Tag: covid-19

Fighting Covid-19 with Language Diversity

Li Peng

It is already in November and the State of Emergency was declared again for the whole Province of Nova Scotia. This is the 19th time since the outbreak of Covid-19 in February in Canada. Languages related to this pandemic have already penetrated our everyday life. Here is a picture I took in March this year. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), some of the expressions have become increasingly used and extensively known around the globe, such as Covid-19 and coronavirus, which were not historically part of the basic vocabulary. As time went by, the most frequently used words by us have changed, from “coronavirus” and “self-isolate”/ “social distancing” in February and March, to “mask”, “frontliner”, “telemedicine”/ “telehealth”, and “Zoom” from April to June (OED, 2020). We can see there was a shift from the virus itself to social responses.

Note: Covid-19 flyers distributed in March in Nova Scotia

At the very beginning of the pandemic, two things are of great urgency: (a) to spread the knowledge on coronavirus and prevention methods to the public; (b) to send medical supplies to countries in need. Both parts needed support from languages. Though Canada is a bilingual country by institutions, I have not seen any French leaflets in Halifax, which is an English dominant city. There is no doubt that we need this information in different languages. Take China for example, because this pandemic first broke out across the whole country among tens of thousands of populations within China, Beijing urged local governments to ensure medical prevention measures and guarantee policies could be delivered from cities to rural areas. The health information was available in different languages through words, audio and/or videos in ethnic minority communities. For instance, at least four languages of rTau, Minyak, Shili rGyalrong, and Khroskyabs were presented in western Sichuan Province (Lha, 2020). The Gansu Province also published bilingual recourses, and they offered this information through broadcasting, television, WeChat, internet, and visiting rural households. Besides being familiar with the importance of wearing a mask and washing hands, local people showed their appreciation more for their local linguistic diversity. Some people, however, criticized the languages used in the videos as weird and unnatural, and that the information should have been provided much earlier with the latest data and alerts, and the treatment or cure (Li, 2020). Personally speaking, I am optimistic how dialects and language varieties help to build solidarity with local residents and understand the medical information.

Note: Bilingual health dialogue in Putonghua and Hubei Mandarin (Li, 2020)

I remember that in February Chinese netizens were all impressed by Japan’s donation of medical supplies with a cover of Chinese classical verses. These Chinese poems, including 山川异域 风月同天 (translation: although hills’ n rills set us apart, the moon and wind share our kind heart) and 岂曰无衣 与子同裳 (translation: together we stand, my armors thine), greatly cheered Chinese people up at their hardest time, “We feel so very warm, especially with the traditional Chinese poetry.” (Zheng, 2020) Languages have built a bridge for us in this pandemic period and we have a stronger feeling that we are an interrelated community of shared future. Does language unite us to fight against Covid-19? Or more linguistic and social inequality has been created instead?

Note: Covid-19 medical supplies from Japan with Chinese classical verse of “山川异域 风月同天 (translation: although hills’ n rills set us apart, the moon and wind share our kind heart)”

References:

Li, J. (2020, March 4). Coronavirus meets linguistic diversity. Language on the Move. https://www.languageonthemove.com/coronavirus-meets-linguistic-diversity/

Lha, Y. (2020, February 17). Fighting the coronavirus in local languages. Language on the Move. https://www.languageonthemove.com/fighting-the-coronavirus-in-local-languages/

Oxford English Dictionary (OED). (2020, April 15). Corpus analysis of the language of Covid-19. https://public.oed.com/blog/corpus-analysis-of-the-language-of-covid-19/

Oxford English Dictionary (OED). (2020, July 15). Using corpora to track the language of covid-19: Update 2. https://public.oed.com/blog/using-corpora-to-track-the-language-of-covid-19-update-2/

The Government of Nova Scotia. (2020, November 17). Schedule “A”: Renewal of provincial state of emergency by Minister. https://novascotia.ca/coronavirus/docs/Renewal-of-Provincial-State-of-Emergency-Nov-29-Dec-13.pdf

The National Ethnic Affairs Commission of the People’s Republic of China. Bilingual epidemic prevention and control publicity carried out in ethnic areas of Gansu Province [甘肃省民族地区开展双语疫情防控宣传]. https://www.neac.gov.cn/seac/xwzx/202002/1139580.shtml

Zheng, H. G. (2020, February 11). Xinhua international commentary: “Hills’ n rills set us apart, the moon and wind share our kind heart” adds warmth of helping and supporting each other [新华国际时评：“风月同天”增添守望相助的暖意]. Xinhuanet. http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2020-02/11/c_1125559832.htm

Pandemic Language Shift

By Hannah Southwood

Van Herk (2018) explores how language changes based on place, social status and time. These three topics are entering a new phase experienced at more or less the same time due to the coronavirus pandemic. Two examples given by Van Herk (2018) explore the physical isolation of both Newfoundland English and Québec French. In both cases the languages were ‘cut off’ from the rest of the developing groups, both keeping some of the old language features.

We see the opposite happening on a global scale as business meetings and classes are taken online. Regardless of place, social status or time, similar words and phrases are becoming a part of our everyday vocabulary and understood across the globe. Some of these terms and phrases existed well before the pandemic, but because of their use are now common terms we associate with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here is a list of English medical terms and phrases that are commonplace now:

  • Physical & Social Distancing
  • Flatten the Curve
  • Epidemic & Pandemic
  • Respirator & Ventilator
  • Isolation & Quarantine
  • Asymptomatic
  • Contact tracing
  • Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Here is a list of new terms and phrases in English:

  • Zoom Fatigue
  • Let’s Zoom
  • Covid bubble
  • Learning Pod or Class Bubble
  • Elbow bump
  • Blursday
  • Covidiot
  • New normal

Here are a few examples in other languages and their explanations:

  • Geisterspiel (German) for no fans in the stadium
  • Coronaspeck (German) for getting fat during covid
  • Quatorzaine (French) for 14-days of isolation

As you can see, unlike languages being cut off from others, here in our digital age with social media as a driving force, old words and phrases become ‘new’, important and forever associated with COVID-19. Newer words and phrases to deal with and explain the new normal will forever be in our vocabularies, pulling them out when needed and knowing others understand. I personally will continue using the word “blursday” because sometimes days blur together even without a pandemic.

Are there any new words or phrases I missed? Please leave them in the comments below.

References

Do you speak corona? A guide to covid-19 slang. (n.d.). The Economist. Retrieved November 6, 2020, from https://www.economist.com/1843/2020/04/08/do-you-speak-corona-a-guide-to-covid-19-slang

Jackson, P. (2020, April 14). Language of a pandemic: A glossary of commonly used words and phrases related to COVID-19. Thetelegram.com. https://www.thetelegram.com/news/local/language-of-a-pandemic-an-glossary-of-commonly-used-words-and-phrases-related-to-covid-19-437420/

Lawson, R. (n.d.). Coronavirus has led to an explosion of new words and phrases – and that helps us cope. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-has-led-to-an-explosion-of-new-words-and-phrases-and-that-helps-us-cope-136909

‌New words list April 2020. (n.d.). Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved November 6, 2020, from https://public.oed.com/updates/new-words-list-april-2020/

The Coronavirus Slang Words That Are Defining This Outbreak. (n.d.). Dictionary.com. Retrieved November 6, 2020, from https://www.dictionary.com/e/s/new-words-we-created-because-of-coronavirus/#1

Van Herk, G. (2018). What is sociolinguistics? (Second, Ser. Linguistics in the world). John Wiley & Sons.

Welcome to the third (2020) edition of the Educational Sociolinguistics class blog!

I’m very happy to be the instructor for this course – giving me the opportunity to launch this third edition of the class blog. Thanks and a nod to Alison Crump, who envisioned and created this blog back in 2016, and Mela Sarkar who carried on the tradition in 2019. And thanks for your baton-passing post, Mela! Both Alison and Mela are contributing members of our BILD research community (Mela’s brainchild) which has its own blog and an online, peer edited journal (Alison is co-editor). I encourage you to visit the links to these sites for more interactive discussions about all things sociolinguistic. And if you haven’t already (it was assigned reading for our first class!), be sure to read Alison’s research article about blogging as pedagogy (a.k.a. this blog site).  

As we are currently living through the Covid-19 pandemic, my sociolinguistic noticing often involves issues related to the current crisis. I want to share a youtube video with you that was sent around in our department at the end of March. At that time, our (Canadian) medical experts were not advising ‘masks for all’ – although masks were suggested or required in specific situations/locations such as on airplanes and in hospitals.

Since then, wearing masks in public has been mandated in Quebec and across the country.  

This video impressed me for a number of reasons, apart from the very clear and compelling message, and I can spin some of these as sociolinguistic: 

1. The register of this message. (Why did I find the delivery of this message so compelling and appropriate?)

2. The clarity of this message in English, by an ESL speaker. (Why do I think the speaker in the video learned English as a second/foreign/additional language?)

3. What type of speech act or event would you categorize this as?

We have only had one class together so far, but I already have an inkling of the rich language-related experiences that the class brings, and intellectual and creative thinking that this class is capable of. I look forward to being inspired by your blog postings over this term.

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