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This article talks about how people across many cultures are generally better at describing warm colors than cool colors. A study they conducted supports their hypothesis that people are better at communicating warm colors than cool colors because most of the objects they see are warm in color, while backgrounds tend to be cool in color. Therefore, since people are more likely to describe an object than the background behind it, they have developed a larger vocabulary for warm colors. The article also says that interestingly, industrialized cultures have more words for colors than non-industrialized cultures. For example, in English there are 11 color words that basically everyone is familiar with whereas in the language Tsimane', there are only three color words that everyone knows.

In many languages, pitch is as important as consonants and vowels for distinguishing one word from another. In English, "pay" and "bay" are different because they have different starting sounds. But imagine if "pay" said on a high pitch meant "to give money," while "pay" said on a low pitch meant "a broad inlet of the sea where the land curves inward." That's what it feels like to speak what linguists call a tonal language. At least a billion and a half people worldwide do it their entire lives and think nothing of it. The article goes on to talk about which areas of the world have the highest concentration of tonal languages and reasons why that might be, also some of the advantages of speaking a tonal language.

On the Isle of Man, illustrator Vicky Webb, 31, and Manx husband Dylan, have designed a book using Manx words to both help children learn the alphabet and keep the ancient Manx language alive.

Have you ever experienced an emotion or feeling that couldn't be described in words? There may be the perfect word for it in another language! This article shares 13 words from languages around the world that have no direct translation in English, such as "depaysement": the feeling of not belonging in a foreign country.

Columbia University linguist John McWhorter opines on the impact AI translation might have on second language learning. We already know that Americans and UK folx are the most monolingual populations in the world; fewer than one in 100 American students currently become proficient in a language they learned in school. McWhorter argues that AI might offer utilitarian practicality for casual users, e.g. translating useful phrases on the fly while traveling: "With an iPhone handy and an appropriate app downloaded, foreign languages will no longer present most people with the barrier or challenge they once did." Yet McWhorter also says, "I don't think these tools will ever render learning foreign languages completely obsolete. Real conversation in the flowing nuances of casual speech cannot be rendered by a program, at least not in a way that would convey full humanity." He also suggests that genuinely acquiring a language will still beckon a few select people, e.g. those relocating to a new country, those who'd like to engage with literature or media in the original language, as well as those of us who find pleasure in mastering these new codes: that language learning will become "an artisanal pursuit" of sorts.

A 2022 University of Cambridge study conducted by Sahakian, Langley, Chen, et al., and published in the journal _Neurology_, shows that that social isolation is linked to changes in brain structure and cognition - the mental process of acquiring knowledge - it even carries an increased risk of dementia in older adults. Previous research established that brain regions consistently involved in diverse social interactions are strongly linked to networks that support cognition, including the default mode network (which is active when we are not focusing on the outside world), the salience network (which helps us select what we pay attention to), the subcortical network (involved in memory, emotion and motivation) and the central executive network (which enables us to regulate our emotions). This particular study examined how social isolation affects grey matter - brain regions in the outer layer of the brain, consisting of neurons. It investigated data from nearly 500,000 people from the UK Biobank, with a mean age of 57. People were classified as socially isolated if they were living alone, had social contact less than monthly and participated in social activities less than weekly. The study also included neuroimaging (MRI) data from approximately 32,000 people. That data revealed that socially isolated people had poorer cognition, including in memory and reaction time, and lower volume of grey matter in many parts of the brain. These areas included the temporal region (which processes sounds and helps encode memory), the frontal lobe (which is involved in attention, planning and complex cognitive tasks) and the hippocampus - a key area involved in learning and memory, which is typically disrupted early in Alzheimer's disease. We also found a link between the lower grey matter volumes and specific genetic processes that are involved in Alzheimer's disease. Follow-ups with participants 12 years later showed that those who were socially isolated, but not

Ubiquitous video technology and social media have given deaf people a new way to communicate. They're using it to transform American Sign Language. For more than a century, the telephone has helped shape how people communicate. But it had a less profound impact on American Sign Language, which relies on both hand movements and facial expressions to convey meaning. Until, that is, phones started to come with video screens. Over the past decade or so, smartphones and social media have allowed ASL users to connect with one another as never before. Face-to-face interaction, once a prerequisite for most sign language conversations, is no longer required. Video has also given users the opportunity to teach more people the language - there are thriving ASL communities on YouTube and TikTok - and the ability to quickly invent and spread new signs, to reflect either the demands of the technology or new ways of thinking.

An article discusses the effect of text on communication, and why people tend to text others even when they are with others in person. It also talks about the future of texting and its possible effects on human connection.

This article shows the potential influence that AI has on the economy. AI uses coding and programming through communication between computers in order to function

Jonah DeChants, a research scientist at the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ mental health nonprofit notes an "explosion of language that we're seeing around how young people express their gender." A 2001research study of 34,700+ US youth released Monday by the LGBTQ mental health nonprofit the Trevor Project found that over one in four (26%) LGBTQ youth identified as nonbinary. An additional 20% said they are not sure or are questioning whether they identify as nonbinary. The term "nonbinary" refers to people whose gender does not fit within the traditional binary construction of male or female. Drawing from an online survey conducted between October and December of 2020 of over 34,700 LGBTQ youth in the U.S., the Trevor Project found that while the term "nonbinary" has often been associated with a trans or transitioning person, only half of the respondents who identified as nonbinary also identified as transgender. (An additional 20% said they were not sure or questioning whether they are transgender). While 72% of respondents who identified as nonbinary said they use the term to describe their gender identity, other terms were also cited, including queer (used by 29% of respondents), gender non-confirming (27%), genderfluid (24%), genderqueer (23%), androgynous (23%), agender (15%), demigirl (10%), demiboy (8%), genderflux (4%), and bigender (4%). (Queer is also a term people can use to identify their sexuality, which is separate from gender identity. Most the nonbinary youth sampled reported being multisexual or attracted to multiple genders.) "More and more young people are taking control over their gender identity, and finding language and terms that resonate with them," DeChants continues. "And expressing that in the world in [ways] that we haven't necessarily seen in the past." The majority of nonbinary respondents said they use pronouns outside the gender binary-such as "they/them" or "xe/xem." Here, DeChants notes an "emp

The urge to converse with animals is age-old, long predating the time when smartphones became our best friends. A new app, is the product of a growing interest in enlisting additional intelligences - machine-learning algorithms - to decode animal communication. The app detects and analyzes cat utterances in real-time, assigning each one a broadly defined "intent," such as happy, resting, hunting or "mating call." It then displays a conversational, plain English "translation" of whatever intent it detects. MeowTalk uses the sounds it collects to refine its algorithms and improve its performance, the founders said, and pet owners can provide in-the-moment feedback if the app gets it wrong. In 2021, MeowTalk researchers reported that the software could distinguish among nine intents with 90 percent accuracy overall. But the app was better at identifying some than others, not infrequently confusing "happy" and "pain," according to the results. Dogs could soon have their own day. Zoolingua, a start-up based in Arizona, is hoping to create an A.I.-powered dog translator that will analyze canine vocalizations and body language. Still, even sophisticated algorithms may miss critical real-world context and cues, said Alexandra Horowitz, an expert on dog cognition at Barnard College. For instance, much of canine behavior is driven by scent. "How is that going to be translated, when we don't know the extent of it ourselves?" Dr. Horowitz said in an email.

"Sporting metaphors always overrun the language of politics in the English-speaking world at election time - and perhaps most of all in the US. We have now reached the point in the race for the White House when it helps to keep a glossary of American sporting terms ever close at hand."

Thought-provoking article on the absorption of drag slang and AAVE into mainstream language, and the legitimacy of "crossing over." Much of our everyday language has roots in various subcultures. With the rise of social media, the lines between "subculture" and "mainstream" are starting to blur further. As just one example, drag slang and AAVE words are absorbed into mainstream slang with an almost clockwork-like consistency. But does this terminology belong to the communities who created it? What's the boundary between the natural evolution of language and cultural appropriation? Author Eleanor Tremeer notes, "In an ideal world, the fusion of social groups and cultures would organically lead to the merging of dialects. The problem, as always, lies in oppression. Black individuals and LGBT people are marginalized: Their cultures are seen as unprofessional, they frequently live below the poverty line, they are targeted for prosecution. Yes, words are just words. But as long as people are still oppressed because they belong to certain groups, the usage of their vernacular by those on top - white people, rich people, corporations - will always have sinister undertones."

The immigration debate often centers on who should be welcomed into our country. Some even argue that multiculturalism dilutes our national character - that the very the essence of the country is somehow vanishing. But far from undermining the American experiment, immigrants enhance our culture by introducing new ideas, cuisines and art. They also enrich the English language. As newcomers master a new language, they lend words from their native lexicon to the rest of us. While American English can be perceived as a threat to the survival of other cultures around the world, within our country it is a force that helps to bind us together, even as ideological polarization pulls the other way. Immigrants help us reinvigorate our multitudinous language.

The island of Vanuatu is currently at risk of sea level rise due to climate change. If it continues to progress the way it has been, people will need to leave the island. The issue is that there are 110 languages spoken in Vanuatu. Because of this, people are worried that once people are displaced in multiple different countries, their languages will be lost forever.

I thought was a really interesting and helpful website. The entries are short but you can request access to full articles as well. It has articles on LANGUAGE EFFECTS ON PERSONAL IDENTITY, PROFANITY AND MEDIA, PRAGMATISM OF CURSE WORDS, YOUTH SLANG EXPRESSION AROUND THE WORLD, IMPACTS OF "BAD" ENGLISH, UNCONVENTIONAL PHRASES AND AFRICAN RACE.

I thought this was an intersting article that builds upon the topic we've learned in class. With the evolution of language overtime, there is a trend that it get simpler and simpler. It's fascinating to see as we look back on past variations of English to see how complicated it is for us to understand but 200 years from now, people will be looking back at our time and wondering why we spoke the way we do now.

The following article explores language as a cultural, social, and psychological phenomenon. Why is it that a seemingly harmful sentence can create stereotypes or biases? How does language change the way we perceive ourselves, others, and the world? Can different language patterns indicate something about our behavior? These are some topics regarded in this text, as well as the overarching theme of how words shape us and our lives.

Language is a constantly changing, ever so malleable part of our world. While it's natural for languages to change over time, social media has seemed to accelerate the pace at which language is evolving. The quick-paced spreading of information and ideas can be seen for acronyms, catchy phrases, and beliefs.