Every language has some way of showing the function of nouns and pronouns within a given sentence. Some languages, such as modern English, rely heavily on word order and prepositions whereas other languages rely on declensions. Declensions are the changes that occur to the endings of articles, pronouns, possessives, adjectives, nouns etc. to show their function in a given sentence. (Changes that occur to verbs are called conjugations).
Read moreSpeak: a short history of languages, was written by Tore Janson, a Swedish linguistics and language professor. The book uncovers the history of how the world’s languages have evolved over the years from prehistory through to modern day touching on the earliest civilizations of Africa, Asia and Europe.
Read more
I just finished reading The Power of Babel by John McWhorter. McWhorter is an American linguistics professor who has written many interesting books on various linguistic topics. As an African-American, he has a special interest in black American English and has written many books on the topic. The Power of Babel however is a general treatment on the history of the languages of the world. It is written for both linguists and laypeople alike and the author uses specific examples from wide reaching languages to show the amazing variety and complexity of human speech.
Read more
When learning a new language there are always those words that you just can’t seem to keep straight. They generally look or sound similar to each other and lead to recurring confusion and frustration. Here is a sampling of a list of commonly confused words I have put together for the use of my students.
Read moreBoth Spanish and German are gendered languages which means that inanimate objects are either male or female and in the case of German even neuter. However, gender in neither of these languages is totally arbitrary as in many cases the final letter or letters of the word can be a key indicator in determining its gender.
Read more
