By ALTA Linguist, Wesley Cook.

We are all familiar with prefixes and suffixes in the English language, but there is a third “fix” that is rarely discussed: the infix. An infix is a part of speech that is inserted between the syllable boundaries of an existing word, such as, say, a-whole-nother thing. It’s rare for an English word to have an infix; however, they are common in Austronesian languages such as Tagalog and German. Linguists refer to the most common type of English infix as Tmesis.

In English, there are two general categories where infixes are used: chemical terminology and colloquial language. In chemical terminology, the letters for certain compounds are often placed into the center of another word. But we are far more likely to come across the second variety, and that is largely due to the influence of popular culture icons such as Snoop Dogg and Ned Flanders.

Like Shakespeare before him (I exaggerate), American hip-hop artist, Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr (aka Snoop Dogg) has introduced many new words to the English language. Several of those words use tmesis. Here are just a few of my personal favorites: Hizouse, Crizazy, Shiznit, and 40 ouncizzles.

Ned Flanders, Homer’s straight-laced neighbor in The Simpsons, and another sensei of slang for American popular culture, has also broadened the reach of tmesis with his trademark use of “diddly”, as in hi-diddly-do neighbor, and well-diddly-elcome.

There is also another commonly-used linguistic cousin of tmesis in English. Some of the examples here might be offensive, so if your reading this blog post out loud near any children, earmuffs might be in order. The use of a curse word as an infix used to be the primary way that English speakers used tmesis, before the pioneers Flanders and Dogg came on the scene. Common examples of this are unfuckingbelievable and fanfuckingtastic. Because with unfuckingbelievable, the insertion is not an affix, but an actual word, linguists felt the need to differentiate between traditional tmesis and what they call expletive infixation.

If you can think of other good examples of English tmesis or expletive infixation, feel free to drop a comment!

The issue of linguistic diversity is enmeshed in political debates ranging in topic from global economics to post-colonial nationalism. A common thread that runs through these discussions is the explosive growth of English language use over the last century.

The position of English today is truly unique; no language has ever been spoken by so many people in so many countries before. But, what does that mean for linguistic diversity? Does the rise of English necessarily spell doom for other languages?

Journalist, Christine Kenneally, recently wrote an excellent piece titled, How to Talk About English in English that explores the question.

Here is a brief excerpt to wet your whistle:

…The complicated reality of English today is obscured by simple storytelling in which it is the only main character. For example, the accelerating decline of languages all over the world is typically attributed to the global dominance of English. Yet linguist David Graddol says that the loss of linguistic diversity in the world began even before English became a powerhouse. According to Graddol, “the entire world language system is restructuring,” and English should be viewed as a player in this scenario, not the cause of it. Indeed, there is evidence that the widespread use of English actually boosts the growth of other languages. As English becomes a basic skill shared by all, the competitive edge it used to offer is lost, and other languages must be learned to gain an advantage. Finally, even though the global spread of a single language is an unprecedented phenomenon in the history of all language, English may ultimately be just the first instance of this: Mandarin and Spanish are beginning to dominate in different regions, and Arabic is currently the world’s fastest-growing tongue.

AIDS Walk Atlanta is the Southeast’s largest fundraising event to help raise awareness and provide support services for people living with HIV and AIDS. ALTA’s team has raised over $2000.00 so far, and the walk is this coming Sunday, October 19th.

If you can help, or if you just want to learn more about the event, please visit ALTA’s Team page:

18th Annual AIDS Walk Atlanta ALTA Team Page

Have a great weekend!

Beyond Words is happy to celebrate our first International Translation Day!

September 30th — the feast-day of St. Jerome, patron saint of translators, was originally instituted as Translation Day by UNESCO, upon the request of the International Federation of Translators (FIT), twenty years ago.

Cheers to all of the translators, interpreters, and linguists whose hard work renders our world into a more meaningful place.