John Gordon Ross

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 » Theodore Kushner's Chinese blocks

Thursday 6 April 15:00:04 UTC 2017

From Ivanka Trump's Instagram account: The best moment of the day! A post shared by Ivanka Trump (@ivankatrump) on Apr 4, 2017 at 6:36pm PDT Zooming in on the blocks… From Javier C. Hernández, "The ‘Goddess’ Yi Wan Ka: Ivanka Trump Is a Hit in China" (NYT, 4/5/17): While her father has threatened a trade war with China and criticized … [Link]

Language Log » Weak t

Thursday 6 April 11:34:33 UTC 2017

Yesterday I claimed that "if you examine a random stretch of English speech closely, within 10 seconds (of speech time, not your analysis time) you'll notice an instance of an interesting general pattern that has never been systematically studied in the linguistic literature." And I promised to test that claim on a clip from the S-Town podcast, which I happened … [Link]

Omniglot blog » Just simply

Thursday 6 April 10:21:41 UTC 2017

A useful Russian word I learnt this week is просто [ˈprɔstə], which means easily, simply or just. Here are some examples of how it is used: – Нам просто надо выезжать немного раньше обычного. = We just have to leave, you know, a little earlier than usual. – я зашёл просто повидаться = I just popped in to see you … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » supposably

Thursday 6 April 7:07:07 UTC 2017

It actually is a word: capable of being conjectured or imagined. This word was popularized in an episode of Friends in the second season. Did they go to the zoo? Supposably… [Link]

languagehat.com » Keeping Hand Talk Alive.

Thursday 6 April 1:46:48 UTC 2017

Cecily Hilleary of VOA News writes about a remarkable recent find and the history it represents: In early September 1930, the Blackfeet Nation of Montana hosted a historic Indian Sign Language Grand Council, gathering leaders of a dozen North American Nations and language groups. The three-day council held was organized by Hugh L. Scott, a 77-year-old U.S. Army General who … [Link]

Archive