Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2008 February 5

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February 5

Full Stops and Direct Speech

Hi, just wondering if someone would be able to tell me which of the following sentences is correct:

"Are you going to the movies tomorrow?" asked Bob, "Remember the money is due tomorrow."

"Are you going to the movies tomorrow?" asked Bob. "Remember the money is due tomorrow."

I know that normally there is a comma/quotation mark used (someone said, "blah blah") but the capital R seems to indicate that there is a new sentence, which would warrant a full stop. I came across this question in a quiz and have been told that there is only one correct answer (which I do not know yet) and it's been on my mind ever since. Can someone give me a hand figuring it out. Thanks Guycalledryan (talk) 00:08, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

Your analysis is correct. Since remember begins a new sentence, it is capitalized, and a full stop is needed after Bob. Deor (talk) 00:23, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

Yoshiko

What is the most common kanji spelling for the Japanese female name Yoshiko? --Candy-Panda (talk) 08:38, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

吉子? --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 09:01, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

美子 or 良子? Here is the top 10 names for girls by year. Oda Mari (talk) 10:35, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

Or maybe 佳子. Oda Mari (talk) 09:07, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

Bear in mind, though, that many parents these days do not give kanji to their children's names, so it would not be a surprise to see よし子 or even よしこ, though the latter (with no kanji) is quite rare.--ChokinBako (talk) 03:20, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

Enlglish language/influence of pidgin english on student's performance

82.128.18.158 (talk) 21:31, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

Do you have a question? The reference desk is not a search engine. Pidgin English might have some information that would help you. -Elmer Clark (talk) 22:30, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

I hardly think so, having seen that article. Would not the questioner's heading imply that he would like to know what "influence of pidgin english on student's performance" there is, if any? This leads to such subjects as Language politics and Study skills, which, however, seem less than helpful. Bessel Dekker (talk) 02:13, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

It might be useful to bring in Bourdieu's concept of habitus here. I hope I am putting it correctly when saying that this involves a number of previously acquired attitudes and skills, language being one of them. Now if a student equipped with a non-standard habitus enters an educational institution, he or she may be thought to be lacking in certain skills. At the same time, he may possess alternative (linguistic and non-linguistic) skills which go unnoticed: they are "invisible" to the institution. Obviously, pidgin and, perhaps more significantly, creole may correlate with such invisible skills. Thus, a student's primary language may well have an influence on his performance (as may his native tongue). Bessel Dekker (talk) 14:51, 10 February 2008 (UTC)