Researchers at the University of Reading are speculating that today’s languages share a common root dating as far back as the last Ice Age. Words like "mother," "man" and "ashes" are categorized as "ultraconserved," meaning they are survivors of a lost language from which many modern tongues are descended.
http://www.npr.org/2013/05/09/182624059/could-you-talk-to-a-caveman-researchers-say-yes
Tagged with npr language linguistics words
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are tracking changes in the Philadelphia accent. Reporter Zack Seward dips into archives that include more than a century’s worth of Philly natives. The researchers say most regional accents are alive and well, even in the digital age, but they’re always changing.
http://www.npr.org/2013/04/05/176368267/dialects-changing-but-not-disappearing-in-philadelphia
Tagged with npr language linguistics philadelphia dialect english
Anthropologists find that the use of "emotional" words in all sorts of books has soared and dipped across the past century, roughly mirroring each era’s social and economic upheavals. And psychologists say this new form of language analysis may offer a more objective view into our culture.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/04/01/175584297/mining-books-to-map-emotions-through-a-century
NPR’s Robert Siegel talks with linguistics professor David Harrison of Swarthmore College. Harrison verified the existence of a disappearing language: Chylum. It’s spoken by the people of central Siberia. (Field recordings courtesy of Ironbound Films Inc., from their upcoming PBS special about endangered languages.)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1640143
Tagged with npr language linguistics siberia
Robert Siegel talks with John McWhorter, associate professor of linguistics at University of California, Berkeley, who has written a new book The Power of Babel. McWhorter discusses how languages have evolved and why some languages are complex and others simple. (7:45) The book is to be published this month by Henry Holt.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1136083
Tagged with npr linguistics language for:wordridden
Linguist Christopher J. Moore has made a career of searching out some of the world’s most "untranslatable" expressions â words from around the globe that defy an easy translation into English. Moore shares a few of his linguistic favorites from his new book In Other Words: A Language Lover’s Guide to the Most Intriguing Words Around the World.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4457805
Rebecca Morelle looks at some of the new research in this growing area of forensics, including the credibility of ear witness accounts and whether it’s possible to distinguish hoax 999 calls from genuine ones.
Tagged with bbc frontiers science forensic phonetics language linguistics
"Big Data" had just as much to do with President Obama’s victory as phrases like "Etch A Sketch" and "47 percent," says linguist Geoff Nunberg. Big Data is also behind anxieties about intrusions on our privacy, whether from the government’s anti-terrorist data sweeps or the ads that track us on the Web.
http://www.npr.org/2012/12/20/167702665/geoff-nunbergs-word-of-the-year-big-data
A new book by Nataly Kelly and Jost Zetzsche uncovers tales of language and translation, like the story of Peter Less, whose family was killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. Just a few years later, Less interpreted for those very same people at the Nuremberg trials.
http://www.npr.org/2012/10/28/163534252/stories-of-the-power-of-language-found-in-translation
Jim al-Khalili talks to Steven Pinker, a scientist who’s not afraid of controversy. From verbs to violence, many say his popular science books are mind-changing. He explains why toddlers say “holded” not held and “digged” rather than dug; how children’s personalities are shaped largely by their genes and why, he believes the recent rioters had plenty of self-esteem.
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