No, conlangs are not languages spoken at cons (science fiction or mystery or cosplay conventions) — although they could be spoken at some of these. Nor are they languages spoken by convicts. The portmanteau word “conlang” simply means “constructed language.”… Read More ›
Linguistics
“My cat likes to be pet.” Does that sentence sound grammatically correct to your ear?
To my ear, at any rate, it does not sound correct. Shouldn’t it be “to be petted”? But I’ve recently heard this use of pet as a past participle (more on that below) from at least two well-educated native speakers… Read More ›
Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English
If you enjoy the English language, but aren’t a professional linguist, you will definitely enjoy this book. If you are sometimes, often, or (yikes) always a prescriptivist, but have an open mind, you’ll not only enjoy it but will also… Read More ›
Finland is part of Scandinavia, isn’t it? And Finnish is a Scandinavian language, isn’t it? Well…no.
More than 90% of Americans believe that Finland is part of Scandinavia and that Finnish is consequently a Scandinavian language. Actually, I made up that “more than 90%” claim. But it wouldn’t surprise me at all if it turned out… Read More ›
Scots
Scots. No, I don’t mean the people from Scotland. I mean the language; “Scots” is a singular noun, not a plural. And yes, it is from Scotland—but it most definitely is not Gaelic. Give up? TIL that Scotland has four… Read More ›
A language-learning proposal
Continuing to sing the praises of the under-appreciated Helen DeWitt, I must tell you about her language-learning proposal. For a bit of context, I will first tell you about a brief conversational exchange I had with my ninth-graders at Weston… Read More ›
မြန်မာဘာသာ
When you read this post on your device, does the title look like (as it should), or does it look like a bunch of boxes? Or maybe just like random gibberish? If your device and software are old, you might… Read More ›
Why isn’t there an “r” in “castle”? And why isn’t there an “r” in “please”?
“Why should there be?” you reply. (It’s always best to answer a question with a question.) Either of the two questions in the title of this post presupposes that an “r” is expected. But why? A brief (but relevant) digression:… Read More ›
Sardinian. (No, it’s not the language that sardines speak.)
Your second guess will probably be that Sardinian is a dialect of Italian spoken on the island of Sardinia, so maybe it really is related to sardines, since you suspect that Sardinia was named after the many sardines that are… Read More ›
Not a cat chair
If you think about the word cathedral—as one does—you imagine that it must have originally meant “cat chair,” since you know that hedra is ancient Greek for “chair.” Right? Well, not exactly. But now, at least, you want to read… Read More ›
Ginnels, jitties, snickets, and twitchels
We’ve all had this experience. You hear or read an unusual word that’s completely new to you—and then, a day or so later, you hear or read it again! Is it a coincidence? It just happened to me with the… Read More ›
Keep your language!
Over 97% of Americans are either immigrants or descendants of immigrants—even if some so-called conservatives don’t want to admit it. But many of us who grew up with immigrant parents or grandparents are unable to speak or read the language(s)… Read More ›
Happy ἐξελαύνω Day!
This is my not-quite-annual “march forth” post wishing everyone a happy Exelauno Day. In case you’ve forgotten, here is my post from a year ago, which happens to be mostly about learning Ukrainian (!) but opens with remarks about Exelauno… Read More ›
No, APL doesn’t stand for “Alison, Phil, and Larry.”
Let’s suppose your unimaginative instructor gave you this task: add up all the whole numbers from 1 through 42. You have, of course, several options: Or, if your language of choice is APL, you could simply write a one-line program… Read More ›
Ὁ Ἡρóδοτος: A beautiful new edition (in English, not Greek)
Can you name three or four ancient world historians? I don’t mean modern writers who study the history of the ancient world; I mean writers who lived in the ancient world and wrote about the history of their time and… Read More ›
Answers for linguistics quiz
Six days ago I gave you a linguistics quiz that Lynne Murphy designed for the holiday season. The quiz is reprinted below so you don’t have to flip back and forth. Here are the answers, with annotations in some cases:… Read More ›
Hints for linguistics quiz
Four days ago I gave you a linguistics quiz that Lynne Murphy designed for the holiday season. The quiz is reprinted below so you don’t have to flip back and forth. Full answers will be posted on Tuesday. For the… Read More ›
ChatGPT from OpenAI
Apparently I’m late jumping on the bandwagon. Everywhere I look, someone else is trying out ChatGPT and commenting on it. This app is supposed to respond like a real human being, given any particular prompt you may type. So I… Read More ›
Your lingquiz for the season
You have been selected to take this language/linguistics quiz written by an American-British linguist. No fair asking Dr. Google or anyone else for help! Hints will be posted on Sunday, answers on Tuesday.
Did Hemingway write in short sentences? You probably think so. But you’re wrong! Science wins again.
You can believe actual data. We’ll call that Door #1. Or you can believe your general “impression.” We’ll call that Door #2. Or you can believe what other people tell you—the “common knowledge” that everyone “knows.” We’ll call that Door… Read More ›