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A Usage-based Approach to Persistent Spelling Errors

  • Dominiek Sandra
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Cognitive Sociolinguistics Revisited
This chapter is in the book Cognitive Sociolinguistics Revisited

Abstract

The goal of this contribution is to demonstrate that the framework of usage-based linguistics can be applied to some aspects of written language, even though its natural habitat is spoken language. More particularly, I will apply this framework to a domain that is even peripheral in written language: spelling errors. In Dutch, confusions between the spellings of verb homophones enjoy the notorious status of being the most popular among spelling errors. I will argue that the pattern behind these errors reflects some of the basic principles underpinning the theory of usage-based linguistics, especially the importance of token and type frequency. In contrast to spoken language, where social dynamics can enhance the force of frequency factors and thus lead to language change, the prescriptive nature of spelling rules prevents the social approval of frequency-driven errors. On the contrary, in this specific context, group pressure is the cause of stigmatization. The case of these spelling errors shows that usage-based linguistics need not be confined to the study of spoken language.

Abstract

The goal of this contribution is to demonstrate that the framework of usage-based linguistics can be applied to some aspects of written language, even though its natural habitat is spoken language. More particularly, I will apply this framework to a domain that is even peripheral in written language: spelling errors. In Dutch, confusions between the spellings of verb homophones enjoy the notorious status of being the most popular among spelling errors. I will argue that the pattern behind these errors reflects some of the basic principles underpinning the theory of usage-based linguistics, especially the importance of token and type frequency. In contrast to spoken language, where social dynamics can enhance the force of frequency factors and thus lead to language change, the prescriptive nature of spelling rules prevents the social approval of frequency-driven errors. On the contrary, in this specific context, group pressure is the cause of stigmatization. The case of these spelling errors shows that usage-based linguistics need not be confined to the study of spoken language.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents VII
  3. Part I: Introduction
  4. Cognitive Sociolinguistics in the 21st Century 3
  5. Part II: Lexicology and Lexical Semantics
  6. Lexical Variation in Chinese Climbing Verb 23
  7. Elicitation of Basic PUT&TAKE Verbs – An Experimental Approach 35
  8. De Nagel or de Spijker op de Kop? 48
  9. Keywords and Onomasiology 58
  10. Digital Games as a Source of English Vocabulary for Finnish Writers 69
  11. Frame Semantics Variation 81
  12. Part III: Figurative Language
  13. Framing in American and British Governmental Discourse about Covid-19 97
  14. The Importance of Context in CMT 107
  15. Variation and Socio-cultural Embodiment in Metaphors for Social Change 117
  16. Variational Patterns of LOVE in Hungarian 127
  17. Part IV: Lectometry
  18. Profiles Visiting Procrustes 139
  19. Exploring the Use of Levenshtein Distances to Calculate the Intelligibility of Foreignaccented Speech 153
  20. Regional Variation in the Polish Discourses of Collective Memory 165
  21. Language Variation in Dialect-standard Contact Situations 175
  22. Scoring with Token-based Models 186
  23. Part V: Diachronic and Historical Research
  24. The Sociolinguistics of the Neo-Latin Word dialectus 203
  25. A Corpus-Based Approach to Conceptual History of Ancient Greek 213
  26. A Sociopragmatic Account of the se Passive in (pre-)Classical Spanish 226
  27. System and Variation in the Dutch Modals 242
  28. Indestructible Insights 251
  29. Complexity in Complementation 264
  30. Part VI: The Social Meaning of Language Variation
  31. Chinese Listeners’ Attitudes Towards Shanghai-accented Standard Chinese Across Five Regions 279
  32. Dialect Divergence at the State Border 295
  33. Cognitive Sociolinguistics in Development 310
  34. Cognitive Sociolinguistics in Northeastern Peninsular Romance Frontier Varieties 324
  35. Palatalization: Variation and Social Meaning 339
  36. Part VII: Grammatical Variation
  37. Lache, Giere, Boeie 359
  38. From Big Brother to IKEA 371
  39. Does Standardization Affect the Type of Motivating Factors that Determine Language Variation? 384
  40. Register Variation in a Cognitive (Socio)linguistics Perspective 398
  41. Intra- and Inter-textual Syntactic Priming in Original and Translated English 410
  42. Categoriality in the English Gerund System 422
  43. Part VIII: Reflections on the Field
  44. Metonymies in Sociocognitive Linguistics – a Plea for “Normal Science” 435
  45. Speakers, Languages, and Multilingual Thank You Slides 446
  46. Cognitive Sociolinguistic Studies of African English 457
  47. Through the Linguistic Silk Road 467
  48. Revisiting the Cognitive Sociolinguistic Approach to Pluricentricity 477
  49. Cognitive Sociolinguistics from the Perspective of Recontextualization 490
  50. Sacred and Profane 500
  51. Part IX: New Directions through Interdisciplinary Work
  52. Historical Cognitive Sociolinguistics 513
  53. How to Understand “Integration” in the Context of EU Migration 523
  54. Revisiting the Retranslation Hypothesis Supported by Insights in Cognitive Linguistics and Language Complexity 534
  55. Monitoring the Pretence 544
  56. Laboratory Sociolinguistics 557
  57. Guessing Words 572
  58. Changing Preferences in Cultural References 584
  59. A Usage-based Approach to Persistent Spelling Errors 596
  60. Applying Behavioural Profiles to Multimodal Discourse Analysis 606
  61. Speaker Design Goes Construction Grammar 621
  62. Index 633
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110733945-048

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents VII
  3. Part I: Introduction
  4. Cognitive Sociolinguistics in the 21st Century 3
  5. Part II: Lexicology and Lexical Semantics
  6. Lexical Variation in Chinese Climbing Verb 23
  7. Elicitation of Basic PUT&TAKE Verbs – An Experimental Approach 35
  8. De Nagel or de Spijker op de Kop? 48
  9. Keywords and Onomasiology 58
  10. Digital Games as a Source of English Vocabulary for Finnish Writers 69
  11. Frame Semantics Variation 81
  12. Part III: Figurative Language
  13. Framing in American and British Governmental Discourse about Covid-19 97
  14. The Importance of Context in CMT 107
  15. Variation and Socio-cultural Embodiment in Metaphors for Social Change 117
  16. Variational Patterns of LOVE in Hungarian 127
  17. Part IV: Lectometry
  18. Profiles Visiting Procrustes 139
  19. Exploring the Use of Levenshtein Distances to Calculate the Intelligibility of Foreignaccented Speech 153
  20. Regional Variation in the Polish Discourses of Collective Memory 165
  21. Language Variation in Dialect-standard Contact Situations 175
  22. Scoring with Token-based Models 186
  23. Part V: Diachronic and Historical Research
  24. The Sociolinguistics of the Neo-Latin Word dialectus 203
  25. A Corpus-Based Approach to Conceptual History of Ancient Greek 213
  26. A Sociopragmatic Account of the se Passive in (pre-)Classical Spanish 226
  27. System and Variation in the Dutch Modals 242
  28. Indestructible Insights 251
  29. Complexity in Complementation 264
  30. Part VI: The Social Meaning of Language Variation
  31. Chinese Listeners’ Attitudes Towards Shanghai-accented Standard Chinese Across Five Regions 279
  32. Dialect Divergence at the State Border 295
  33. Cognitive Sociolinguistics in Development 310
  34. Cognitive Sociolinguistics in Northeastern Peninsular Romance Frontier Varieties 324
  35. Palatalization: Variation and Social Meaning 339
  36. Part VII: Grammatical Variation
  37. Lache, Giere, Boeie 359
  38. From Big Brother to IKEA 371
  39. Does Standardization Affect the Type of Motivating Factors that Determine Language Variation? 384
  40. Register Variation in a Cognitive (Socio)linguistics Perspective 398
  41. Intra- and Inter-textual Syntactic Priming in Original and Translated English 410
  42. Categoriality in the English Gerund System 422
  43. Part VIII: Reflections on the Field
  44. Metonymies in Sociocognitive Linguistics – a Plea for “Normal Science” 435
  45. Speakers, Languages, and Multilingual Thank You Slides 446
  46. Cognitive Sociolinguistic Studies of African English 457
  47. Through the Linguistic Silk Road 467
  48. Revisiting the Cognitive Sociolinguistic Approach to Pluricentricity 477
  49. Cognitive Sociolinguistics from the Perspective of Recontextualization 490
  50. Sacred and Profane 500
  51. Part IX: New Directions through Interdisciplinary Work
  52. Historical Cognitive Sociolinguistics 513
  53. How to Understand “Integration” in the Context of EU Migration 523
  54. Revisiting the Retranslation Hypothesis Supported by Insights in Cognitive Linguistics and Language Complexity 534
  55. Monitoring the Pretence 544
  56. Laboratory Sociolinguistics 557
  57. Guessing Words 572
  58. Changing Preferences in Cultural References 584
  59. A Usage-based Approach to Persistent Spelling Errors 596
  60. Applying Behavioural Profiles to Multimodal Discourse Analysis 606
  61. Speaker Design Goes Construction Grammar 621
  62. Index 633
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