archive

Language lessons

From the Journal of Pan African Studies, a special issue on Kiswahili, the Mother Tongue. An article on using the wisdom of crowds to translate language. A review of Through the Language Glass: How Words Colour Your World by Guy Deutscher (and more and more). If each language reflects a different way of thinking, we should do more to save dying tongues — and learn a new one ourselves. More and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more on Globish by Robert McCrum. A review of A Little Book of Language by David Crystal (and more). Language lessons: You are what you speak. As the Belgian elections prove, language can be a divisive issue (and more and more). David Mekelburg on the power of learning a local language. Two thirds of the world's languages are endangered — now a new mathematical model of language competition suggests how to combat the threat. Is Arabic the least positive language? Clive Thompson on how translation software saves mother tongue. You don’t have to be a spelling-bee champ to know that written English isn’t entirely a free-for-all. Can linguistic features reveal time depths as deep as 50,000 years ago? Research suggests an ancient language connection between people in remote Asia and North America. Papiamentu, a Creole language spoken on Curacao, Bonaire and Aruba, endures as other tongues face extinction. A 21-year-old aspiring artist in Europe is working with a 75-year-old Fairbanks linguist to carry on Eyak, a dying native Alaskan language. The Queen’s English Society, self-appointed defenders of proper speech and writing since 1972, recently announced plans to set up an Academy of English. Can language shape how we think? Lera Boroditsky says yes.