Intro B: Useful Web Sites for AUE Participants

Last Revised 2005-10-24 (24 Oct 2005)
A copy of this is posted at the
alt.usage.english website
http://www.alt-usage-english.org/




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
- 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 1991:
http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_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&;

ELTWEB
http://www.eltweb.com/

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 on many subjects
http://www.manythings.org/voa/voa.htm

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


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Audio Archives
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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/

Pronunciation Voice of America - 3000 soundfiles of placenames & people
http://ibb7.ibb.gov/pronunciations/

University of Lausanne Phonetics Course -- pronouncing sounds
http://www.unil.ch/ling/english/phonetique/api-eng.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/


~~~~~~~~~~
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.uklinux.net/menu.html

The Moby Project has large downloadable lists of words: Hyphenator,
5-Language, Parts-of-Speech, Pronunciator (American), Shakespeare,
Thesaurus, and American Words.
http://www.dcs.shef.ac.uk/research/ilash/Moby/

The National Puzzlers' League source of wordlists:
http://www.puzzlers.org/wordlists/dictinfo.php

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 (UK) plus related features
http://www.collins.co.uk/wordexchange/

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

The Web of On-line Dictionaries, with links to many bilingual, slang,
hobby, science, etc, dictionaries:
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/

Sirseek/Seekarific combines dictionary, spell-check, thesaurus
http://www.seekerific.com/spelling-check.asp


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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://catb.org/jargon/html/lexicon.html

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

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

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


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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)
A dictionary editor answers word questions. Large archive.
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
http://hcs.harvard.edu/~golder/dialect/maps.php

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




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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


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

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

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

Handbook of Style, by Merriam-Webster, Inc.
http://www.mae.ucsd.edu/mw/hanstyle.html

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

Style guides for British publications:
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/styleguide/
http://www.economist.com/library/styleGuide/
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,2941,00.html

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/guides.html

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/



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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. Each has its strengths
and weaknesses. For a list of 21 major search engines, go to:
http://searchenginewatch.internet.com/links/Major_Search_Engines/The_Maj
or_Search_Engines/index.html

There are also on-line encyclopedias and "reference books":

Bartleby -- search two dozen reference works simultaneously, both recent
and older. Includes Columbia Encyclopedia and quotation guides.
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/


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

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

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/

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/


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This series of seven "Intro Documents" is intended to aid newcomers to
the newsgroup. The articles are posted frequently here, and are also on
the Web for your convenience, at:

http://www.alt-usage-english.org/

At that site, you will also find our full FAQ and other helpful
information.

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

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