Almost everyone uses language, so inevitably almost everyone thinks they are an expert in it. I don’t consider myself an expert, though most of my work requires at least language competence and sometimes actual skill, but I do follow the blogs featured on this feeds page.
(If you are wondering where the translation-related feeds have all gone, I have put them on their own page.)
Most of the blogs represented here are in English, most of the time, but don’t be surprised to find other languages used. Go with the flow – I occasionally find myself pleasantly surprised at how much I can grasp in languages I have never seen before.
Language On the Net
Language Log » Samples in which hypercorrections are in
Following up on "A nation in which supports dependency" (7/9/2012), Glenn Bingham has sent me an annotated compendium of "Samples in which hypercorrections are in", reproduced below as a guest post. Glenn's diagnosis is that these examples arise by way of an attempt to "sound erudite" by adding an extra preposition at the start of a relative clause, thus yielding … [Link]
Omniglot blog » Polyglot contest
A challenge has been issued on the Omniglot fan club on Facebook to make a polyglot video of you speak all the languages you know well to see who can speak the most languages. Some have already taken up the challenge, others are seeing it as a bit of fun. What do you think of the multilingual videos that can … [Link]
the world in words » The language of pregnancy seems pregnant with meaning. Is it?
Pregnant clockwise in Chinese, Georgian, Portuguese, Thai, Afrikaans, Albanian, Hebrew, Spanish, Russian. (Credit: Fran Dias)When a woman in Russia is carrying a child in her womb, several words could be used to describe her condition. The most common is beremenaya (Беременная). Figuratively, it means pregnant. But the literal meaning is quite different. “It has this kind of almost quasi-religious meaning of … [Link]
Language Log » Breakthrough
Jon Kabat-Zinn's estimable (2013) Full Catastrophe Living (Revised edition): Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness has an odd "Chinese character for X" blooper: "Maybe there is something to be learned from the fact that the Chinese character for 'breakthrough' is written as 'turning'" (e-book loc 8495, last sentence in chap 12). I … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » Food Whore
A person that will do anything for food.Someone that is always around where food is. You are such a food whore , you smelled food and you got her ASAP.
[Link]
languagehat.com » What Is a Clyse?
From the English Language & Usage Stack Exchange (“a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts”), the intriguing question “What is a clyse?“: I’ve been reading about the recent flooding in Somerset, and came across this:- Floodwater is removed from many of the moors of the Somerset Levels by pumping stations […]. Consideration was given … [Link]
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