Does the world look different if you speak a different language?
Can we tell what someone’s culture is like, just from the structure of their syntax?
For linguists, the answers are no. And no.
John McWhorter is the author of …
Category: politics (page 6 of 7)
Children seem to soak up language, even the things we’d rather they not say.
What do you do about your child’s swearing? And does using sign language help babies talk earlier?
Linguist Daniel Midgley is down with the kids on …
Can you tell someone’s orientation by the way they talk?
While there’s been a lot of supposition and stereotyping, there’s also a body of linguistic work on this very topic.
Linguist Daniel Midgley swings that way on this episode of …
How did language begin? What was it like long ago?
Did we come up with meaningful utterances first and then break them down, or did we build language from the words up? Did other pre-humans have language?
Researchers are working …
Will the Internet save minority languages, or kill them?
Many small languages lack an online presence, as only a handful of languages dominate the Web. On the other hand, we’ve never had so many tools to include other languages in …
How do you convince others of your views when the facts are overwhelmingly against you?
If you’re one of the many hoaxers, cranks, and denialists out there, you use language. What rhetorical tactics do they rely on, and how can …
Search engines help us find what we’re looking for. So when governments put pressure on search companies, the results can be sinister.
A cyber-monitoring group says Microsoft’s Bing is squelching politically sensitive topics. What are their responsibilities, and what can …
Last week saw two political exchanges on the world scene — Julia Gillard’s denunciation of misogyny in Australia, and Joe Biden’s performance in the US Vice Presidential debate.
The two exchanges were notable for their words, but also for their …
Do you read banned books?
It’s Banned Books Week — when we celebrate books that have been targeted for being obscene, indecent, blasphemous, and seditious. Banning (and sometimes burning) books is popular in the USA, but there’s plenty of censorship …
Is it the Persian Gulf, or the Arabian Gulf? It depends on who you ask.
But Google’s map makers are finding that it’s hard to stay impartial to political conflict when putting a name on a map can cause international …
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