Linguistics

Although the spelling “ñ” only exists in Spanish and Galician, it is true that the sound is not the exclusive heritage of Romance languages; it even exists in languages that do not come from Latin.

The road to becoming a champion speller is made easier with support from family and friends, but ultimately it depends on an individual student’s commitment to learning, a scholar writes.

The Warlpiri Dictionary has been 60 years in the making – and it’s shortlisted for the 2023 Australian Book Industry Awards, a rarity for a dictionary.

More Indigenous sports stars are speaking their mother tongues in TV interviews and elsewhere. The challenge now is to develop truly bilingual commentary teams to keep the ball alive.

Although English to speakers of other languages (Esol) is treated like any other subject, it can offer far more to those learners.

Despite the association of ‘Luddite’ with a naïve rejection of technology, the term and its origins are far richer and more complex than you might think.

Called your ‘inner voice,’ it develops along with your reading skills.

The number of students studying languages in UK universities has plummeted in recent years but some creative thinking may help to reverse that trend.

As ‘The Jerry Springer Show’ climbed the ratings ladder, the censorship bleep, which masked the slew of insults lobbed by warring guests, became a star of the show.

American scientists have used brain scans and machine learning to reconstruct the meaning of stories that people hear, see, or even imagine.

A new, extensive database of language grammars from around the world indicates an alarming trend of global language loss.

Ants are skilled surgeons, bacteria have their own internet, and scientists think sperm whales have names.

Collecting choice Latin lines is easy – the difficulty is trying to work out what they add up to. And women, in particular, come off badly in this collection of Latin’s greatest hits.

The aggressive efforts of social media platforms to police language have spawned a new lexicon meant to evade censors.

Learning how online misogynists use language can help teachers and parents intervene in radicalisation.

Welsh language heist drama, Dal y Mellt, is being streamed on Netflix with the title, Rough Cut.

Your subconscious sense of identity can influence how much your accent changes.

Pip Williams’ follow-up to her internationally bestselling debut novel explores World War I, women’s rights and sisterhood –but what makes it special is its unwavering attention to the making of books.

Despite increasing use of non-English languages demonstrating broader acceptance of linguistic diversity in a globalized world, films sometimes suggest associations between ‘foreignness’ and villainy.

Honeybees possess one of the most complex examples of nonhuman communication. New research suggests that it is learned and culturally passed down from older to younger bees.

Polyglot texts — texts that use many languages — have become increasingly common as writers document struggles between regimes of European hegemony and decolonizing movements.

When a country changes its name or requests changes to the spelling of its name, there are almost always political motives.

Indonesia hasn’t made a strategic effort to push bahasa Indonesia in Australia. That’s in stark contrast to how French and other languages are promoted in Australia, including through cultural events.

Using a code helps distinguish youth sexual culture from that of adults and authorities.

Phrases like ‘I suppose’ and ‘I would argue’ can project a lack of confidence when speaking.

Welsh place names often reflect local legends, fauna and topography. The coining of English names to replace them has sparked an ongoing campaign to protect them.

New research shows that post-coma patients who appear to be in a minimally conscious state can still mentally react to language. This finding could help improve their diagnosis and treatment.

The word ‘queer’ has a history as a widely used and respectful term in the LGBTIQA+ community, as well as being a slur.

There are many benefits to being bilingual.

Canada’s population is more diverse than ever, with many different languages represented. Government policy must reflect that diversity and offer meaningful support to minority languages.