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 » Point of no Breturn
The portmanteaux just keep on coming — most recently in "Brexit's fallout: Adrift", The Economist 7/2/2016, we get a section heading "Point of no Breturn". See also (updated from the comments): [link] Are You Brexhausted yet? [link] Not “Brexit” but “Braccident”. [link] Newspaper headlines: 'BoJo Brexecuted' on Tory 'Day of Treachery' [link] #brexecution [link] Is this the beginning of a … [Link]
Language Log » Pinyin literature contest
I wish to call your attention to the Li-ching Chang Memorial Pinyin Literature Contest. The purpose of the contest is to commemorate the life and work of Li-ching Chang (October 5, 1936-June 20, 2010), who was an outstanding teacher of Mandarin at the University of Washington, the Oberlin center in Taiwan, Middlebury College Summer School, Harvard University, the University of … [Link]
Language Log » "Modal verbs? Not a clue!"
A couple of years ago, a LLOG guest post by Richard Hudson proposed "Three cheers for Michael Gove" in recognition of his role in "the re-introduction of grammatical analysis n the British School curriculum". Now Ben Hemmens draws our attention to A L Kennedy's recent BBC 4 manifesto, "The power of language", which introduces the topic this way: Your browser … [Link]
Language Log » Siege lions and procedural apes
Nancy Friedman came across the website of RippleInfo, a technology company in Suzhou. Nancy doesn't read Chinese, so she submitted it to Google Translate, whereupon she discovered a section titled “Suzhou Siege Lions Have Caused”. That led her to a statement from the CEO that included this sentence: If the siege lion apes and procedures are not happy, how to … [Link]
Wordorigins.org » Man Vs. Marine
The Washington Post reports that the U. S. Marine Corps is eliminating the word man from nineteen of its job titles. An infantryman will now be called an infantry marine, and what was once a field artillery man is now a field artillery marine. Some job titles are retaining the man, however. A marine can still be a rifleman. (How … [Link]
Language Log » "Among the New Words"
Ben Zimmer, Jane Solomon, and Charles Carson, "Among The New Words", American Speech May 2016: In this installment we continue our consideration of items nominated at the American Dialect Society’s 2015 Word of the Year proceedings […] The overall winner is considered here: they used as a singular third-person pronoun, a gender-neutral (or “epicene”) alternative to the binary of he … [Link]
Omniglot blog » Say Something in Manx
There’s a new course on the SaySomethingin website: Manx (Gaelic). There are currently 10 free lessons in this introductory course, which follow the same format as the other languages on the site, as far as I can see, and 8 more lessons will be available soon. I heard about this course at the Polyglot Gathering in Berlin in May from … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » snapchat streak
If you snap chat your friend day after day and you get a number at the side of there name then that means you are on a snapchat streak. The number means the amount of days 'Someone do a snapchat streak with me?'
[Link]
languagehat.com » Pyramidal.
Anne Curzan has a nice discussion of a vexed problem: when and how to correct people’s language. She opens with an anecdote: Last month I was recording a lecture and had to say the word pyramidal. The passage, about bats in pyramidal cages, was an example of how the passive voice is deployed in scientific writing. I’d never before had … [Link]
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