Author Archives: brinton

John Mikhail, a Law Professor at Georgetown University Law School, has researched the meaning of the term “emoluments” using dictionaries dating from the time of the framing of the US Constitution, including specifically those that are known to have been … Continue reading →

Geoffrey Pullum expresses a healthy dose of skepticism about Koko’s command of “language”: https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2018/06/27/koko-is-dead-but-the-myth-of-her-linguistic-skills-lives-on/

Perhaps! https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/09/arts/that-syllable-everyone-recognizes.html

If you are an English or Italian speaker, you may say “thank you” more than others, but still omit it in many instances when interlocutors comply with your requests: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/22/arts/23thank-you.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share

Both your inherent speaking style (whether you tolerate silences or not) and gender (yours and the speakers’) may affect how you view interruptions: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/may/18/why-do-people-interrupt-it-depends-on-whom-youre-talking-to

Why is it that some people hear “laurel” and some hear “yanni”? There is a phonological explanation: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/05/dont-rest-on-your-laurels/560483/

Such language loss is possible, but depends on a number of factors, such as age, frequency of use, etc.: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180606-can-you-lose-your-native-language

Despite the title of this article, it mostly addresses changes in language which the author sees taking place (or about to take place) and which she attributes to the internet, to television, to advertising, and to politicians: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/mar/12/grammar-gripes-why-do-we-love-to-complain-about-language?CMP=share_btn_link We must, … Continue reading →

Geoffrey Pullum, writing in “Lingua Franca”, a column in The Chronicle of Higher Education, rates an article from the British newspaper The Telegraph one of the “dumbest of the week”. The article argues that emojis are ruining young people’s “grasp … Continue reading →

This article discusses the myth that Shakespeare coined 1700 words and is largely responsible for the English language. While the author rejects this number, he largely shares the view of Shakespeare’s prodigious contribution to the English lexicon: http://www.openculture.com/2018/04/the-1700-words-invented-by-shakespeare.html However, Jonathan … Continue reading →