229 Items Tagged

Language

There are lots of stories about the provenance of the block letters—but it's hard to pin down the origins.

The Puzzling Provenance of Historic Hebrew Type

It's hard to match the letters with their creators.

Karen Chernick April 9, 2021

Two Women Are Trying to Make India’s Bad Words a Little Less Bad

Is it possible to take the misogyny and bigotry out of cursing?

Reem Khokhar March 25, 2021

Wood artisan Benedicto Tuki Tepano holding a rongorongo tablet.

The Lost Language of Easter Island

A wooden fish could help linguists learn more about the writing system known as rongorongo.

Shafik Meghji March 24, 2021

The English justice system has a certain style.

What Does the Title 'Esquire' Mean, Anyway?

And what does it have to do with lawyering?

Dan Nosowitz February 3, 2021

'Shetland Receivers'

Lerwick, Scotland

'Shetland Receivers'

This audio art installation pays tribute to the weather and unique linguistic history of the archipelago.

The 1975 Hollerin' Contest in Spivey's Corner, North Carolina.

The Rise and Fall of North Carolina's National Hollerin' Contest

Hollers are sort of like the yodels of the American South.

Emily Cataneo September 25, 2020

The 90-Year-Old Virtuoso Keeping Naxi Music Alive in China

An underground musical tradition is under threat again.

Amy Zhang July 7, 2020

Darjeeling, India

Grave of Alexander Csoma de Kőrös

The Hungarian linguistics expert who wrote the first Tibetan–English dictionary was laid to rest in a remote Indian cemetery.

Some people are surprised, even offended, by the Dutch tendency to include illnesses among their curses.

The Wide World of Disease-Based Dutch Profanity

"Get the corona!" is starting to make an appearance.

Dan Nosowitz May 6, 2020

Isolated places such as Antarctica offer working labs for languages.

Prolonged Isolation Can Lead to the Creation of New Accents

Social distancing might not entirely change the way we talk, but a Mars expedition might do the trick.

Isaac Schultz April 20, 2020

The inset map of Utopia, with the accompanying Utopian script (and Latin translation just below it).

For Sale: Sir Thomas More’s Utopian Alphabet

The humanist scholar fudged a language into existence.

Isaac Schultz March 2, 2020

The McGurk Effect shows just how weird the relationship between sound and image are in speech perception.

What Is the Hardest Language in the World to Lipread?

There's a whole lot we don't know about vision and speech perception.

Dan Nosowitz February 18, 2020

Permanently Closed

Galway, Ireland

Áras na nGael

At this cozy bar tucked down a hidden Galway backroad, Guinness makes the Gaelic come out.

A fisherman lights lanterns on Lake Kivu in 2019.

The Language Used Only by Lake Kivu's Fishermen

As they paddle out each night, they sing in a disappearing language.

Leah Feiger January 20, 2020

The work is full of symbolism.

Morelia, Mexico

'Uandákua Tsïuaxati/Brota la Lengua' ('The Language Springs')

One of Mexico's few murals dedicated to an indigenous language.

The hyraxes have previously been shown to have distinct dialects in different regions of Israel.

Interpreting the Squawks, Chirps, and Barks of Israel's Rock Hyraxes

Brevity is the soul of wit, but volume is what really gets you noticed.

Isaac Schultz December 9, 2019

Swedish Stone House.

Lindsborg, Kansas

Stenhuset (Stone House)

The oldest house in Lindsborg, Kansas, includes some fascinating inscriptions.

A group of convicts "bush'd" in Tasmania.

Australia's First Published Dictionary Was Dedicated to 'Convict Slang'

The "flash" language reflected the makeup of the British penal colony at the time.

Matthew Taub October 7, 2019