Language myth

A myth (/mɪθ/; also a misconception) is a belief or idea which is widely circulated and believed by many in society but which has little or no basis in objective fact.

This article is concerned only with myths which might have some relevance to English language teaching, hence the name Language myth.

Origins

Many such misconceptions may originally have had their basis in some sort of fact, but have often been so distorted by something akin to Chinese whispers that they end up bearing little relationship to the original story; others (akin to urban myths) have been simply invented out of whole cloth.

Some language myths

Around 90% of communication is non-verbal

It is often claimed that around 90% of human communication is non-verbal. This frequently asserted concept has no basis in common sense or science.

Logical

If 90% of communication (and according to some sources 93%) is non-verbal, then words would seem to be pretty nearly unnecessary. But a moment's thought will convince us that - apart from expressing simple commands like "come here" or sending emotional signals - any complex idea simply has to be expressed in words. The fact that we can understand podcasts or the radio; the fact that we can read books; the fact that we need to learn foreign languages in order to converse easily with speakers of those languages all clearly show that it is words which carry the most meaning and not non-verbal signals.

Scientific

This particular myth springs from the work of Albert Mehrabian who was interested in the emotional content of communication. However he most certainly never suggested that 90% of all communication was non-verbal and was actually only interested in one particular aspect of communication. Mehrabian's famous study refers to "the relative importance of words vs. nonverbal cues" and he came up with the equation:

• Total Liking = 7% Verbal Liking + 38% Vocal Liking + 55% Facial Liking

This was "derived from experiments dealing with communications of feelings and attitudes (i.e., like-dislike)." "Liking" here refers to how much we "like" the speaker.

He quite clearly states that "unless a communicator is talking about their feelings or attitudes, these equations are not applicable." The sometimes-quoted 93% figure presumably comes from a simplistic adding of the 38% to the 55% which is then expanded to include "all communication" instead of limiting it to communications about feelings. It is also of note that the 38% "vocal liking" presumably refers to tone of voice; not something that everyone would automatically associate with non-verbal communication.

English spelling is irregular

An oft-repeated myth – by both teachers and students – is that English spelling has no rules, is chaotic, at best irregular and so on.

However, as David Crystal points out, there are only around 400 everyday words with totally irregular spelling – and it is precisely the fact that they are so frequently encountered that is the origin of the exaggeration. One particular computer analysis of 17,000 words showed that 84% were spelled according to a regular pattern – and only 3% were so irregular that they have to be learned by heart.

RP is the predominant form of British English

Many people, especially those of an older generation living in the UK, and possibly ex-patriots, still hold on dearly to the belief that Received Pronunciation is the predominant accent in Great Britain. In fact, only around two percent of Britons, and more specifically, mainly those living in England, speak with the RP accent in its purest form, and almost certainly a much smaller percentage of English-language teachers have this accent.

However according to most research into this matter (British Library and Oxford Dictionaries), although only about 2% of the population of the UK speak with a pure RP form, all local and regional dialects include components of RP, and most people surveyed use some parts of RP within their day to day communication. It was estimated in 1974 that only 3% spoke RP in its purest form. As such it has not seen a marked decline over two generations. And as most regional dialects can change over as short a distance as 40 miles, the 2% of people that currently speak pure RP still are a larger group than any other dialect within the UK. So although not predominant in the sense of the majority of people speak with the RP pronunciation, in comparison to any other dialect taken on its own RP is individually used more. And although 98% of the UK do not speak pure RP, all local dialects of English do use RP for some sounds or some word constructions, though not necessarily the same as other dialects use.

We only use 10% of our brains

This frequently repeated statement has no basis in either logic or neuroscience.

Logical

1. The human brain consumes a very large proportion of the energy used by a human being and it is also responsible for most of the difficulty in childbirth. It is highly unlikely that evolution would have conserved such a large, expensive organ if only 10% of it were used.
2. Damage to any part of the brain causes severe injury and frequently death. If 90% of it were unused that most injuries would occur in the 90% "unused" section. This clearly does not happen.

Scientific

Studies of humans in brain scanners have conclusively shown that this is not true. While not all the brain is used all the time, activity is shunted between areas when and where it is needed. Furthermore, large parts of the brain are concerned with activities like keeping the heart beating and the lungs working. The 90% unused portion has simply never been discovered and has no scientific basis.

See also

• Folk etymology
• Urban myths conversation questions