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 » A thousand things to say… Not!
It is not clear to me whether Chris Lonsdale, the managing shyster director at the language-teaching company Chris Lonsdale & Associates, is an out-and-out liar or merely has pork for brains and believes the nonsense he spouts. But what is clear to me is that not enough people are paying attention to the conjecture I mention in one section of … [Link]
Language Log » Annals of LID
Nice fucking try, Twitter: pic.twitter.com/ityPbk4hLy — Jim Henley (@UOJim) July 18, 2015 Brad DeLong's quote is of course from the start of Cicero's In Catilinam, which is easy to adapt to modern uses: quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra? quam diu etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet? quem ad finem sese effrenata iactabit audacia? When, O Catiline, do you … [Link]
Omniglot blog » Language quiz
Here’s a recording in a mystery language. Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken? [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » body by mattel
Female that is more plastic than human. "Nothing on that gal is more than 5 years old. My daughter has Barbie dolls older than that. I wonder if she's stamped with a Body by Mattel" logo. " See fauxen
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Language Log » Fluency in six months
When it comes to linguistics, convincing, worthwhile presentations (such as those by John McWhorter and Steven Pinker) are rare on TED (e.g., here, here, here, here, here, and here). If that is true for TED, then I wouldn't expect better from TEDx. Indeed, the one TEDx program on linguistics that I have seen, which was published on November 20, 2013, … [Link]
Language Log » Vocal gymnastics
Another Salut Salon video — Ievan Polkka: This version has closed captions giving the Finnish words with English translation: And of course there's the anime and Hatsune Miku vocaloid versions. The first couple of verses: Nuapurista kuulu se polokan tahti The sound of a polka drifted from my neighbor's jalakani pohjii kutkutti. and set my feet a-tapping oh! Ievan äiti … [Link]
languagehat.com » What Exactly Is Universal Grammar?
“What exactly is Universal Grammar, and has anyone seen it?” (Front. Psychol., 23 June 2015), by Ewa Dąbrowska, Professor of Linguistics at Northumbria University, begins “Universal Grammar (UG) is a suspect concept” and goes on to back that up in a thoroughgoing manner. As a sample, see this devastating paragraph from the Conclusion: Is it a fruitful approach? (Or perhaps … [Link]
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