Before the year runs away from me – it’s about to sprint out of sight – I want to catch up here on the links I’ve been gathering (and in some cases tweeting) over the last few weeks. It’s the usual mix of articles, posts, podcasts, and pictures, all of a linguistic theme. Click at will.
Pseudo-anglicisms.
‘This is not your language.’
The etymology of slang – finally.
The art of editing (podcast, 39 min.).
The race to save Hawaii Sign Language.
What whistled speech tells us about the brain.
People with no language (hat tip to John Cowan).
Mr Slang – of GDoS fame – now has a podcast.
bell hooks and the power of names.
Where did they come from?
The gifts of reading.
How to talk comedy writer.
Some asterisks are audible.
What is the nature of inner speech?
Australia’s linguistic history – and mystery.
Predictive text imitation of The Elements of Style.
What different languages call eggs cooked sunny side up.
Umberto Eco on Irish Gaelic as a response and solution to Babel.
Stuttering songbirds and mice could shed light on how language evolved.
The ’empirical inadequacy’ of Chomsky’s universal grammar.
And: an overview of the Chomsky wars in linguistics.
On ‘nasty women’ and other gendered insults.
An extra-terrestrial view of language.
A magical story about typewriters.
Whoever’s grammar is this?
A linguistic review of 2016.
A note on copronyms.
Is alright all right?
The etymology of stuffing.
Why do things get our goat?
Ellen Seligman’s editing alchemy.
The grammar and semantics of mad.
Information distortion from linguistic isolation.
The delicate art of insults in a post-politeness age.
What do we call people of mixed racial background?
Using corpus linguistics to diagnose Alzheimer’s in authors.
The classic model of how the brain handles language is unfit for purpose.
How has the US accent changed in the last century, and why?
An encounter with one of the rarest sounds in language.
Talking to the linguists who consulted on Arrival.
How to explain linguistics to non-linguists.
The sound of Proto-Indo-European.
Gender in grammar and in biology.
What do emoji sound like?
Creepy-crawly etymology.
Typos in eternal rest.
Cool list, there are some really great links here – I love the one about the type writer museum, the guy was so happy it made me happy for him!
Me too! It was an endearing story well told.
The story about the guy with no language was both mindblowing and very moving.
It’s extraordinary. I first heard of him only this year, in a book by Temple Grandin, then John Cowan shared that interview in a comment to my post about the ‘wild child’ Genie.
Stan, I often dip in and read a couple of your links. Today I found 2 treasures already, people of no language and the gifts of reading, both moving. Thank you for these gifts.
You’re very welcome, Dawn. I’m glad you found them, and found them to your liking.