Discussion Groups / English Usage / July 2009

Last Revised 2009-04-18 (18 Apr 2009)
                               This page appears in our website at
                                   http://alt-usage-english.org/intro_b.shtml
                              * = recently revised

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Contents -- Intro B: Useful Web Sites for AUE Participants
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 - Where to find previous postings
 - Where to learn about ASCII IPA
 - Learning English as a Foreign Language
 - Audio Archives & Phonetics
* - Word lists
 - Dictionaries, On-line: General
 - Dictionaries, On-line: Historical and Special Purpose
 - Acronyms and abbreviations
 - Words and language
 - Grammar: Frequently Requested Topics
 - Writing and Grammar Guides On Line
 - Encyclopedias & Search Engines
 - British English; Scots
 - Black English (African-American Vernacular English, Ebonics)
 - Historical English, and English Literature

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Where to find previous postings
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you suspect your topic has already been discussed, even though it is
not in the FAQ, please check for articles, following the appropriate
search guidelines, at the Google Usenet archive, which holds articles
since approximately 1991:
  http://groups.google.com/advanced_search

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Where to learn about ASCII IPA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ASCII IPA is a way of expressing pronunciation on Usenet. It is a
version of the International Phonetic Alphabet, using only the ASCII
symbols (basic keyboard characters). There's a guide to ASCII IPA,
including illustrative sound files, at
    http://www.alt-usage-english.org/ascii_ipa_choice.html

A detailed specification of the ASCII IPA transcriptions scheme,
including tables showing the mapping to and from IPA characters,
can be found at
    http://www.kirshenbaum.net/IPA/ascii-ipa.pdf

See also "Audio Archives"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Learning English as a Foreign Language
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Good entry points to the many resources on the Web are:

English as a Second Language
  http://www.rong-chang.com/

Dave's ESL Cafe
  http://www.eslcafe.com/

The Taiwan Teacher
  http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/1979/links.html

English as 2nd Language
  http://esl.about.com/?once=true&

ESL Resources at Purdue University - covers common grammar issues
  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/

1-language.com - The Comprehensive ESL Site
  http://www.1-language.com

Paltalk chat room on "English Usage and Grammar" - listen and speak.
  http://www.paltalk.com

VOA's Special English - easy-to-read articles and sound files, too
  http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/about_our_website.cfm

BBC Learning English
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/index.shtml

Ask About English - new words, Q&A, resources
  http://askaboutenglish.blogspot.com/

See also "Writing and Grammar Guides On Line," below.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Audio Archives & Phonetics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three pages at the AUE Website with speech files and links to more:
 The a.u.e Audio Archive -- listen to speakers with varying accents
   http://alt-usage-english.org/audio_archive.shtml
 Other Sound files
   http://alt-usage-english.org/audio_archive.shtml#sundryfiles
 Audio References - more links to useful sound files
   http://alt-usage-english.org/categorized_links.shtml#audiorefs

British Library archive of English accents, esp. Northern England:
   http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/collections/dialects/

BBC Voices, collection of UK speech
   http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/

IDEA, the International Dialects of English Archive -- Large collection
of MP3 speech files from around the world.
   http://www.ku.edu/~idea/

Fonetiks -- sound clips of 6 kinds of English plus 9 other languages
   http://www.fonetiks.org/

Voice of America Pronunciation Guide - Soundfiles of proper names
   http://ibb7.ibb.gov/pronunciations/

University of Lausanne Phonetics Course -- pronouncing sounds
   http://www.unil.ch/ling/page30184.html

Speech Accent Archives
   http://classweb.gmu.edu/accent/

IPA Handbook, Univ. of Victoria - sound files for many languages
   http://web.uvic.ca/ling/resources/ipa/handbook.htm

ESL Cyber Listening Lab -- 100+ conversations with practice exercises.
   http://esl-lab.com/

Phonetics site made by University of Iowa
   http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#

UCLA Phonetics Lab -- A Course in Phonetics
   http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/index.html

~~~~~~~~~~
Word lists
~~~~~~~~~~
Brian Kelk maintains a Web page with pointers to numerous wordlists on
the net - for UK English, US English and other languages. Many are bare
lists of words but some have other info. There is also information on
word and letter frequency and on phonetic alphabets (Alpha Bravo).
  http://www.bckelk.ukfsn.org/menu.html

The Moby Project has large downloadable lists of words:  Hyphenator,
5-Language, Parts-of-Speech, Pronunciator (American), Shakespeare,
Thesaurus, and American Words.Available at www.gutenberg.org or
   http://icon.shef.ac.uk/Moby/

National Puzzlers' League: "Our Collected Wordlists" & related
http://www.puzzlers.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=solving:wordlists:the_lists

Bookmarks for Corpus-based Linguists - links to word lists and tools
  http://devoted.to/corpora

Webster's Second (1934) list of over 200,000 words
 http://www.mit.edu/afs/athena/astaff/reference/4.3network2/share/dict/

Scripps National Spelling Bee - word lists & prefix/suffix dictionary
 http://www.spellingbee.com/studyaids.shtml

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On-line dictionaries: General
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please look up simple questions of meaning and origin in a dictionary
before posting to the group. There are now several large, recent
dictionaries on-line to choose from.

Merriam-Webster Collegiate, 10th Edition, 1994. With US pronunciations.
  http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm

Concise Oxford Dictionary
  http://www.AskOxford.com/

American Heritage Dictionary -- includes Indo-European roots
  http://www.bartleby.com/61/

Collins Dictionary Lookup, plus related features
  http://www.collinslanguage.com/

Onelook, which searches over 500 dictionaries at a single stroke.
  http://www.onelook.com/

Dictionary.com, based on the American Heritage Dictionary
  http://www.dictionary.com/

Cambridge International Dictionary, also Idioms & Phrasal Verbs
  http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

Encarta World English Dictionary
  http://dictionary.msn.com/

Random House Webster's College Dictionary (no etymology)
  http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopdict.html

* Yourdictionary.com . A single lookup provides definition, synonyms, and usage examples.
  http://www.yourdictionary.com/

Word Net - includes "X is a kind of..." and "X consists of..."
   http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/~wn

Hyperdictionary -- accesses WordNet and other dictionaries
   http://www.hyperdictionary.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On-line dictionaries: Historical and Special Purpose
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language
  http://www.christiantech.com/

Webster's 1913 Revised Unabridged Dictionary
  http://humanities.uchicago.edu/forms_unrest/webster.form.html

The Century Dictionary, 1914 (12 volumes scanned):
  http://www.global-language.com/century/

The Oxford English Dictionary is available for a subscription fee:
  http://oed.com

Hobson-Jobson: Anglo-Indian Glossary, 1903
  http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/hobsonjobson/

The Jargon Lexicon, the Jargon File or New Hacker's Dictionary -
computer and hi-tech terms. Various copies on line including:
   http://www.catb.org/jargon/

Online Etymology Dictionary -- includes many placenames
   http://www.etymonline.com/

Slang dictionaries on the Web - Marius Hancu's list is here:
   http://tinyurl.com/477xj

Dictionary of Informal, Slang and Idiomatic Phrases in Spoken English
   http://www.geocities.com/informalenglish/dictindex.html

Urban Dictionary - slang defined by the general public
   http://www.urbandictionary.com/

* AlphaDictionary.com - multilingual dictionary: type a word and choose from 16 languages
   http://www.alphadictionary.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Acronyms and abbreviations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Onelook (above) finds many initialisms. Two other searchable databases:

http://www.ucc.ie/info/net/acronyms/acro.html

http://www.AcronymFinder.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Words and language
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looking for the origin of a colorful expression? The a.u.e webmaster has
arranged a combined link to the indexes of many of the sites below.
Enter your word once at the AUE Website Search field and get links to
each place the term is discussed.
    http://www.alt-usage-english.org/

The Maven's Word of the Day (formerly Jesse's)
Large archive of dictionary editor answers to word questions.
    http://tinyurl.com/yunh9

Common Errors in English -- Tips on hundreds of confusing words and
pairs such as affect/effect, adapt/adopt, advice/advise, etc.
    http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

Michael Quinion, World Wide Words -- Discusses new words and the
reappearance of old ones. Q&A section.
    http://www.worldwidewords.org/

Evan Morris, The Word Detective -- Answers questions on origins of
colorful words and phrases. Large archive.
    http://www.word-detective.com

John Lawler -- A linguistics professor gives masterful explanations of
how language really works
    http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue.html

sci.lang FAQ -- language and linguistics questions commonly asked
    http://www.zompist.com/langfaq.html

Take Our Word -- the Weekly Word-origin Webzine
    http://takeourword.com/

Wordorigins.org - Dave Wilton's Etymology Page
    http://www.wordorigins.org/

Sharp Points by Bill Walsh -- real-life copy editing dilemmas
    http://www.theslot.com/sharp.html

Atlas of North American English -- Maps and articles on regional
dialects in the US. Knowledge of basic linguistics advised.
    http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/

* Dialect Survey Maps and Results - Over 100 US regionalisms
    hthttp://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/maps.html

WordforWord - articles & forum on words & phrases
    http://www.plateaupress.com.au/wfw/wfwindex.htm

Word2Word -- links to dictionaries, translators, language sites, etc.
    http://www.word2word.com/dictionary.html

Fun with Words -- unusual words, lists of oddities, etc.
    http://rinkworks.com/words/

Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics
    http://www.wordways.com/

Double-Tongued Word Wrester -- definitions, citations of modern words
    http://www.doubletongued.org/

Science Fiction Citation Project - Help OED find words in SF literature
    http://www.jessesword.com/SF/sf_citations.shtml

The Big Apple - history of words from New York City
    http://www.barrypopik.com/

American Dialect Society ListServ - discusses words, phrases, etc.
    http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A0=ads-l

Australian Word Map - shows regionalisms
    http://www.abc.net.au/wordmap/default.htm

LinguaFranca - radio show about language. Read or listen (or both!)
    http://www.abc.net.au/rn/linguafranca/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grammar: Frequently Requested Topics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tenses in English -- learn "progressive," "continuous," etc.
  http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/tenses/tense_frames.htm

Phrasal Verbs, separable & inseparable (see also linked list)
  http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/verbs.htm#phrasal

Conjugate any English verb; other languages, too - at Verbix
  http://www.verbix.com/languages/english.shtml

Conditionals ("if I would...")
  http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/conditional2.htm

Diagramming sentences
  http://www.utexas.edu/courses/langling/e360k/handouts/diagrams/

Agreement of subject & verb. Singular/plurals.(Use "Next" & links)
  http://www.bartleby.com/68/40/240.html

Place Names with their adjectives (-an, -ian, -ese, etc.)
  http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/~ts/language/placename.html 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Writing and Grammar Guides On Line
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Guide to Grammar and Writing, by Charles Darling
  http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/index2.htm

Online English Grammar
  http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/toc.cfm

Grammar and Style Notes by Jack Lynch
  http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/

Handbook of Style, by Merriam-Webster, Inc.
  http://szotar.sztaki.hu/webster/info/index.html 

The Online English Grammar, by Anthony Hughes
  http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/toc.cfm

The Guardian Style Guide (British newspaper):
  http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/styleguide/

Bartleby -- US style guides: American Heritage Book of English
Usage, Columbia Guide to Standard American English (1993) and Strunk's
Elements of Style (1916). Also, UK: Fowler, The King's English, 1908.
  http://www.bartleby.com/

Chicago Manual of Style: FAQ and index (not the manual itself)
  http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/cmosfaq.html

English Style Guide -- recommendations from the European Commission
http://europa.eu.int/comm/translation/writing/style_guides/english/index
_en.htm

US Government Printing Office Style Manual
  http://www.gpoaccess.gov/stylemanual/index.html

The Internet Grammar of English: modern grammar (word classes, etc.)
  http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/

The Online Writing Lab at Purdue University
  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

APA Style Tips - for academic writing, bibliographies, etc.
  http://www.apastyle.org/previoustips.html

The Plain English Campaign: guides to writing letters, reports, etc.
  http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/

Garbl's Writing Resources On Line:
A descriptive list of links about writing, and a style manual
  http://garbl.home.comcast.net/writing/index.htm

Yahoo! Grammar & Usage -- A long list of sites.
http://dir.yahoo.com/Social_Science/Linguistics_and_Human_Languages/Lang
uages/Specific_Languages/English/Grammar__Usage__and_Style/

Grammar resources, listed at "English as a Second Language" website
   http://www.rong-chang.com/grammar.htm

The Writing Center, advice on academic writing
   http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Encyclopedias & Search Engines
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometimes, language questions are tied closely to history, science,
geography, and other factual matters. Web search engines such as
MetaCrawler, Google, and many others can help.

A 2004 article comparing major search engines:
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2156221

Columbia Encyclopedia, quotation guides & more searched simultaneously:
  http://www.bartleby.com/

Encarta encyclopedia - parts are accessible free of charge
  http://encarta.msn.com/

InfoPlease - encyclopedia, almanac, atlas, more
  http://www.infoplease.com/

Biographical Dictionary Search Page - an excellent quick reference
  http://www.s9.com/biography/search.html

Biography.com
  http://www.biography.com/

Dictionary of Famous People
  http://www.explore-biography.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
British English; Scots
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The American-British British-American Dictionary
  http://www.peak.org/~jeremy/dictionary/

Estuary English - recent developments in southern England
  http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/index.html

The Best of British
  http://www.effingpot.com/

English slang and colloquialisms used in the United Kingdom
  http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/

Scotsgate - info, dictionaries, links on Lowlands Scots
  http://www.scotsgate.com/

Dictionary of the Scots Language - site combines two large dictionaries
   http://www.dsl.ac.uk/dsl/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Black English (African-American Vernacular English, Ebonics)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* African American Vernacular English (Ebonics) by Jack Sidnell
  http://www.une.edu.au/langnet/definitions/aave.html

The Center for Applied Linguistics: Ebonics Information Page
  http://www.cal.org/ebonics/

John Lawler on Ebonics: a statement by linguists, bibliography & links:
  http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/ebonics.lsa.html

African-American History and Culture
  http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/blackga.htm

Characteristic Features of AAVE
  http://www.hf.ntnu.no/engelsk/staff/johannesson/111SoS/L09-O04.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Historical English, and English Literature
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Word Safari: Megalist of Word Links -- History Section:
A good starting point with links to a number of sites on the
development, grammar, pronunciation, and literature of Old English or
Anglo-Saxon (example, Beowulf) and Middle English (example, Chaucer).
  http://home.earthlink.net/~ruthpett/safari/megalist.htm#Jump3

Da Engliscan Gesidas - Anglo-Saxon (Old English). Includes sound files.
 http://www.kami.demon.co.uk/gesithas/index.html

I have not yet found a good site about "Early Modern English," but you
can use these two sites to search for your own usage examples:

Search Shakespeare sites
  http://www.rhymezone.com/shakespeare/help/
  http://the-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/   (search single plays only)

Bible Gateway - Search the Bible (King James and other versions)
  http://bible.gospelcom.net/

"Thou, Thee & Archaic Grammar" -- a brief overview by AUE members:
  http://www.alt-usage-english.org/pronoun_paradigms.html

Sites for "Modern English" literature from 1700-2000:

Bibliomania - search many classic novels and essays simultaneously
  http://www.bibliomania.com/

Mastertexts - Search 19th & early 20th c. fiction
  http://www.mastertexts.com/

Search E-Books - another literature search
  http://www.searchebooks.com/

Literaturepost.com - Google <site:literaturepost.com> to search texts
  http://www.literaturepost.com/

Making of America - many books & journals of mid-1800s
  http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/moagrp/

Amazon.com: Books / Search Inside the Book -- search text of new books!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/10197021/103-6386191-42830
24

The On-Line Books Page -- thousands of works of literature that are
available for free download & search. Includes Project Gutenberg titles.
  http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/

Google Books - large number of scanned books, although erratic quality
  http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search

University Of Virginia's Ebook Library -- searchable texts
  http://tinyurl.com/2kdjoo

Schulers Books Online
  http://schulers.com/books/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This series of seven "Intro Documents" is intended to aid newcomers to
the newsgroup. The articles are posted frequently here
and are installed at the Web site for your convenience, along with
a menu of links to the seven Intro documents.

At this site's home page you will find links to other helpful
information, including the FAQ.

Comments and corrections to these Intro documents should be emailed to
me. -- Donna Richoux