Even if you don’t have a word for it, you can make one up.
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Articles on Linguistics
Displaying 301 - 320 of 363 articles
The word “cunt” has made its way into popular discourse, and while some are still offended by it, it’s nowhere near as outrageous as it once was.
Children don’t learn all aspects of language from their parents, but invent a language structure themselves.
As genders blur, language is rapidly adapting. Look no further than the American Dialect Society’s 2015 Word of the Year.
Australian’s care so much about regional differences in words because it’s a reflection on a person’s identity.
The taboo meaning of the f-word is not nearly as common as the use of the word as an “emphatic intensifier”, or in the various idioms.
No matter where in the world you are, keep up with the adventures of D2R2 and Jabba the Forester.
We are only just starting to understand the linguistic tools that get stuff done, move us to tears, bore us to death, or make us dizzy with delight.
How do you make a digital mapping system give directions like a stranger in the street?
In his new book, Randall Munroe of xkcd fame takes the principles of clear communication to what feels like their furthest extent, but there’s a place for dense grammar in our theories and ideas.
The Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year is causing a bit of a stir – probably because it’s not a word at all.
During the 20th century, English accents began to pick up traits from the capital. In the west of Scotland, though, something different has been going on.
A linguist explains how words get co-opted from one language to another.
Much has been written about vocal fry in recent years, with the focus on what it is, where it comes from and what it means … at least when it comes to females who fry. What’s really going on here?
The idea that the Australian accent may be the product of drunkenness in early European settlers is wildly speculative. And yet it has gained international attention in the past week. Why?
The discovery that “Huh?” crops up in many languages may have won the researchers an Ig Nobel Prize. But they found much more than that in their search for the universals in language.
What’s in a name? Many words are arbitrary – there’s no reason a dog must be called a dog or a table must be called a table. Why do we tend to assume there’s a reason any object has its specific name?
What can a bunch of people grunting in a lab teach us about our capacity to create language systems? A lot about the gesture- or vocalization-based origins of language.
There are two functions of language: communication and access to knowledge. Each must be pursued as an objective in its own right rather than being lumped together.
In the face of war, disease and outside cultural pressures, the Chitimacha language has survived – and now thrives.
Top contributors
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Kate Burridge is a Friend of The Conversation.Professor of Linguistics, Monash University
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Senior Lecturer in Linguistics, Monash University
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Associate Dean and Professor of Psychology, University of Memphis
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Associate Professor in Linguistics, Macquarie University
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Professor of Linguistics, University of York
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Lecturer in Department of Language and Linguistics, University of Essex
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Professor of English Language and Literature, University of Oxford
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Research fellow in Linguistics, Monash University
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Professor of Psychology, Cornell University
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Reader in Discourse Studies, Lancaster University
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Course coordinator, The University of Queensland
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Professor, Charles Darwin University
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Professor of Linguistics and English, Florida International University
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Professor of Linguistics
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Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, University of Essex
