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
languagehat.com » An Interview with Gérard Diffloth.
A very interesting interview with Professor Gérard Diffloth, “a leading figure in Southeast Asian linguistics, specializing in the languages of the Austroasiatic family”; the interviewer is Nathan Badenoch, with whom he is working on “a group of small and endangered languages spoken in northern Laos.” Diffloth started by studying Russian; Badenoch says: “you moved from Russian to languages further east. … [Link]
Language Log » Multilingual Jiang Zemin
This is an old video of Jiang Zemin berating a female reporter and defending the right of the central government in Beijing to handpick the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, in this case the first, Tung Chee-hwa. The video, which is an amazing display of Jiang's verbal pyrotechnics, is getting a lot of circulation these days, for obvious reasons. Here … [Link]
Omniglot blog » Sandwiches and Portsmouths
The sandwich is named after the 4th Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, who is reputed to have invented it as a convenient way to eat while playing cards. He didn’t come up with the idea of putting meat or filling between two slices of bread, but he certainly popularised it and gave it his title. According to the QI* elves … [Link]
the world in words » Cajuns are fiercely proud of their culture, but they’re divided over the word ‘coonass’
Photo: Veronica Zaragovia Here’s a post from Veronica Zaragovia. The town of Eunice, Louisiana is one of those places that lets you know exactly where in America you are. “I’m the owner of KBON 101.1 FM down in Cajun Country,” says Paul Marx, whose station began broadcasting music in 1997. Much of life in so-called Cajun Country involves the French language, … [Link]
World Wide Words: Updates » New online: Not so green as you're cabbage-looking
A fine northern expression 'not so green as you're cabbage-looking' puzzles everybody. [Link]
World Wide Words: Updates » New online: The Word at War
Review of 'The Word at War' by by Philip Gooden and Peter Lewis. [Link]
World Wide Words: Updates » New online: Agister
An 'agister' is an ancient, and still current, officer of a royal hunting forest. [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » schrödinger's emoticon
An emoticon that shows both happy and sad faces. i.e. ):( The Internet is a horrible and wonderful place ):( <--Schrödinger's emoticon
[Link]
Language Log » A record-setting pangrammatic window
A few months ago, I posted here (and on Slate's Lexicon Valley blog) about PangramTweets, a bot created by Jesse Sheidlower that combs Twitter for tweets that include all 26 letters of the alphabet. I mentioned that it would be interesting to see if PangramTweets turns up any particularly short "pangrammatic windows," i.e., pangrammatic strings in naturally occurring text. At … [Link]
languagehat.com » Radical Linguistics.
Ross Perlin, whom we met here as a reviewer (of the Yiddish-Japanese Dictionary/Yidish-Yapanish Verterbukh/Idisshu-go jiten), has a very interesting essay in Dissent, called “Radical Linguistics in an Age of Extinction.” I doubt anyone will agree with everything he has to say, but it begins unassailably — “Modern linguistics is founded on a radical premise: the equality of all languages. … … [Link]
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