Language eruption

This article from The Boston Globe discusses how the Iceland volcano has spurred many conversations about language because of its name, Eyjafjallajökull. All kinds of reporters, including bloggers, have been trying to teach the public how to pronounce this word. But even reporters cannot get it right, and they often pronounce it differently from one another. Now, jokes are being made from people’s inability to spell or say the word.

However, other natural disasters have caused this same kind of conversation. For example, a volcano erupted in San Juan Parangaricutrio, Mexico. Then, a song was made out of it with the title, “Parangaricutirimicuaro.”

Also, the Iceland volcano has made people start using other words that have to do with a volcano. There is “phreatoplinian,” “jökulhlaup,” “flammivomous,” and “plume.” Commentators are also making jokes out of the volcano. On Twitter, there was a joke “that Europe had asked Iceland to send ‘CASH’ not ‘ASH.’”

Will these new volcanic words remain in our language after the crisis is over? Sometimes this does happen, such as –gate after the Watergate scandal. In 1883, shockwaves from Krakatoa were felt all over the world. Scientists called this the “equatorial smoke stream,” but now we know this as “the jet stream.” Only time will tell if the Iceland volcano leads to a change in language or perhaps an improvement in Irish pronunciation.

Mark Liberman, a writer for Language Log posted a video with a made up song with the word Eyjafjallajökull and corresponding verses. Maybe if everyone learned the song, more people could pronounce the word. Someone commented on his post with a link to a YouTube video called “Creepy robot mouth speaks Icelandic, Iceland volcano.” The video is exactly what the title says: twelve seconds of a weird robot pronouncing the word.

There are countless videos on YouTube concerning the volcano. This one is a CNN report that compiled many journalists and reporters trying to pronounce the word but ultimately failing. Reporters admit to not knowing how to pronounce the word, which makes it impossible to learn. Who is saying it correctly? Other reporters do not even attempt to say it and instead refer to it as something like the “Iceland volcano.” The CNN report calls this “volcanic naming avoidance syndrome.” Saturday Night Live, of course, finds this to be perfect material. The reporters then went to Iceland and found out English words that they find hard to pronounce. Apparently “pneumonia” and “weary” are two of the hardest. The reporters also found out that the word contains syllables that mean island, mountain, and glacier, making the word Eyjafjallajökull very obvious and understandable. Some reporters are calling it “E 15,” which means E for the volcano’s first letter and then 15 for the rest of the letters. Even though we cannot say the word, at least we have found humor in a not-so-humorous situation.

So how do some words or phrases get embedded in our language? Are some more humorous like Eyjafjallajökull? More serious like Watergate? How does the news or other sources of information contribute to the popularity of a word? And what kind of people adopt these new words? Is it specific generations, citizens, or random groups of people? I wonder what other people think of our newly adopted words. For example, if Eyjafjallajökull is a permanent addition to our language, what will Icelanders think? Will they find it funny that we cannot pronounce this “simple” word? Would they be offended that we are making their language humorous?