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 » Fragments, Ellipsis, and Sluicing.

Thursday 23 June 20:36:44 UTC 2016

Scott Rappaport reports for Phys.org: “A lot of talk is fragments—it’s the kind of thing we understand reflexively as human beings, but it’s much harder for machines,” notes Jim McCloskey, professor of linguistics at UC Santa Cruz. “Linguistic theory teaches us what kind of structures there are in our mind, but how to make sense of these fragments is also … [Link]

Language Log » OtherCountries_ExitFromTheEU: better portmanteaux

Thursday 23 June 19:46:29 UTC 2016

Or is it portmanteaus? Anyhow, forget Portugexit and Italexit and the rest: Here's what else might happen if we Brexit: Grexit Departugal Italeave Czechout Oustria Finish Slovakout Latervia Byegium#EUref #iVoted — Alvin Carpio (@AlvinCarpio) June 23, 2016 Update — now that Leave has won the referendum, we should be talking about Brexiit (3rd singular perfective indicative active), or perhaps more … [Link]

Language Log » A meal of little shovels

Thursday 23 June 13:48:30 UTC 2016

At an excellent restaurant in Leipzig last night the server quickly identified me as an Auslander whose German might not be up to grasping every nuance of the menu, so I was given an English menu as well. (It was a bit humiliating, like having a bib tied round my neck. I have tried to explain elsewhere why my knowledge … [Link]

Language Log » Artificial emotions again

Thursday 23 June 9:34:50 UTC 2016

A couple of days ago, Dilbert highlighted a problem with robot emotions, beyond the issue that Zach Wienersmith raised a few weeks ago: The external evidence of "cognition" is sometimes obscure and ambiguous, but the Turing Test approach is especially problematic in evaluating "emotion". Yesterday's strip: And today's: Update — and the next one: And another: In yet another example … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » crotch spiders

Thursday 23 June 7:00:00 UTC 2016

The pubic hair that sneaks out of a bikini bottom. Man look at the crotch spiders on her. Impressive. [Link]

Language Log » "Fortuitous indeed"

Thursday 23 June 0:33:37 UTC 2016

Is there some pop culture reference I'm missing here? Or has the Washington Post turned its advertising outreach over to Monty Python? I'm not even going to get into the "by chance" vs. "fortunate" discussion. [Link]

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