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 » Netochka Nezvanova.
I’m only two-thirds of the way through Dostoyevsky’s first attempt at a novel (as opposed to a повесть, a short novel or long story), Неточка Незванова (Netochka Nezvanova), but I have so many reactions I can’t wait and have to post about it now. It’s actually a good time to pause, because I’ve just finished the fifth (of seven) chapters, … [Link]
Language Log » Kongish
From the Hong Kong Free Press: "Hong Kong Chinglish page wins the internet overnight" (8/8/15) The article begins: A Facebook page presenting Hong Kong news in “Chinglish” attracted more than 15,000 likes overnight. Kongish Daily, the motto of which is “Hong Kong people speak Hong Kong English,” became an instant sensation in the SAR after it published a number of … [Link]
Omniglot blog » Tell Me a Story!
When I was in Ireland last week I heard plenty of stories, including some traditional ones in Irish. There was a night of sean-nós singing, dancing and story telling on Thursday, and afterwards we had a long talk with our sean-nós singing teacher, Gearóidín Breathnach, about various things, including the decline in traditional story telling, and how the Irish language … [Link]
Language Log » Easy-to-use frustration
"Important – Please contact us to provide more information." That's what the letter from Independence Blue Cross said. Dated 7/28/2015, it arrived 8/4/2015, and informed me that I need to "call or respond online within seven business days to ensure that your future claims and those of your family members can be processed in a timely manner." So today is … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » Pedolicious
Someone or something that exubes an aura of pedophilia, such as a creepy old man with candy or an older van with tinted windows. Watch out for the neighbor, he is sooooo pedolicious. Dude drives a pedovan and everything.
[Link]
Language Log » You can't break rules
From Barton Swaim, The Speechwriter: A Brief Education in Politics — the author meets Mark Sanford, then governor of South Carolina: He had seen some articles and reviews I’d written and conceded I must be “erudite” but wondered whether I could write in a way that “the mechanic in Greenwood can understand.” (Greenwood is a small town in the western … [Link]
languagehat.com » Linguistic DNA.
The name is odd, but the description is enticing: “Linguistic DNA seeks to understand the evolution of early modern thought by modelling the semantic and conceptual changes which occurred in English printed discourse between c.1500 and c.1800.” The About page has more: For the early part of our period, we are working with the ca. 58,000 texts digitised as part … [Link]
Language Log » More on "mother" (focus on India)
A little over a year ago, I wrote about "The concept of 'mother' in linguistics " (6/25/14). In that post, we looked at the use of the notion of "mother" for language studies in Ugaritic, Moabite, South Arabian, Phoenician, Aramaic, Syriac, Arabic, Greek, Latin, and Chinese. Although I had a nagging recollection to the contrary, I stated: "So far as … [Link]
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