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

languagehat.com » Camara- , ɴbri.

Tuesday 27 October 18:02:47 UTC 2015

The entry on the Facebook feed of Patrick Taylor (the LH house etymologist) was “I just read a little paper of the kind that make life worth living,” and of course I clicked through to Guillaume Jacques, “Sanskrit camara– ‘yak’ et tibétain ɴbri ‘yak femelle’“; it’s just three pages, and even if you don’t have any particular interest in Tibetan … [Link]

Language Log » "Are you Henry David Thoreau?"

Tuesday 27 October 13:48:52 UTC 2015

A few minutes ago, an earnest-looking stranger came up to me on the sidewalk and asked "Are you Henry David Thoreau?" I shook my head and kept walking. And I'm pretty sure that was the right choice. But to satisfy my idle curiosity, can anyone tell me what he was selling? [Link]

Language Log » Arguments

Tuesday 27 October 11:06:25 UTC 2015

The first couple of panels of today's SMBC: The next few panels suggest that technically, it's more of a pragmatic argument, in that the argument is about speaker's meaning rather than literal meaning — though the ordinary-language meaning of pragmatic is almost directly the opposite of what's needed here: And the last couple of panels confirm that we're talking about … [Link]

Language Log » Zuckerberg's Mandarin, ch. 2

Tuesday 27 October 3:27:15 UTC 2015

Just a little over a year ago, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled to China and the world that he was willing to speak publicly in Mandarin: "Zuckerberg's Mandarin" (10/23/14). That post includes a video which allows us to watch and listen to his every gesture and word. Now he's back at it again at the exact same location, Tsinghua University, China's premier … [Link]

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