Why are some languages more systematic than others?
We often hear about the irregularities in English, and other languages have them as well. But new work shows that systematicity in a language is influenced by the number of speakers in the community. How does that work?
Language researcher Limor Raviv joins Daniel, Ben, and Hedvig on this episode of Talk the Talk.
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We look at some Swedish words of the week, and check in on what Daniel’s been up to. Daniel tries to get Tom to make up a new word for a complicated shape. It’s harder than it sounds.
Also at https://www.patreon.com/posts/29477886
Leave That In!
This time: A bonus news item. AIs are flagging the comments of people of colour more often than those of other people.
Limor Raviv answers the question: Is it true that some languages are harder for children to learn, even as a first language?
Also at https://www.patreon.com/posts/leave-that-in-29671213
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Show notes
Flygskam: No Sign Of Sweden’s Plane Shame In Norway
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidnikel/2019/08/26/flygskam-no-sign-of-swedens-plane-shame-in-norway/#3ebf05e9667a
Swedish word of the day: kickoff – The Local
https://www.thelocal.se/20190826/swedish-word-of-the-day-kickoff
Great Scots! ‘It’s’ a unique linguistic phenomenon | EurekAlert! Science News
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-08/lsoa-gs080819.php
(PDF) Thoms, et al.: Syntactic Variation and Auxiliary Contraction: The Surprising Case of Scots
https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/LSA95302.pdf
The algorithms that detect hate speech online are biased against black people – Vox
https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/8/15/20806384/social-media-hate-speech-bias-black-african-american-facebook-twitter
(PDF) Sap, et al.: The Risk of Racial Bias in Hate Speech Detection
https://homes.cs.washington.edu/~msap/pdfs/sap2019risk.pdf
Community size matters when people create a new language | EurekAlert! Science News
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-07/mpif-csm071619.php
Poem: To a Human Skeleton by Richard Armour
http://www.emule.com/2poetry/phorum/read.php?4,5465
Jaguar takes on Oxford English Dictionary over definition of “car”
https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/jaguar-takes-dictionary-definition-car
car | Definition of car by Lexico
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/car
Jaguar drives dictionary definition | Gadget
https://gadget.co.za/jaguar-drives-dictionary-definition/
Jaguar Lobbies To Change Definition Of “Car” 08/20/2019
https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/339462/jaguar-lobbies-to-change-definition-of-car.html
“Emoji House” In California Is At The Center Of A Neighborhood Feud
https://www.littlethings.com/emoji-house-neighborhood-feud/
Startled by Manhattan Beach’s emoji house? Let me tell you about spite houses and my lunch in Sarajevo – Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com/travel/story/2019-08-16/emoji-house-manhattan-beach-spite-house-sarajevo-massachusetts-topeka-seattle
Dispute Between Neighbors. A True Story. – Hollywood Gossip & World News
https://superstargossip.com/2007/12/21/dispute-between-neighbors/
Transcript
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