Over two centuries ago, Paul Revere rode on horseback across the Massachusetts countryside declaring, “The British are coming.” That, of course, was a warning about an impending war. Today, the British are making an altogether different kind of incursion into the US: with their language. That’s the claim that Ben Yagoda makes in his latest book, Gobsmacked! The British [...]
Why Study Music and Speech Together? Researchers have long wondered how human language developed into the state in which it currently exists, and few considered how a culture’s music might provide insight into its language as well. Music and speech are intrinsically linked—both as a means of communication and a manner of self-expression. Thus, researchers posited that discovering what [...]
Why Was the Deseret Alphabet Created? The Deseret alphabet was the brainchild of Brigham Young and his colleagues. Young, one of the foundational members of the Mormon Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, sought to create an alternative to English so that adherents of Mormonism could separate themselves from their surrounding culture. In fact, it was Young’s [...]
Non-verbal communication is a universal language that transcends spoken words, conveying emotions, thoughts, and intentions through gestures, facial expressions, and body language. While we may rely on speech to articulate ideas, much of what we communicate is expressed through non-verbal cues. These unspoken signals are powerful, yet their meanings often vary from culture to culture. What might be considered [...]
Code switching is the practice of adjusting one’s speech or writing depending on the circumstances or audience. While some code switching can occur between languages, more often, it arises in variances of dialect or even slang. For instance, imagine a lawyer speaking before a judge. People generally understand that this lawyer would do well to speak formally and politely [...]
Suppose that a young woman from Argentina immigrated with her family to the United States. She has always dreamed of being a psychologist, but upon enrolling in university education to start her training, she discovers that many of the classes (taught in English) are moving at a pace too fast for her to enthusiastically engage with because English is [...]
Indigenous languages have a precarious existence in contemporary times. Although so many local, vernacular languages have been spoken and transmitted for hundreds of years, most find themselves at the threat of extinction today. The severity of the crisis can be aptly conveyed with this one statistic by the United Nations: an indigenous language goes extinct once every two weeks. [...]
Whether you’re a native speaker of American English or you’re just starting to pick it up, you’ve likely noticed how common it is to hear references to sports in conversations regardless of whether the conversation was casual, formal, or even business-related. Americans who reference sports in conversations usually do so through the use of idioms – a phrase or [...]
What Is a “Pidgin”? A pidgin is a type of language used for limited communication between groups who otherwise do not share common linguistic grounds. It is a means of understanding (and being understood) without each party needing to learn the other’s language. While some pidgins remain mostly utilitarian in areas of trade and cohabitation, others become more widely [...]
When Was the Middle Ages? The Middle Ages, often called the “medieval” period, is a nebulous time in history spanning anywhere from the 6th century all the way to around the 14th or 15th century (depending on which region a person is considering). Many scholars would place the true beginning of the Middle Ages at 1150AD, when Old English [...]
