“It may be intuitive that people would make the same choices regardless of the language they are using, or that the difficulty of using a foreign language would make decisions less systematic. We discovered, however, that the opposite is true: Using a foreign language reduces decision-making biases,” wrote Keysar’s team.

The researchers believe a second language provides a useful cognitive distance from automatic processes, promoting analytical thought and reducing unthinking, emotional reaction.

(Source: didyoudrinkmygingerale)

While working with endangered languages

selchieproductions:

you will sometimes stumble upon people who seem to forget that the reason why these languages should be saved has little or nothing to do with preserving them for the sole reason of ‘maintaining global cultural diversity’ but everything to do with supporting oppressed people and communities in their wish to keep their own cultures alive. Mufwene refers to this as treating languages as actors and the speakers of these languages as nothing but victims; in other words, too many linguists dealing with endangered languages focus on a language’s right to survive, not on an endangered speech community’s rights to use or not use it.  

Even worse - and this is particularly obvious in literature - when a member of an endangered speech community chooses to express themselves through a colonial majority language, their right to do so is always questioned by the establishment and said members often end up being portrayed as language traitors, thus ignoring the very real fact that speakers of endangered languages operate in naturally polyglot worlds, theirs is a world where survival equals being able to switch between several different vernaculars on a regular basis. To treat someone who favours another language over their own language as somewhat of a traitor is unfair and yet another way in which we try to police minority identities.

In communities where language loss equals one’s everyday life, where one’s ancestors were given the option to choose between linguicide or genocide, there are few things that sting as much as being branded a bad representative of one’s culture simply by not speaking what outsiders consider to be your ‘own language’.

canadianraising:

Thanks @didyoudrinkmygingerale for the suggestion!!

palmerlanguage:

interesting article. it just goes to show that linguistics is a subject with many cross-disciplinary applications.

pixelpapers:

Something I found out about having a word on the tip of your tongue.

So cool. 

Mentee backformation rage: a workplace hazard

superlinguo:

Colleague: ARGH
Me: You ok there?
Colleague:This document I’m reading uses the word “mentee”. I HATE the word “mentee”
Me: Oh c’mon, you can’t hate words. Words are great. But it is a weird word, yeah.
Colleague: It’s made up! “Mentor” comes from a name in mythology! You can’t just make “mentee” from it!
Me: Ah, backformation, that old chestnut. Roll with it, homie.
Colleague: *fumes*
Me: I think it’s funny, it looks like “manatee” *looks up pictures of manatees on the internet*

Indeed, “mentee” is an excellent example of backformation, the process whereby a new word is derivedby removing/adding actual or supposed affixes, in this case swapping the “or” suffix for “ee”.

In the case of Mentor, the “or” wasn’t originally a suffix like we see in “director” or “leaser”, meaning ‘the one who does something’.

Mentor was a figure in Greek mythology, who was then the namesake of a character in a modern book (1699) called Les Aventures de Telemaque, by the French writer François Fénelon (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentor). This book is thought to be the source of the current usage of “mentor”, meaning a trusted friend, counsellor or teacher, usually a more experienced person.

Because “mentor” has moved into general usage as a noun from its original proper noun status, we have started to deconstruct it and derive new words from it. This is the beauty of language - we can get very creative and productive, and make new words to express what we require.

In this case, we need a succinct label for the “person-who-receives-mentoring”, and “mentee” fits the bill pretty well. Most people would be able to easily derive its meaning, due to the other examples of this “ee” suffix in general use like “employer/employee”.

I think in future though I’ll make sure I use “protégé” around my colleague if I ever need to describe this relationship. I think that’ll prevent his mythological rage from arising again in the face of “mentee”.

(Source: samoanpunch)

rosie-girl:

This site offers definitions, and a thesaurus of common phrases.  It is very cool. :)

moniquemallo:

Whether it be uptalk (pronouncing statements as if they were questions? Like this?), creating slang words like “bitchin’ ” and “ridic,” or the incessant use of “like” as a conversation filler, vocal trends associated with young women are often seen as markers of immaturity or even stupidity.

But linguists — many of whom once promoted theories consistent with that attitude — now say such thinking is outmoded. Girls and women in their teens and 20s deserve credit for pioneering vocal trends and popular slang, they say, adding that young women use these embellishments in much more sophisticated ways than people tend to realize….

NY Times Article

"The American constitutions were to liberty, what a grammar is to language: they define its parts of speech, and practically construct them into syntax."

vowelsme:

Bwahaha. Grammar nazi fail.

The language that is most difficult for a person to learn depends on their native tongue and on how closely their native language is related to the one they are trying to learn.

For instance, while the Japanese language has been touted as one of the most difficult languages for Americans to master, it is not so for Chinese speakers.

(Source: cokekitty)

mrrscience:

The QWERTY Effect: The Keyboards Are Changing Our Language!

Language Change

extravidual:

All languages change through time, but how they change, what drives these changes, and what kinds of changes we can expect may not be obvious. By comparing different languages, different dialects of the same language, or different historical stages of the same language, we can discover the history of languages and language groups or families. We can make hypotheses about grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation of a language long dead.

Languages change in all aspects of the grammar: phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics.
The following versions of the Lord’s Prayer give a good demonstration of how English has changed over time. These passages are written in the standard spelling of the times they come from. While we know that spelling is not necessarily a good transcription system, the writings here do give a fairly accurate sense of some of the changes that have occured in English.

Old English (text ca. 1100)
Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum, si þin nama gehalgod. Tobecume þin rice. Gewurþe ðin willa on eorðan swa swa on heofonum. Urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us to dæg. And forgyf us ure gyltas, swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum. And ne gelæd þu us on costnungen ac alys us of yfele. Soþlice.

Middle English (text ca. 1400)
Oure fadir that art in heuenes halowid be thi name, thi kyngdom come to, be thi wille don in erthe es in heuene, yeue to us this day oure bread ouir other substance, & foryeue to us oure dettis, as we forgeuen to oure dettouris, & lede us not in to temptacion: but delyuer us from yuel, amen.

Early Modern English (text 1611)
Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdome come. Thy will be done, in earth, as it is in heaven. Giue vs this day our dayly bread. And forgiue vs our debts, as we forgiue our debters. Ande leade vs not into temptation, but deliuer vs from euill: For thine is the kingdome, and the power, and the glory, for euer, Amen.

Contemporary English
Our Father, who is in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your kingdom come into being. May your will be followed on earth, just as it is in heaven. Give us this day our food for the day. And forgive us our offenses, just as we forgive those who have offended us. And do not bring us to the test, but free us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours forever. Amen.

doublenerdscore:

The etymologist in me totally wants to read this book. I admit I’m more keen on Elvish than Klingon but maybe that’s a reflection not just of my nerdom but my personal nature.

I adore studies of language, from pidgin to cursing. This might have something to do with studying SLP.