Want to build a language from scratch? Start with the question who will speak it, and why

It’s impossible to invent a perfect language. But Klingon from ‘Star Trek’ and Na’vi from ‘Avatar’ have shown how context makes all the difference.

Bettina Beinhoff, The Conversation

· Sep 13, 2019 · 05:30 pm

Twitter is helping the ancient Scots language thrive (and garner attention)

The platform has provided a forum for the written Scots language to evolve in a way that wasn’t possible before the advent of social media.

E Jamieson and Sadie Ryan, The Conversation

· Aug 15, 2019 · 09:30 pm

The haleem debate: Why some Indian Muslims are renaming the Ramzan delicacy ‘daleem’

The new social media-driven Indian Muslim has suddenly realised that ‘haleem’ is a name for God. What does that say about religion in a hyperconnected age?

Shoaib Daniyal

· Jun 03, 2019 · 11:30 am

Shaheed and martyr are religious terms. Should they be used for Indian soldiers killed in battle?

Both words have very specific meanings in Islamic and Christian history.

Shoaib Daniyal

· Mar 10, 2019 · 06:30 am

No Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan? Implemented fully, BJP’s Hindutva renaming will wipe out a lot of India

Earlier attempts to erase the lexical traces of India’s syncretic culture have been made – with little success.

Shoaib Daniyal

· Nov 20, 2018 · 08:00 am

Unsolicited advice to writers: Why you should learn to love the full stop.

We live in an age when the full stop is losing its power. The talky, casual prose of texting and online chat often manages without it.

Joe Moran, The Conversation

· Oct 18, 2018 · 05:30 pm

Surging Hindi, shrinking South Indian languages: Nine charts that explain the 2011 language census

So ascendent is Hindi that the data suggests even some Urdu speakers are now identifying themselves as Hindiwalahs.

Shoaib Daniyal

· Jul 04, 2018 · 07:30 am

What Malay works from Patani tell us about the literary and cultural heritage of Southeast Asia

Patani, located on the northeast coast of the Malay peninsula, has long been renowned as a centre for Islamic learning.

Annabel Gallop

· Aug 06, 2017 · 08:30 pm

Why do human beings speak so many languages?

There's little research into origins of the geographic patterns of language diversity.

Michael Gavin, The Conversation

· Jul 22, 2017 · 08:30 pm

The rise of Hinglish: How the media created a new lingua franca for India's elites

Hindi is muscling in where English was the chosen tongue, making speakers of regional Indian languages jittery.

Shoaib Daniyal

· Jun 18, 2017 · 09:00 am

The man behind a 9,000-page, eight-volume Kannada dictionary that took 54 years to write

Professor G Venkatasubbiah, at a sprightly 104, is still the man for all Kannada-related linguistic crises.

Srinath Perur

· Mar 20, 2017 · 11:30 am

Biggest BBC World Service expansion in 40 years aims to extend British soft power

The BBC will add 11 new languages, including Gujarati, Punjabi, Pigdin and Korean.

Abdullahi Abubakar, The Conversation

· Nov 25, 2016 · 11:30 pm