Five ways in which British English has changed in the internet era

A new study based on a 100 million-word sample of current language shows us just how it has evolved.

Vaclav Brezina, The Conversation

· Jan 04, 2022 · 05:30 pm

How Covid-19 has not only changed our vocabulary, but also made us use language more gently

In April and July 2020, the Oxford English Dictionary released special updates to accommodate new words born in the pandemic.

Janice Pariat

· Jun 19, 2021 · 05:30 pm

Is Rajasthani a single language or a spectrum of many related but distinct tongues?

How can a language with all the granularity and diversity that comes out of a thousand years of evolution be adapted to contemporary institutions?

Dalpat Singh Rajpurohit

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Vishes Kothari

· Feb 28, 2021 · 12:30 pm

Why is the Covid-19 pandemic being compared to war? Western literature from the 1800s has answers

But unlike our times, war was a metaphor for the problem, not the solution.

Julia M Wright, The Conversation

· May 18, 2020 · 05:30 pm

Rajasthani: How a mother language can be lost, and how ‘folk’ histories can reclaim it

On February 21, International Mother Language Day, a study in losing and finding a tongue.

Vishes Kothari

· Feb 21, 2020 · 05:30 pm

You know that warm, fuzzy feeling evoked by cat videos? There is a Sanskrit word to describe it

Researchers believe that a sudden burst of love, a sense of kinship, and faith in worship are all grounded in a single emotion.

Alan Fiske, Aeon

· Dec 28, 2019 · 01:30 pm

Why are language and grammar the way they are? Because of the limitations of the human mind

Studies show that humans are better able to follow grammatical rules that involve changing vowels around consonants and not the other way around.

David Adger, The Conversation

· Sep 10, 2019 · 07:30 pm

How Telugu has become America’s fastest growing foreign language

Between 2010 and 2017, the number of native Telugu speakers in the US surged 86% – the largest uptick in a foreign language-speaking group, a study found.

Ananya Bhattacharya, qz.com

· Sep 27, 2018 · 01:30 pm

No matter what the language of a book (or a person), why do we like some words more than others?

It has to do with sounds, and the lack of baggage.

Carmen Álvarez-Mayo, The Conversation

· Sep 12, 2018 · 05:30 pm

Why West Africa’s widely spoken pidgin tongues should be recognised as official languages

In Nigeria alone, three and five million people use pidgin as their first language while another 75 million have it as their second language.

Edosa James Edionhon, The Conversation

· Aug 27, 2018 · 11:30 pm

The idea of ‘untranslatable’ words says more about English speakers than other cultures

Be sceptical when it's claimed that a language has 'no word for X' or '50 words for Y'.

Laura Bailey, The Conversation

· Aug 13, 2018 · 05:30 pm

Talking in many tongues: London and Mumbai are multilingual – but in different ways

The British capital has over 300 languages, of which English is the main. But in Mumbai, no language takes that top spot.

Jonathan Galton

· Feb 05, 2018 · 12:30 pm