A newly-instated elective course for high school students in the Gaza Strip may have an unpredictable effect on Israeli-Hamas relations. Beginning this fall, Hebrew will be added as an elective for ninth-graders in a handful of Gaza schools. If deemed...
The famous case of French journalist and editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who was paralyzed after a stroke and left unable to speak, brought to public attention the condition known as locked-in syndrome. Though unable to speak or write, Bauby dictated his...
During this election season, American presidential hopefuls will raise and spend some 6 billion dollars, according to experts. No less important, the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will spend countless words to woo the electorate, relying on...
Does it seem arbitrary to prefer typing certain letters on a keyboard over others? A new study out of the University College of London suggests that a predilection for keys found on the right side of the keyboard is not...
A recent study conducted by University of Pennsylvania psychologists Elika Bergelson and Daniel Swingley may show that the first signs of language recognition in infants occur earlier than has initially been believed. The study tested language comprehension in 6- to...
Among the most divisive regional differences in the United States are dialect and vocabulary, revealing the outsider at the drop of a syllable. When addressing an individual (a “you”) in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvanians say “yins,” but in Georgia “y’all” is the...
Language and its origins have been a heated source of debate for centuries, with the end result being that there’s no clear consensus on its origin or even its age. In fact, many scholars have flat out avoided the subject,...
Although northern Ukraine is considered by many linguists to be the point of origin of the Slavic people, the country itself has, for centuries, been politically overshadowed by its behemoth neighbor to the east. From Tsarist times – which saw...
What are the factors that both motivate and impede us from learning foreign languages? A recent study by Alastair Henry at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden examines Swedish students’ decreased interest and success rate in learning languages besides English....
A gamble in one language could be an opportunity in another. In a recently published study, psychologists at the University of Chicago examined what happened when participants in a series of experiments weighed their odds in high-risk situations, like profit...
Have you ever wondered about the origins of indigenous languages spoken throughout the United States? We often don’t think about North America’s great wealth of indigenous languages. Nor do we usually consider that, as time has passed, many of these...
How does a researcher broach the fields of linguistics, psychology, and computer science? Dr. James Pennebaker, Chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, does it by plugging text into a computer to attempt to...
Spoonerism (n.): the transposition of initial or other sounds of words, usually by accident. Also known in other languages as: French – contrepèterie German – Schüttelreim Spanish – trastrueque verbal Greek – Σαρδάμ Polish – marrowsky Finnish – sananmuunnos As...
In a BBC News Magazine article published several months ago, Matthew Engel discusses and laments Americanisms. The article, “Viewpoint: Why Do Some Americanisms Irritate People?,” explores the increasing presence of Americanisms in the British vernacular, and how some Americanisms should...
Many roads lead to the education of a populace and the process and approaches to that end have changed, undergone scrutiny, been adapted, ramified, and revisited over mankind’s existence. Many centuries-old techniques, such as the regular memorization of poetry both...
We’ve all experienced the occasional verbal slip-up, whether we’re nervous or the words just don’t come out right. In casual speech between friends, a faux pas is usually laughed off and moved on from as quickly as it appeared. However,...
The process of second-language acquisition in children is a brilliantly whimsical foray into how the mind superimposes available rules onto new terrain. Young students do not have to contend with the fears and hang-ups that adult language-learners struggle with, and...
If you had told a linguist five years ago that text messaging would help save an endangered language, he or she probably would have laughed in your face. But it’s true, according to Samuel Herrera of the linguistics laboratory at...
Spring break is upon us. Do you know where your documents are? One of the biggest hassles for international travelers is gathering all manner of necessary forms and applications to make their dream vacations a reality. Despite rising fuel prices...
A while back, we compiled five of the best TED talks on language that were available through TED’s website. Among the presentations was one by the popular linguist, Steven Pinker. Here’s the description we wrote about that talk: “Steven Pinker...
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