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This article is about how experts believe they have found the 'first compelling evidence' for conformity to linguistic laws in non-primate species. A new study from the University of Torino has found the animals obey some of the same rules of linguistics as humans. The animals follow two main laws - that more frequently used words are briefer (Zipf's law of brevity), and longer words are composed of extra but briefer syllables (the Menzerath-Altmann law). Scientists say this is the first instance of these laws observed outside primates, suggesting an ecological pressure of brevity and efficiency in animal vocalisations.

This article explains the discovery of non-primate animals using similar linguistic rules of human speech. The Zipf and Menzerath-Altmann laws were mentioned, as these are key points of human communication. These patterns were observed in 590 different ecstatic calls of 28 different African Penguins

There are many laws of linguistics that exist in human communication. Laws such as Zipf's law of abbreviation, which predicts commonly used words to be short, and Menzerath's law, which predicts that large linguistic structures are made of shorter ones. This article talks about a study conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Roehampton, which explores the parallels of these linguistic laws in chimpanzee gestural communication. They measured the length of over 2000 gestures, and found that they indeed used shorter gestures if they were using it more frequently and long gestures were composed of the shorter ones.

This article argues how there is a separate language of the law. This language consists of technical legal terms and it is different from ordinary language because ordinary language cannot compare to the amount of legal terms. This type of language allows for more precision by stating specifically the rules of something. This can prove that the Constitution was writing in the language of the law. This is because the Constitution consists of around 100 reasons why the United States shouldn't be a part of Britain.

This article talks about how Latvia has passed a law that will limit the use of Russian language in schools. They passed this law because they wanted to strengthen Latvian identity, as Latvia spent half of its time as an independent country being a member of the Soviet Union. Banning Russian will help to strengthen national identity and integrate Russian speakers into the society. However, because much of the population speaks Russian, there is some backlash against the law. Many people are more comfortable speaking Russian than Latvian, and they are afraid the new law will increase tensions between races.

Copied from Youtube description: "How did humans acquire language? In this lecture, best-selling author Steven Pinker introduces you to linguistics, the evolution of spoken language, and the debate over the existence of an innate universal grammar. He also explores why language is such a fundamental part of social relationships, human biology, and human evolution. Finally, Pinker touches on the wide variety of applications for linguistics, from improving how we teach reading and writing to how we interpret law, politics, and literature."

"The Assyrian Dictionary is not simply a word list. By detailing the history and range of uses of each word, this unique dictionary is in essence a cultural encyclopedia of Mesopotamian history, society, literature, law and religion and is an indispensable research tool for any scholar anywhere who seeks to explore the written record of Mesopotamian civilization"

This article outlines who and what trolls are, and what they do. It also shows some extreme examples of trolls, and how language can be abused and used as a weapon.

"One promising answer comes from the computer scientist Jon Postel, now known as "god of the Internet" for the influence he exercised over the emerging network. In 1981, he formulated what's known as Postel's Law: "Be conservative in what you do; be liberal in what you accept from others." Originally intended to foster "interoperability," the ability of multiple computer systems to understand one another, Postel's Law is now recognized as having wider applications. To build a robust global network with no central authority, engineers were encouraged to write code that could "speak" as clearly as possible yet "listen" to the widest possible range of other speakers, including those who do not conform perfectly to the rules of the road. The human equivalent of this robustness is a combination of eloquence and tolerance - the spirit of good conversation. Trolls embody the opposite principle. They are liberal in what they do and conservative in what they construe as acceptable behavior from others. You, the troll says, are not worthy of my understanding; I, therefore, will do everything I can to confound you."

Ever used an emoji before? Most people have used an emoji in a text or message if they have a phone or laptop. The majority of emoji users are pretty harmless with the meaning behind the use of words. However not all have used it so positively. In fact, more and more law systems are bringing in linguist (emoji) experts as a witness to testify the meaning behind emojis given the context. Which is even more interesting is that some defendants have been convicted partially based on the meaning behind an emoji. For example there is one man who was convicted because of his use of a gun emoji which the expert witness testified the sinical, threatening meaning of the emoji. This article might make you think before you send your next emoji...

This article is about how California is changing its view on their law that is currently in place which restricts public schools from having a bilingual education curriculum.

"But a series of ingenious experiments have shown that many people with dyslexia possess distinctive perceptual abilities. For example, scientists have produced a growing body of evidence that people with the condition have sharper peripheral vision than others. ... Moreover, these capacities appear to trade off: if you're adept at focusing on details located in the center of the visual field, which is key to reading, you're likely to be less proficient at recognizing features and patterns in the broad regions of the periphery. ... Although people with dyslexia are found in every profession, including law, medicine and science, observers have long noted that they populate fields like art and design in unusually high numbers. ... in some situations, it turns out, those with dyslexia are actually the superior learners."

A psychologist on why swearing can be beneficial to your health In the video above, Catherine Caldwell-Harris explains why the eff those terms we all know, and most of us use, are not necessarily effing bad. Swearing is unlikely to make the desired impression on in-laws, but it could be good for your blood pressure.

Like Facebook or Twitter, Yik Yak is a social media network, only without user profiles. It does not sort messages according to friends or followers but by geographic location or, in many cases, by university. Only posts within a 1.5-mile radius appear, making Yik Yak well suited to college campuses. Think of it as a virtual community bulletin board - or maybe a virtual bathroom wall at the student union. It has become the go-to social feed for college students across the country to commiserate about finals, to find a party or to crack a joke about a rival school. Much of the chatter is harmless. Some of it is not. "Yik Yak is the Wild West of anonymous social apps," said Danielle Keats Citron, a law professor at University of Maryland and the author of "Hate Crimes in Cyberspace." "It is being increasingly used by young people in a really intimidating and destructive way."

The effects on women because of the commonness of male gendered words

Talks about how you may be able to spot a psychopath via language use.

Politics is downstream from persuasion, and law is downstream from language. No matter how often journalists and politicians dismiss Trump's words, the words matter. Article examines the power Trump's words have in galvanizing polar opposition, not merely reshaping Republican attitudes, but also empowering and radicalizing his critics.

It seems like a lot of people can't get enough of being told how to live their lives by Scandinavians. That's what you might assume by the truckload of English-language books, articles, and TED talks emerging in recent years, all urging readers to adopt lifestyle philosophies that hail from various Nordic cultures. First came the craze for Danish hygge (pronounced HOO-guh) a striving for cozy, primarily domestic wellness that some authors claimed lay behind Danes' apparent satisfaction with their lives. Then we discovered Swedish lagom (LAW-gm), a term broadly meaning "just enough," whose use as a moderating folk principle, boosters suggested, has helped Swedes achieve their unusually high levels of happiness. Now, as Sweden's neighbor Finland tops this year's Northern European happiness league, Finnish writers and pundits are getting in on the act, tossing their own mythologized national mental attitude-called sisu-into the crowded Nordic life-hack market. Sisu= fortitude; inner stamina; grit.

Pew Researchers surveyed more than 1,500 technologists and scholars about the forces shaping the way people interact with one another online. They asked: "In the next decade, will public discourse online become more or less shaped by bad actors, harassment, trolls, and an overall tone of griping, distrust, and disgust?" The vast majority of techonolgists surveyed-81 percent of them-said they expect the tone of online discourse will either stay the same or get worse in the next decade. "Cyberattacks, doxing, and trolling will continue, while social platforms, security experts, ethicists, and others will wrangle over the best ways to balance security and privacy, freedom of speech, and user protections. A great deal of this will happen in public view," Susan Etlinger, a technology industry analyst, told Pew. "The more worrisome possibility is that privacy and safety advocates, in an effort to create a more safe and equal internet, will push bad actors into more-hidden channels such as Tor." Tor is software that enables people to browse and communicate online anonymously-so it's used by people who want to cover their tracks from government surveillance, those who want to access the dark web, trolls, whistleblowers, and others. The uncomfortable truth is that humans like trolling. It's easy for people to stay anonymous while they harass, pester, and bully other people online-and it's hard for platforms to design systems to stop them. Hard for two reasons: One, because of the "ever-expanding scale of internet discourse and its accelerating complexity," as Pew puts it. And, two, because technology companies seem to have little incentive to solve this problem for people. "Very often, hate, anxiety, and anger drive participation with the platform," said Frank Pasquale, a law professor at the University of Maryland, in the report. "Whatever behavior increases ad revenue will not only be permitted, but encouraged."