Category Archives: Uncategorized

Oxford English Dictionary Word of the Year 2021: Vax

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/oct/31/vax-chosen-as-word-of-the-year-by-oxford-english-dictionary-firm

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What is the effect of emojis?

Research shows that sentences containing emojis can be processed very quickly, but “sentences” consisting entirely of emojis cannot. Thus, they will never replace text. This article argues that emojis function much like tones of voice, hand gestures, facial expressions, etc. … Continue reading

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Franco-Ontarian French

There are interesting effects of English on the French spoken in Sudbury:https://www.sudbury.com/local-news/the-challenge-of-speech-language-pathology-in-a-city-that-speaks-frenglish-4202453?fbclid=IwAR3OWj9cKmlkAQVzHettZufU7F1_VcEad9PCc4zW2CRW7WI6AVxTp4NDZi0

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Appalachian English

Listen to this very interesting podcast about the new historical dictionary of Southern Appalachian English:https://reckonsouth.com/the-unique-language-of-southern-appalachia/?fbclid=IwAR0Y4DUDM_fJVeG9GCFvp4J07iOPs0tINj-CrzQvwgGPneRn5HuUxjb130A

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An Old English manuscript available online

The Exeter Book is now available for viewing online: Exeter Book Now Available to Browse Online  

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The closest language to English

The LSA’s podcast “Subtitle” discusses the closest language to English, Frisian: The language closest to English

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Does the use of a gender neutral pronoun change attitudes?

The LSA podcast “Subtitle” has a very interesting discussion of the introduction of the Swedish 3rd person singular gender neutral pronoun “hen”. This is likely a borrowing from Finnish “hän”. It was discussed by a linguist in the 1950s and … Continue reading

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Some notes on the history of “they” as a gender-neutral pronoun

The use of “they” as a gender-neutral 3rd person singular pronoun has a long history going back to Middle English (see the OED entry for “they”, def. AI2). This article refers to some early 20th century attempts to deal with … Continue reading

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Obituary for Katherine Barber, editor of Canadian Oxford Dictionary

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books/article-the-word-lady-shared-her-passion-for-canadian-english/

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Scientists reconstruct Neanderthal ear to hear what they heard: consonants!

https://www.binghamton.edu/news/story/2903/neanderthals-had-the-capacity-to-perceive-and-produce-human-speech

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