Tag: LINGUISTICS

Future linguists will have a field day with this one. The Oxford English Dictionary (the "definitive record of the English language," in case you were keeping track) just released its latest update, and "OMG," "LOL" and even "<3" made the cut. These Internet acronyms were included due to their cultural relevance today, but it turns out most have origins pre-dating those pesky tween texters. ...

Many linguists believe the ancient "African click languages" hold the key to understanding the ancestry and evolution of human language. Approximately 30 cultural groups still actively speak the languages, which incorporate dozens of "click consonants." Those clicks have largely remained a phonetic mystery, as linguists have typically struggled to determine the specific vocal actions required, ...

The mad programmers at Google Labs have come up with another bizarre (and possibly sinister) new Web application called Google Scribe. Like Google's auto-suggested search terms that appear as you type, Scribe looks at the language you've used to determine the most likely word to follow. For example, if you type "Google Scribe" into its text field, the app will suggest "is a software" to follow ...

As a child, your writer got his geek on by traipsing down to the local library, where a massive microprint edition of the Compact Oxford English Dictionary was on display. The antique tome required a magnifying glass to read, and exuded some kind of occult authority with its Bible-like, tissue paper pages. But that experience will not be shared by the younger generation, as the Internet is ...

Researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands have been developing a new language that they hope will be easy for both robots and humans to learn. ROILA (Robot Interaction Language) was designed because modern speech-recognition software -- as anyone who has tried to use Voice Control on the iPhone or similar software -- is not refined enough to understand the nuances of ...

They're everywhere. The entire landscape of the digital age is just crawling with them. Like Volkswagen-sized subway rats or hipsters clad in plaid, smileys are so universally ubiquitous that you hardly notice them anymore. But how much is too much? At what point do we assert our evolutionary claim to language, slam our fists on our keyboards, and scream "Enough is enough!"? Is it time that we ...

What's in a question? Twitter has long asked its users, "What are you doing?" This, of course, gave rise to the ubiquity of the status update, as people took Twitter's inquiry so literally that they would write about the most banal goings on -- from buying coffee to using the bathroom. But as Twitter's user base has grown exponentially, so have the style and content of tweets. Of late, ...

We're pretty sure that what Minnesota man d'Armond Speers did to his child could easily be defined as cruel and unusual punishment. For the first three years of his son's life, Speers spoke only a foreign language to him as part of a personal experiment in linguistics -- that's the cruel part. The unusual part is that he didn't even speak a real (nonetheless useful) language to him -- he spoke ...

Take this from someone who went to college in a French-speaking country: no one takes la langue more seriously than the francophone. Heritage, cultural pride, and a sense of protection keep the government involved in the purity of francais, so much so that other languages have suffered in many francophone countries, most particularly France, itself. (Just ask the English-speaking Montrealers who ...

Engaging in discussion with anthropologists or linguists can be highly awkward. Those clinical types tend to scrutinize and evaluate every word, gesture, and facial expression, which can make conversation seem impersonal and uncomfortable. What else would you expect? These social scientists are attempting to decipher your unspoken messages and subconscious motivations. Well, now you can subject ...

According to at least one estimation, the English language has collected its one millionth word. The Global Language Monitor, whose authority on the issue is on the questionable side, got us geared up for the Million Word March in May. At that time the Language Monitor was expecting the millionth word to be "noob" or "defriend," but both were beaten to the punch by "Web 2.0." The Global ...

There are 6,912 identified languages spoken around the world. Some languages, only spoken by tiny pockets of populations, are in danger of disappearing thanks to an increasingly global society that is focused on modern western languages like English and Spanish. One way advocates believe these languages, an important part of local history and culture, can stave off extinction is with text ...