Tag: Linguistic

In the heart of Berlin, you’ll hear a distinct dialectal word that sets it apart from the rest of Germany. “Ick,” a term that replaces the more common “Ich” in high German, is a staple of Berliner Schnauze — the city’s rough-and-tumble dialect. But where did...

In 2014, I embarked on a fantastic journey to learn French, a beautiful and intricate language, full of nuance and romance. I even lived in France for a year, immersing myself in the language and culture. Yet, once I left, I felt my hard-earned linguistic skills start to slowly fade away. As a devel...

In the vast, uncharted territories of the English language, where phrases roam wild and free, there exists a peculiar phenomenon — a phrase that defies the very fabric of time itself: “It’s been a minute.” This quirky expression, a master of disguise, is often used to ref...

Have you ever been lied to? The answer to that question is, of course, yes. You have likely even accepted lying as a fact of daily life. Lies come in all sizes and varieties, and for many people, social norms enforce simple lies in everyday conversation (How often are you actually doing well when...

When it comes to archaeological discoveries, few can match the enduring significance and intrigue of the Rosetta Stone. This artefact came to light when Napoleon’s soldiers stumbled upon it more than 200 years ago. From its discovery, it soon became evident that it was no ordinary stone block....

The word vision is a noun that has two meanings: it can be a thing seen and it can also be the sense or faculty by which a thing is seen. It is a thing we see and it is the way we see a thing. The opening line of the hymn becomes more complex when both definitions of vision ...

I’ve written about how learning the term “Passion Economy” helped me see how much of my thinking these past few years has been about that topic — but it wasn’t until I learned the term that I was able to connect the dots. My father, a retired professor and city burea...

Linguistic diversity is one of the most remarkable features of human civilization, encompassing a vast array of languages, dialects, and linguistic traditions that have evolved over millennia. From the rhythmic cadences of tonal languages to the intricate grammar of polysynthetic tongues, the world&...

Farmer: Many people pronounce that February different from what I’ve always heard it pronounced: “Feberary,” “Febuary.” I don’t know how they get that kind of Uh on that U. Patrick Cox: It’s 1960. The man being questione...

Somehow, cyberpunk fiction has become one of the defining modes of popular mainstream narrative entertainment in the 2010s. Perhaps this is due to the ever-growing power of real-life megacorporations mimicking depictions in the dystopian style, or omnipresent technological advancement sparking broad...

The Role of AI in Language Advancements With the integration of AI in our daily lives — think Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant — there’s an evident influence on how languages are spoken and understood. These AI tools, designed for natural language processing (NLP), need ...