Mohammad Awan

Oronym

An Oronym is a group of words which sound similar to another group of words.

*edited

Example

Ice cream, I scream

Currently studying the implications of English as a global lingua franca and it’s a very interesting discussion. Below is a good set of podcasts that give a balanced overview of the subject:

Course Description
‘Britain and America,’ wrote George Bernard Shaw, ‘are two countries divided by a common language.’ That witty comment summarises the problems and complexities of English. It has ended up as a world language, the widely used language of commerce and the internet.

But today’s widespread adoption and use of English is a complex story. Grammatically it’s hard to learn, it has many variants and comes with its own history. Its global distribution is largely due to its imposition through British colonial expansion, where it became the language of authority, control and oppression. Those malign beginnings still carry resentments around the world, and continue to pose questions. Is it arrogant to expect other countries to learn it while Anglophones don’t bother to learn their languages? Or is it a good thing that we’ve found common ground in a multicultural world?

The idea of English as a global language is controversial, particularly for people in non-English-speaking countries. This learning pathway examines that controversial nature as well as its cultural and economic importance. Using text, video and audio it explores what English means to those who use it and what it means to learn English, both as a mother tongue and an additional language.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/course/g…sy/id495059946

Yet, what makes this even more interesting, especially from the viewpoint of a Muslim would be to research how Arabic achieved being a global lingua franca for the mMuslimempire, and to study the causation of its downfall in the modern world, while considering pedagogues that could be adopted to regain its past glory. Allah knows best

For those interested in the studies of pragmatics:

The four principles are:

Grice’s Maxims

1. The maxim of quantity, where one tries to be as informative as one possibly can, and gives as much information as is needed, and no more. 

    

2. The maxim of quality, where one tries to be truthful, and does not give information that is false or that is not supported by evidence.

    

3. The maxim of relation, where one tries to be relevant, and says things that are pertinent to the discussion. 

    

4. The maxim of manner, when one tries to be as clear, as brief, and as orderly as one can in what one says, and where one avoids obscurity and ambiguity.

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/dravling/grice.html