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

languagehat.com » Albania’s Competing Alphabets, 1908.

Sunday 11 June 14:52:25 UTC 2017

Joel of Far Outliers is quoting passages from Edith Durham’s 1909 travel book High Albania , and I thought this one was so striking I couldn’t resist quoting most of it myself: In early days an alphabet was made by Bishop Bogdan, and used by the Jesuits for all Albanian printed matter required by the church. Briefly, it is the Latin … [Link]

Language Log » #lolaklkk indeed

Sunday 11 June 13:05:16 UTC 2017

In case you missed it — yesterday’s tweet from Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Principal Deputy White House Press Secretary: ⚓️⚓️ :/9//&⛩ #lolaklkk⛲️ — Sarah H. Sanders (@SHSanders45) June 10, 2017 Needless to say, there was a lot of discussion and a certain amount of snark: This is the most coherent statement to come from the Trump administration. — David Blaustein (@blaustein) … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » Gronking

Sunday 11 June 7:00:00 UTC 2017

Violently spiking an object (most common is a football) to the ground in celebration. Gronking a department store mannequin leg. [Link]

Omniglot blog » Language quiz

Sunday 11 June 6:00:50 UTC 2017

Here’s a recording in a mystery language. Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken? [Link]

languagehat.com » Algonquian Language Atlas.

Sunday 11 June 2:56:18 UTC 2017

CBC News reports: Sometimes, it takes an outsider to notice the obvious. Such was the case for linguistics professor Marie Odile Junker when she came to Canada from France. “It struck me you could learn any immigrant language of this land. Chinese, Spanish, but you could not learn those (Indigenous) languages. So, as a linguist, of course, I became interested.” … [Link]

Language Log » Coercive hopes

Sunday 11 June 2:00:37 UTC 2017

Andrew Strom, “Workers Understand a Boss’s ‘Hopes’“, On Labor 6/9/2017: According to the sworn testimony of former FBI Director James Comey, President Trump pulled him into a private meeting in the oval office and said, about the FBI’s ongoing investigation of former national security advisor Michael Flynn, “I hope you can let this go.” One question raised by the testimony … [Link]

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