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 » Ideas and actions
I recently read through Marc Hauser et al., "The Mystery of Language Evolution", Frontiers in Psychology 2014, which expresses a strongly skeptical view on every aspect of the topic, including this one: [S]tudies of nonhuman animals provide virtually no relevant parallels to human linguistic communication, and none to the underlying biological capacity. By "underlying biological capacity" they mean something rather … [Link]
Wordorigins.org » WWI Vocabulary
Cooties, doughboys, and foxholes. Jonathan Lighter has a rather good article on CNN.com on the words spawned during the First World War, which began one hundred years ago next month. If there is a complaint about the article it’s that Lighter only scratches the surface. There are many, many other terms that could have been mentioned, like tank, over the … [Link]
Omniglot blog » Language quiz
Here’s a song in multiple languages- it’s a multilingual version of ‘Let it Go’ from the film Frozen sung by Richard Simcott at the Polyglot Gathering in Berlin. He sang it a capella and from memory – very impressive. The sound quality isn’t great, but it’s okay. Can you identify the different languages? 
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Urban Word of the Day » Frankenfood
revolutionary culinary creations that mash up original and unexpected food combinations and ingredients, resulting in delicious dishes…or awful misses. Better known Frankenfoods include The Ramen Burger, Spam Sushi, and Spicy Pulled Pork S'mores. Adam: "After eating that gyro egg-roll, I decided to make my own Frankenfood." Jen: "I haven't seen you cook since '04. What'd you make?" Adam: "Fried PB&J … [Link]
Language Log » Language notes from Macao and Hong Kong
From June 13 until the 18th, I was at a conference on Buddhist culture and society held at the University of Macao. There were about thirty participants, all except me from East Asia, and the East Asians were about evenly divided among scholars from Taiwan, China, Macao, and Hong Kong, plus one each from Japan and Korea. Macao is a … [Link]
languagehat.com » Wine and Grapes and Perfect Serenity.
Leland de la Durantaye has a very nice Boston Review piece on Swann’s Way, its reception, the difficulties of translating it, and the problems with Yale University Press’s new annotated edition of the original Moncrieff translation. The problems begin with the fact that the editor, William C. Carter, chose to go back to Moncrieff rather than taking account of the … [Link]
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