When you want to decide on what to read in language and linguistics, it is never easy to pick a reading list. There are just so many books out there under the label of linguistics. Especially since publications in linguistics have been growing like wildfire in the last couple of decades. So with your limited time and the unlimited […]
What language do deaf people think in? This is a tough question to answer. Aside from the science behind what language deaf people think in and whether this question can be answered or not, there is a better way we can gain a clear insight into this. Why not ask deaf people themselves? Michele Westfall is our best candidate.
What deaf people say about the language they think in. Read More »
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” —Through the Looking Glass. Mr. Dumpty led down the most linguistic explanation of how words get their meanings. We, the people, assign what combinations of sounds we want to the
Made-up Words That Sound So Cool They Should Actually Exist. Read More »
An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two or more words side by side contradict each other. Their use in speech often leads to humor, irony, and sarcasm. We’ve asked our followers at The Language Nerds to share their favorite funny oxymorons and the result has been nothing short of hilarious. Funny oxymorons are always
The Alphabet of the English language and most of the European languages was not thought of at the spur of the moment. Like the case with most language phenomena, it naturally evolved through centuries of accumulating changes that gave us the Alphabet as we know it today. The evolution of the alphabet is a fascinating journey. In what follows,
The Evolution of The Alphabet: From 1750 BC to Today. Read More »
People so often assume that a linguist’s job is to learn as many languages as possible when it is not anything near that. In fact, linguistics jobs encompass a wide range of activities beyond learning languages. So, let us put an end to this incorrect assumption once and for all.
Here is What You Can Do With A Degree in Linguistics. Read More »
A wug is an imaginary cartoon creature created and first used by psycholinguist Jean Berko Gleason to test people’s ability to use the English plural morpheme*. The test usually involves two cartoon panels—one depicting one wug with the caption “This is a wug,” and the other depicting two wugs with the caption “Now there is another one. There are two of them. There are
Every language has a list of rarely used words that very few people know. They are not commonly known because they are rarely needed. Why bother learning something that you will not use..right? But for us, language nerds, that’s what gives meaning to our lives. Tracking down words and what they mean satisfies a curiosity
30 English Words That Are Rarely Known To Most People. Read More »
There are approximately 7000 languages spoken in the world today, the majority of which are spoken by very tiny populations. About 60% of the world’s population, approximately 4 billion people, speak one of the few languages listed below. In fact, only 40 languages are spoken by more than 30 million native speakers. These most spoken languages are
The languages with more than 30 million native speakers. Read More »
Change is constant, and that is especially the case for languages. They evolve, they melt into other languages, and sometimes they even dissolve into oblivion. With the advent of written history, some aspects of languages could finally be preserved. And with that, we could know, with some precision, how old a language is or how
These are the Oldest Words in The English language, According to Science. Read More »
