Science Jul 06 Pop, soda or coke? A linguist explains the history behind the various names for the drink By Valerie M. Fridland, The Conversation
Science Mar 09 Huh? The valuable role of interjections in human conversations Utterances like um, wow and mm-hmm used to be dismissed as irrelevant linguistic detritus. But some linguists now think they play an essential role in regulating conversations, and may be the hardest part of language for artificial intelligence to master. By Bob Holmes, Knowable Magazine
World Dec 21 From St. Nick to Santa to Kris Kringle, why we have different names for the jolly bringer of Christmas gifts You may call him Santa Claus, but the bearded guy in the red suit is a man known by many names. Whether it’s St. Nick, Santa or Kris Kringle, the history of how he got his name is one that… By Valerie M. Fridland, The Conversation
Jul 07 Watch 2:55 How social media ‘likes’ create a conversation of connection You might think linguistics professor Deborah Tannen would lament the effects of social media on how we communicate. Instead, she sees how it fills an essential need for connection, and the ways we've adapted the tools of "liking" and "tagging"… By PBS News Hour
Science Nov 17 Column: How colors get their names A Yale linguist explains how many colors exist in your language’s rainbow. By Claire Bowern, The Conversation
Feb 20 Linguists link English, Hindi to single ancestor language spoken 6,500 years ago By Laura Santhanam Linguists have traced the roots of English, Hindi, Greek and all Indo-European languages to a common ancestor tongue first spoken on the Russian steppes as much as 6,500 years ago. Continue reading
Jan 27 Watch 7:02 What does the world lose when a language dies? By PBS News Hour “Language Matters,” a new PBS documentary, explores how linguistic heritage and traditional cultures around the world are at risk of being lost forever. Jeffrey Brown talks to the show’s host, poet Bob Holman, about the fight to revive languages on… Continue watching