphered Indus script has long fascinated and frustrated linguists and archaeologists. Deciphering the symbols would unlock the language of an advanced civilization residing in the Indus Valley, what is now eastern Pakistan and northwest India, 4,000 years ago. This civilization was as advanced as those of the Egyptians and Mesopotamians of the time, and promises a similar wealth of anthropological treasures.

Some contend that it isn’t a language at all, that the “script” is just a bunch of symbols like those found on modern traffic signs, for example. Others say it is an ancient form of Sanskrit or that it has roots similar to the Dravidian language family (related to languages spoken in South India today).

The Egyptian hieroglyphs were deciphered with the help of the Rosetta Stone, a trilingual inscription that provided a point of comparison for the glyphs. No such aid has yet been discovered for the Indus script.

Computer scientist Rajesh Rao of the University of Washington has used computer algorithms where human analysis has fallen short. He ran several languages through a computer program for it to analyze the patterns. Then, he ran passages of the Indus script through to detect any similar patterns.

The computer couldn’t translate the language, but it provided a step in the right direction. It was able to identify potential parts of the spoken language by discerning patterns. For example, in English, there’s a certain frequency and pattern with which the word “and” appears in a passage of text. There are also other contexts in which certain words, such as place names, are likely to be repeated at certain intervals.

“Even though we can’t read it, we can look at the patterns and get the underlying grammatical structure,” Rao told Wired magazine.

Rongorongo Glyphs of Easter Island

A rongorongo tablet. (Wikimedia Commons)

Glyphs written on wooden tablets found on Easter Island have stumped linguists. It seems the residents of Easter Island may have developed this form of writing only after first encountering Europeans in 1770. Though they may have gotten the idea of writing from the Spaniards, the form bears no resemblance to any known language.

The indigenous people of Easter Island, the Rapanui, were asked by the Spaniards to sign written documents of annexation. Linguist Dr. Steven Roger Fischer, who studied the glyphs over the course of several years, said in a paper titled “Rongorongo: The Easter Island Scripts” that the Rapanui did not seem to have writing before this. The signatures on the Spanish documents seem to be imitations of the European writing rather than an existing indigenous script.

Easter Island. Source: BigStockPhoto

In 1864, Easter Island’s first non-Rapanui resident, Joseph-Eugène Eyraud (1820–1868), was the first to have observed the rongorongo script. It was inscribed on wooden tablets in every home on the island, he said, each with a seemingly sacred significance. A couple years later, nearly all the tablets were gone, he said. Fischer explained that this may have been due to the decimation of the population through smallpoxs and raids to capture slaves.

The language is thought to mix ideographs (in which symbols represent concepts) and a phonetic alphabet. Fischer has suggested that the boards contain creation chants, though some remain skeptical.

Fischer used an unusual staff with rongorongo glyphs as a sort of Rosetta Stone. The staff was inscribed with the only piece of rongorongo text that had been marked into segments by vertical lines. He was able to observe patterns, particularly the inclusion of a phallic symbol at the beginning of each section. He took this to signify “copulated with.”

He translated a line of the staff as “All the birds copulated with the fish: there issued forth the sun.” He said it is similar to a procreation chant recorded on Easter Island in 1886: “Land copulated with the fish Ruhi Paralyzer: There issued forth the sun.”

In his book, “Glyph-Breaker,” Fischer wrote of his discovery: “Easter Island’s rongorongo was speaking again at last … after 128 years of silence.”

Lost Human Language Spoken Only by Parrots

19th century Explorer Alexander von Humboldt is said to have found a parrot in Venezuela that echoed the words of its former owner—the last traces of a lost language. The parrot was in the possession of a tribe that had completely vanquished the opposing Ature tribe. With every member of the Ature tribe dead, the victors had taken many spoils, including the pet parrot. Humbolt recorded the words spoken by the parrot, the last traces of the Ature tribe, according to writer and journalist Mark Forsyth in his book “The Etymologicon.” A modern artist has trained parrots to speak the words recorded by Humboldt, perpetuating the strange role of parrots in preserving the language.

Kusunda: Linguistic Isolate of the Sub-Himalayan Region

Linguist David E. Watters of the Tribhuvan University in Nepal estimated in 2005 that there were only 7 or 8 people left who speak the linguistic isolate Kusunda. The language’s history probably predates the arrival of Tibeto-Burman and Indo-Aryan speaking peoples in the sub-Himalayan regions, he wrote in a paper titled “Notes on Kusunda Grammar.”

The last speaker was thought to have died in 1985, until three speakers were discovered in 2004.

Watters worked with these speakers to record all that he could of the dying language. He noted some interesting points of difference between Kusunda and all other languages of the region.

For example, it differs greatly in terms of phonology (how it sounds). Surrounding tribes with hunting-gathering histories like the Kusunda, “are renowned for making minute anatomical distinctions,” Watters said. Kusunda, on the other hand, is strangely lacking such distinctions. The word “gobloq” means both “heart” and “lung,” and the word “tu” means both “snake” and “bug.”

The Kusunda have been forced to intermarry with Nepalis and people from other tribes due to their own dwindling population and diminished forest land for hunting. Given the unique nature of the language, said Watters, “That Kusunda has persisted to the present day is something of a linguistic miracle.”

The article ‘The Mysterious Origins of Some Dead or Dying Languages’ was originally published on The Epoch Times and has been republished with permission.

Doppelgangers and the mythology of spirit doubles

The mythology of spirit doubles can be traced back thousands of years and was present in many cultures of the past, holding a prominent place in ancient legends, stories, artworks, and in books by various authors. Perhaps the most well-known reference to spirit doubles or ‘alter egos’ is the doppelgänger, a word still used today to refer to a person that is physically or behaviourally similar to another person.

Doppelgänger is a German word many “double goer” and refers to a wraith or apparition that cast no shadows and is a replica or double of a living person. They were generally considered as omens of bad luck or even signs of impending death – a doppelgänger seen by a person's relative or friend was said to signify that illness or danger would befall that person, while seeing one's own doppelgänger was said to be an omen of death.

Some accounts of doppelgängers, sometimes called the ‘evil twin’ suggests that they might attempt to provide advice to the person they shadow, but that this advice can be misleading or malicious. They may also attempt to plant sinister ideas in their victim’s mind or cause them great confusion. For this reason, people were advised to avoid communicating with their own doppelgänger at all costs.

One of the most famous depictions of doppelgängers comes from the 1851 sketch and 1864 watercolour called ‘How They Met Themselves’ by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. According to interpretation, two medieval lovers are walking through the woods at twilight when they encounter their doubles who glow supernaturally.  The man draws his sword in astonishment, while his lover appears to collapse in a deathly swoon. Doppelganger imagery occurred in poems Rossetti admired such as Elizabeth Barrett Browning's The Romaunt of Margaret and Poe's Silence.

How They Met Themselves, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Image source.

While Doppelgänger cases are said to be works of fiction, there are a number of real-life cases in which individuals claim to have met their sinister duo. Among the most noteworthy is Abraham Lincoln’s experience, as chronicled by Noah Brooks in his book Washington in Lincoln’s Time (1895). According to his account, soon after Lincoln was elected in 1860, he arrived home one day and looked into the bureau mirror where he saw himself reflected in double. Lincoln said, "...nearly at full length; but my face had two separate and distinct images." Lincoln noticed that although the images were nearly identical, one was "a little paler—say five shades—than the other". His wife was said to be very worried and told Lincoln she believed that the paleness of half the dual image was a bad omen, which meant that Lincoln would serve his first full term, but would not live to finish his second.

The subject of the double has a long history, particularly in literature. In Greek mythology Narcissus falls in love with his reflection, and in Gothic tales such as Edgar Allan Poe’s William Wilson (1839), James Hogg’s Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824), Elizabeth Gaskell’s The Poor Clare (1856) and even Hans Christian Andersen’s lesser-read fairy-tale The Shadow, characters are haunted and followed by their often malevolent likenesses. However, the mythology of spirit doubles have far more ancient origins.

One of the earliest references may be in the Zurvanite branch of Zoroastrianism. This sect distilled the general abstract duality of Zoroastrianism into a concept of manifest twins "born" of a monist "Time." In this cosmological model, the twins Ahura Mazda (Ormuzd) and Angra Mainyu (Ahriman) were co-eternal representatives of good and evil.

Investiture of Sassanid emperor Shapur II (center) with Mithra (left) and Ahura Mazda, ‘the good twin’ (right) at Taq-e Bostan, Iran. Source: Wikipedia

In Ancient Egyptian mythology, a ‘ka’ was a tangible "spirit double" having the same memories and feelings as the person to whom the counterpart belongs. In one Egyptian myth entitled, The Greek Princess, an Egyptian view of the Trojan War, a ka of Helen was used to mislead Paris of Troy, helping to stop the war.

Norse folklore describes entities known as vardøger, ghostly beings that preceded their living counterparts, taking their places at various activities and performing their actions in advance. The spirit with the subject's footsteps, voice, scent, or appearance and overall demeanour precedes them in a location or activity, resulting in witnesses believing they've seen or heard the actual person before the person physically arrives. This bears a subtle difference from a doppelgänger, with a less sinister connotation.

People from the Orkney Islands in Scotland feared small, fairy-like creatures called "trows". According to legend, trows would give birth to children who were apt to be sickly. Pregnant women were carefully guarded from the trows who would often steal healthy human babies and replace them with their own children, known as ‘changelings’, who would transform into exact replicas of the stolen children.

Depiction of a trow replacing a baby with a ‘changeling’. Image source.

Many Native American creation myths likewise provide for the role of dualistic twins. Hopi legends refer to the twins who were called the Child of the Sun and the Child of the Water. The Hopi also believe in duality between the Upper World and the Underworld: that whatever is happening here in the Upper World, the opposite is happening in the Underworld.

So where did belief in spirit doubles come from and is there any real truth to them? While many today still belief in the existence of a double self, some scientists believe the phenomenon occurs based on injuries or stimulation to certain parts of the brain which cause errors in spatial reasoning. Others believe it is the result of a vision, hallucination, or that we live in a parallel universe in which everything in this world in replicated in another dimension.  Whatever the real truth behind doppelgangers, belief in the spirit double has instilled both fear and wonder in people for thousands of years.

Featured image: How They Met Themselves, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, watercolor, 1864. Source: Wikipedia

By April Holloway

References:

Doppelganger - Spirit or Omen? – Gods and Monsters. Available from: http://www.gods-and-monsters.com/doppelganger.html

Doppelgänger – Princeton. Available from: https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Doppelg%C3%A4nger.html

Doppelgänger – Paranormal Encyclopaedia. Available from: http://www.paranormal-encyclopedia.com/d/doppelganger/

Doppelgänger – Encyclopaedia Britannica. Available from:  http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/169319/doppelganger

Doppelganger - Crystalinks. Available from: http://www.crystalinks.com/doppelganger.html.

- See more at: http://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/doppelgangers-and-mythology-spirit-doubles-001825#sthash.mzCMGdV1.dpuf