Chris C Palmer | Kennesaw State University (original) (raw)

Books by Chris C Palmer

Routledge, 2022

Teaching English Language Variation in the Global Classroom offers researchers and teachers metho... more Teaching English Language Variation in the Global Classroom offers researchers and teachers methods for instructing students on the diversity of the English language on a global scale. A complement to Devereaux and Palmer's Teaching Language Variation in the Classroom, this collection provides real-world, classroom-tested strategies for teaching English language variation in a variety of contexts and countries, and with a variety of language learners. Each chapter balances theory with discussions of curriculum and lesson planning to address how to effectively teach in global classrooms with approaches based on English language variation. With lessons and examples from five continents, the volume covers recent debates on many pedagogical topics, including standardization, stereotyping, code-switching, translanguaging, translation, identity, ideology, empathy, and post-colonial and critical theoretical approaches. The array of pedagogical strategies, accessible linguistic research, clear methods, and resources provided makes it an essential volume for pre-service and in-service teachers, graduate students, and scholars in courses on TESOL, EFL, World/Global Englishes, English as a Medium of Instruction, and Applied Linguistics.

MLA, 2019

The study of the history of the English language (HEL) encompasses a broad sweep of time and spac... more The study of the history of the English language (HEL) encompasses a broad sweep of time and space, reaching back to the fifth century and around the globe. Further, the language has always varied from place to place and continues to evolve today. Instructors face the challenge of fitting this vast subject into one semester of study and the challenge of engaging students with unfamiliar material and techniques. This volume guides instructors in choosing among many possibilities to design an HEL course to match their own interests and institutions.

The essays consider what subjects of HEL to include, how to organize the course, and what textbook to assign. They offer historical approaches and those that are not structured by chronology. Sample assignments provide opportunities for students to conduct original research, work with archives and digital resources, and investigate language in their communities. The essays also help them question notions of linguistic correctness.

Routledge, Jan 2019

Bringing together the varied and multifaceted expertise of teachers and linguists in one accessib... more Bringing together the varied and multifaceted expertise of teachers and linguists in one accessible volume, this book presents practical tools, grounded in cutting-edge research, for teaching about language and language diversity in the ELA classroom. By demonstrating practical ways teachers can implement research-driven linguistic concepts in their own teaching environment, each chapter offers real-world lessons as well as clear methods for instructing students on the diversity of language. Written for pre-service and in-service teachers, this book includes easy-to-use lesson plans, pedagogical strategies and activities, as well as a wealth of resources carefully designed to optimize student comprehension of language variation.

Papers by Chris C Palmer

Across the Disciplines, 2024

The flowing of rivers is a common metaphor for language diversity within historical studies of En... more The flowing of rivers is a common metaphor for language diversity within historical studies of English. A confluence occurs when two rivers, like languages, come together, often in powerful and surprising ways. This metaphor can also extend beyond the specific topic of language diversity to describe the innovation that occurs when we challenge our disciplinary assumptions—when we scout other fields and dive into other bodies of scholarship. We see the confluence of writing studies and the history of the English language (HEL) as an underexamined area needing additional exploration and mapping. This double special issue extends the historical scope of writing studies broadly—including composition studies, creative writing, WAC/WID, and related subdisciplines—to account for these fields’ cross-currents with HEL. Examining these confluences can yield dynamic and innovative insights, including situating “proper English” as a social and historical construct, illuminating the ideological roots of emphasizing English in writing classrooms, and broadening understandings of the roots of writing practices in various institutional and professional contexts within and outside university halls.

Languages, 2024

Ecological models of competition have provided great explanatory power regarding synonymy in deri... more Ecological models of competition have provided great explanatory power regarding synonymy in derivational morphology. Competition models of this type have certainly shown their utility, as they have demonstrated, among other things, the relevance of frequency measures, productivity, compositionality and analyzability when comparing the development of morphological constructions. There has been less consideration of alternative models that could be used to describe the historical co-development of suffixes that produce words with sometimes similar forms or meanings but are not inevitably or solely in competition. The symbiotic model proposed in this article may help answer larger questions in linguistics, such as how best to analyze certain multilingual morphological phenomena, including the emergence of semantically similar forms within the same language. The present study demonstrates the importance of a diachronic approach in situations of near-synonymy, as an understanding of semantic similarity necessitates a review of the available historical record. In particular, our study focuses on the case of the suffix -eer (e.g., marketeer) in English, analyzing its origins, semantics, compositionality, and historical development, including its symbiotic relationship to the similar suffix -er (e.g., marketer).

Languages, Mar 14, 2024

American Speech, 2021

In this article, we first present motivations for implementing a pandialectal curriculum in an Am... more In this article, we first present motivations for implementing a pandialectal curriculum in an American high school English class. A "pandialectal" approach does not center on a single dialect of English but rather encourages explorations of language variation and English communication in multiple global cultural contexts. An overview of the curriculum and examples of student work are provided to illustrate three primary unit objectives that target critical thinking about (1) American versus other global dialects; (2) language and power, culture, and identity; and (3) English as a lingua franca. Considerations of teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic and use of teleschool and digital platforms for learning are addressed. Next, we reflect on teaching practices and student responses to the course materials to demonstrate different students’ learning arcs. The article concludes with key takeaways and recommendations for integrating pandialectal content into high school curricula.

Teaching the History of the English Language, 2019

This chapter introduces important issues to consider for those preparing to teach a course on the... more This chapter introduces important issues to consider for those preparing to teach a course on the history of the English language. It also provides an overview of the various chapters in the MLA book, Teaching the History of the English Language.

(with Elan D. Louis) Human beings have been shaking for millennia, and among the tremor disorder... more (with Elan D. Louis)

Human beings have been shaking for millennia, and among the tremor disorders, essential tremor is the most common. The original usage of the curious word essential in this particular disease context has been the focus of prior historical study. The word essential was used towards the end of the 19th century in order to indicate a medical diathesis that was often familial and occurred in isolation from other neurologic signs. However, the historical origins of the English word tremor and its related verb tremble are a different matter and, to our knowledge, have not been considered previously. Furthermore, earlier English speakers' choice of these particular words and sound combinations to describe shaking has not been explored. In this collaboration between a neurologist and a historical linguist, we study the etymology (i.e., origins and first recorded usages), historical usage patterns, and phonology (i.e., sounds) of the words tremor and tremble in English. Also, we thread into this discussion considerations of semantics (i.e., lexical meaning). Our goal is to enhance our understanding of the historical origins, development, and meaning of medical terminology commonly used in clinical practice.

This article examines the issue of whether linguistics is better suited for a face-to-face (F2F... more This article examines the issue of whether linguistics is better suited for a face-to-face (F2F) environment than an online teaching environment. Specifically, it examines assessment scores and student perceptions of the effectiveness of an introductory linguistics course at an undergraduate state university that has been taught multiple times in both online and F2F modes. To study this issue data was collected about the types of students enrolled in either version of the course, including their GPAs and course grades. A survey with both closed- and open-ended questions was also used to ask students about their experiences and perceptions of the two environments. Students responded to questions on factors such as procrastination, engagement with socially sensitive discussion topics, preferences for discussion modality, and motivations for course enrollment. Results of the data problematize the notion that linguistics (and perhaps other disciplines) is equally suited for an online and F2F environment since students fare better academically and engage more with the F2F linguistics course. Results also show that students with higher GPAs gravitate toward F2F classes. Regarding the course itself, convenience is the primary category that students consistently noted as a reason for selecting the online linguistics course versus its F2F counterpart. Even so, results do show some effectiveness in treating linguistic content online. Suggestions and strategies are offered to further strengthen online delivery of linguistic material to overcome some of the structural hurdles presented by student enrollment patterns and (dis)engagement.

Studies in the History of the English Language VI: Evidence and Method in Histories of English, 2015

Phrasal verbs, such as "run up" in "They always run up our electric bill," have long been of inte... more Phrasal verbs, such as "run up" in "They always run up our electric bill," have long been of interest to researchers of English linguistics. Scholars have been particularly focused on the definition and categorization of these multi-word items, as well as their grammatical, pragmatic, and semantic functions. Additionally, phrasal verbs have been examined historically, and recently corpus methods have been used to begin investigating phrasal verb frequency and patterns of variation across registers. But few studies have combined diachronic and register-based approaches to analyze the development of the phrasal verb in American English.

This study uses large, monitor corpora--The Corpus of Historical American English (CoHA) and The Corpus of Contemporary American English (CoCA)--to investigate diachronic trends in the development of selected phrasal verbs. Our investigation follows two lines of inquiry. In the first, we present an overview of the development of phrasal verbs in the last two hundred years. Our analysis begins with historical trends in the use of the most common adverbial particles, including their varied uses in different registers. In the second part of our investigation, we present a case study of the most frequent phrasal verb (pick up). This case study explores how the usage of a transitive phrasal verb is influenced by the histories of the nouns that function as its objects (how "phone" impacts the use of "pick up," for example). One set of data, therefore, provides a global view of developmental trends focusing on the adverbial particles, the other a close look at some of the grammatical, semantic and sociolinguistic forces that can influence the histories of specific phrasal verbs.

From these data, we discover that particular registers--fiction, most particularly--have contributed to the bulk of growth in phrasal verbs in American English. But unlike many previous studies, we do not find unimpeded growth in phrasal verb usage: there seems to be a plateau in phrasal verb frequency after the 1940s. We emphasize that such trends are observable only by consulting large, continuous corpora, rather than by aggregating smaller, disparate studies of different historical corpora. Finally, we argue that changes in the frequency and semantics of phrasal verbs are due, in part, to changes in culture--especially fashion and technology--and the nouns associated with these cultural changes.

English Language and Linguistics, Mar 2015

Much scholarship on morphological productivity has focused on measures such as hapax legomena, si... more Much scholarship on morphological productivity has focused on measures such as hapax legomena, single occurrences of derivatives in large corpora, to compare and contrast the varying productivities of English affixes. But the small size of historical corpora has often limited the usefulness of such measures in diachronic analysis. Examining letters from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in the Corpus of Early English Correspondence, this article advances a multifaceted approach to assessing historical changes in nominal suffixation in English. It adapts methodologies from work on morphological productivity in contemporary language – in particular, measures of base and derivative ratios from Hay & Baayen (2002) – to provide quantitative and qualitative descriptions of changes in the productivity of native -ness and borrowed -ity, -cion, -age and -ment in Early Modern English. Ultimately, the study argues that diachronic productivity is best evaluated with a multifactor analysis, including measures of suffixal decomposability, aggregation of new derivatives and evidence of hybridization. It also suggests that increased use of neologisms with borrowed suffixes in Early Modern English might be explained by the increasing transparency of these suffixes in derivatives during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Token: A Journal of English Linguistics, 2013

Sociolinguistic variables, such as gender, help nuance historical claims about language change by... more Sociolinguistic variables, such as gender, help nuance historical claims about language change by identifying which subsets of speakers either lead or lag in the use of different linguistic variants. But at present, scholars of historical sociolinguistics have focused primarily on syntax and inflectional morphology, often leaving derivational morphology unexplored. To fill this gap in part, this paper presents a case study of men’s and women’s use of five different nominal suffixes- ‑ness, ‑ity, -age, -ment, and –cion- within the fifteenth and sixteenth century portions of the Corpus of Early English Correspondence. This study finds that men led women in the use of derivatives ending in some suffixes (-cion and ‑ment), while women generally led men in the use of -ity. Discovering that different suffixes likely have different histories that depend, in part, on social variables, the paper argues that additional synchronic and diachronic studies of derivational morphology and social variation are needed.

Even though many studies of historical morphology have described trends and changes in the produc... more Even though many studies of historical morphology have described trends and changes in the productivity of borrowed suffixes in English, such as-able,-age,-ance,-ity,-cion,-ment and-ous, few studies have been able to illustrate how borrowed suffixes initially came to be perceived by speakers as independent, productive units. This study aims to identify and analyze two types of textual evidence – so-called base paradigms and suffix paradigms – to demonstrate how and when English writers and readers might have perceived the endings of borrowings as analyzable, detachable suffixes. Textual examples are selected from a variety of fourteenth-through sixteenth-century registers, including guild records, early English Biblical discourse, medical writing, and personal correspondence.

This dissertation examines how borrowed derivational morphemes such as -age, -ity, -cion, and -me... more This dissertation examines how borrowed derivational morphemes such as -age, -ity, -cion, and -ment became productive in the English language, particularly in the
fourteenth through sixteenth centuries. It endeavors to expand our current understanding of morphological productivity as a historical phenomenon--to account for not only aggregate quantitative measures of the products of morphological processes, but also some of the linguistic mechanisms that made those processes more productive for language users. Judgments about the productivity of different suffixes in the late ME period cannot be made on counts of frequency alone, since the vast majority of uses were not neologisms or newly coined hybrid forms but rather borrowings from Latin and French. It is not immediately clear to the historical linguist if Middle English speakers perceived a derivative such as enformacion as an undecomposable word or as a morphologically complex word. By examining usage patterns of these derivatives in guild records, the Wycliffite Bible, end-rhymed poetry, medical texts, and personal correspondence, this project argues that several mechanisms helped contribute to the increased transparency and perceived productivity of these affixes. These mechanisms include the following: the use of rhetorical sequences of derivatives with the same base or derivatives ending in the same suffix; the frequent use of derivatives as end rhymes in poetry; the lexical variety of derivatives ending in the same suffix; and the more frequent use of certain bases compared to their derivatives. All of these textual and linguistic features increased readers' and listeners' ability to analyze borrowed derivatives as suffixed words. Ultimately, the dissertation finds that several borrowed affixes were seen as potentially productive units of language in the late ME period, though some were seen as more productive than others in different discourses and contexts. It also emphasizes the value of register studies for understanding the specific motivations for the use of borrowed derivatives in different discourses, as well as the morphological consequences of salient usage patterns within different registers.

Studies in the History of the English Language IV: Empirical and Analytical Advances in the Study of English Language Change, 2008

This study compares the use of native nominal affixes (-ness, -ship, -hood) with borrowed, potent... more This study compares the use of native nominal affixes (-ness, -ship, -hood) with borrowed, potential affixes (-cion, -ance, -ity, -age, -ment) throughout the English portions of the multilingual (French, Latin, English) records of the London Goldsmiths and Grocers of the early fifteenth century. Attempting to locate evidence of the naturalization of these forms--the process by which these endings become derivational morphemes in the general English lexicon--the paper develops the notion of local productivity. This measure combines both quantitative and qualitative data to show that, even in smaller corpora, historical linguists can find evidence of the morphological status of different potential affixes for communities within particular historical moments.

Corpus-based Studies of Diachronic English, 2006

Book Reviews by Chris C Palmer

American Speech, 2017

A review of *Bad English: A History of Linguistic Aggravation*, by Ammon Shea.

A review of Tanja Säily's book *Sociolinguistic variation in English derivational productivity: S... more A review of Tanja Säily's book *Sociolinguistic variation in English derivational productivity: Studies and methods in diachronic corpus linguistics*

English Language and Linguistics / Volume 19 / Issue 03 / November 2015, pp 552-557

English for Specific Purposes, 2003