John Gordon Ross

A Man for All Reasons

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Language Stuff

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 » More Pinker peace creak

Saturday 25 July 14:26:49 UTC 2015

Yesterday ("Pinker peace creak") I followed up on Breffni's reference to vocal fry/creak in the speech of the young woman who introduces Steven Pinker's talk at the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Forum. And indeed, in her first 40 words (16 seconds of audio, 8.3 seconds of voiced speech, 1,653 f0 estimate) I found three clear examples of phrase-final period-doubling. But … [Link]

Language Log » Learning 100 characters at age 100

Saturday 25 July 10:39:51 UTC 2015

Xinhua / New China informs us: After attending a 10-day literacy course, Zhao Shunjin, who had never learned to read or write, mastered over 100 Chinese characters at the age of 100. Zhao, a former vegetable vendor from Hangzhou City in east China's Zhejiang Province, had never been to school and knew no characters except her own name before taking … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » Lip boxing

Saturday 25 July 8:00:00 UTC 2015

Talking shit over social media (twitter,Instagram) or talking shit to somebody else without the person they are taking about knowing. Boy-William stay talkin shit on ig Girl-he lip boxing [Link]

Language Log » Pinker peace creak

Saturday 25 July 0:25:13 UTC 2015

As Breffni noted yesterday in a comment on "Male vocal fry", the young woman introducing Steven Pinker's speech at the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Forum frequently exhibits lots of period-doubling — what the popular press generally calls "vocal fry", though "creaky voice due to period-doubling" would be a more correct description. Here's the start of the introduction, with red boldface … [Link]

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