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 [...]
What would our writing look like if the Bic ballpoint pen had never been invented? At its birth, this rudimentary plastic ink roller that every human on the planet now has access to and discards almost weekly had massive effects on the way that we record information, communicate, and even represent our written characters. To fully understand the impact [...]
Can Adults Learn a Second Language? The short answer is yes—adults can (and should!) pick up more than one language. The idea that a student is most receptive to information at a young age, and that the brain hardens against learning new information later, is largely a myth. What actually occurs is that adults leave environments such as schools [...]
The internet has revolutionized many of the ways that humans engage with each other. From new avenues of sharing creative endeavors to broader access to knowledge than at any other point in humanity’s history, the interconnected nature of modern living has changed the social landscape faster than anyone ever expected. However, humans are adaptable creatures, and it has not [...]
While you still see your four- or five-year-old as your precious little one, the kids themselves now feel like they’ve attained big boy and big girl status, and they’re likely even showing flashes of the adults they’ll one day become. A major part of this growth and independence is them flexing their newfound linguistic muscles, as they’ve learned that [...]
