What is the meaning of um?
We make hesitation noises and tiny pauses in conversation all the time, but what’s the meaning behind them? And is it true that different cultures have different tolerances for silence?
We’re talking to …
Category: books (page 2 of 3)
British and American English have always had a love-hate relationship.
British people (and Australians) often blame Americans for somehow tarnishing the language, and they fret about creeping Americanism. But people are terrible at identifying what the Americanisms actually are. How …
When we got numbers, things really started to happen.
How do other languages handle numbers? How do pre-linguistic children conceptualise them? And how did the development of numbers influence our development as humans?
We’re talking to anthropological linguist and author …
Why does everyone ❤️ and 😡 emoji?
Emoji have been received enthusiastically in our electronic communication, and yet complaints about them continue. Is there anything wrong with using them? Are they really the equivalent of modern-day hieroglyphics? Do they represent …
How can you make a difference to language?
Linguists are doing a lot of great work, but what if you’re not a linguist? Is there anything that you can do to make the world a better place for language and …
Are our vocabularies shrinking? Is bureaucratic double-talk a sinister form of code designed to short-circuit original thought?
Author Don Watson thinks so, and explains why in his latest book Worst Words. But how does his view stack up to language …
When writers need advice, they turn to editors, and Nicholas Hudson is a formidable presence in the editing world.
But how does his advice stack up linguistically? And what do Australian writers need to know?
Author and editor Nicholas Hudson…
How do children learn language so quickly?
For decades, the prevailing view has been that they’re born with it. But a new breed of linguists is overturning this view with evidence from human evolution, cognition, and actual children.
Among these …
There’s more than one way to speak English.
But too often, kids who speak other varieties of English find themselves on the wrong side of their teachers. How can educators — and everyone else — avoid linguistic discrimination and value …
Are you annoyed by grammar purists?
Do prescriptive pedants pester you with trivial issues of usage?
What you need is some ammunition for fighting back. And it’s here, in the new book Bad English: A History of Linguistic Aggravation.…
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- Talkley Award 2018
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