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The World Health Organisation counts 430m people as deaf or hard of hearing. Many use sign languages to communicate. If they cannot also use those languages to talk to computers, they risk being excluded from the digitisation that is taking over everyday life. Sign language poses particular issues in re: its translation to either text or speech. Some challenges include improving the machine-learning algorithms that recognise signs and their meaning and developing the best methods to interpret sign languages' distinctive grammars. The applications of such technology could improve the lives of the deaf, for example, allowing them to use their cell phones to search for directions or look up the meanings of unknown signs, without resorting to the written form of a spoken language.

A unique sign language, possibly dating back to the 1800s or before, is being used in Hawaii, marking the first time in 80 years a previously unknown language -- spoken or signed -- has been documented in the U.S. The language is not a dialect of American Sign Language, as previously believed, but an unrelated language with unique vocabulary and grammar. It also is on the verge of extinction, with an estimated 40 users of the language.

Researchers have noticed that in Philly, signers have a distinct accent just like the language spoken there. The sign language in Philly is so different from ASL that it would be almost impossible for a person who uses ASL and a person who use Philadelphia sign language to communicate with each other. This is because Philadelphia sign language is similar to French Sign Language. As more advancements are made to help deaf people hear, the less people are learning how to sign and slowly the usage of the unique Philadelphia sign language decrease. Researchers are trying to find ways to help preserve this unique way of signing.

Neuroimaging studies suggest that sign languages are complex linguistic systems processed much like spoken languages, even though they're gestural/visual, not oral. Wernicke's area activates when perceiving sign language; Broca's when producing sign language. In deaf people, lesions in left hemisphere "speech centres" like Broca's and Wernicke's areas produced significantly more sign errors on naming, repetition and sentence-comprehension tasks than signers with damaged right hemispheres.

Esperanto isn't common and only spoken by language enthusiasts eager to learn this language said to be the most accessible and easy to learn. However, Esperanto, unlike English, has yet to catch on and a significant reason might be that there aren't any nations/states already speaking and connected to Esperanto.

This was a fascinating article that focused on one dying language in particular - Icelandic. The article details of how Icelandic is weakening to the point that some of Iceland's youngest children speak English without an Icelandic accent, and when speaking Icelandic, their syntax is unfortunately influenced by English. Further, the article detailed of how the Icelandic government aims to secure a future for this language, spoken by less than 400,000 people, through preserving it in a digital medium on an online database.

This MIT Technology Review article notes that while Artificial Intelligence has experienced many sophisticated advances, one fundamental capability remains elusive: language. Systems like Siri and IBM's Watson can follow simple spoken or typed commands and answer basic questions, but they can't hold a conversation and have no real understanding of the words they use. In addition, humans, unlike machines, have the ability to learn very quickly from a relatively small amount of data and have a built-in ability to model the world in 3-D very efficiently. Programming machines to comprehend and generate language is a complex task, because the machines would need to mimic human learning, mental model building, and psychology. As MIT cognitive scientist Josh Tenenbaum states, "Language builds on other abilities that are probably more basic, that are present in young infants before they have language: perceiving the world visually, acting on our motor systems, understanding the physics of the world or other agents' goals." ­ If he is right, then it will be difficult to re-create language understanding in machines and AI systems without trying to mimic human learning, mental model building, and psychology.

New York is an incredibly diverse state. In one building, an extremely rare language is being kept alive. The language is called Seke and is spoken in 5 villages in Nepal. Around 100 of the 700 Seke speakers in the world are in New York. Half of the New York population stays in one building. In Nepal, many Nepalese are learning different languages such as Nepali or Hindi. In New York, the young Seke speakers are barely fluent. This shows how the language will likely be lost over time. However, a new dialect is arising called Ramaluk which is a combination of Nepali, English, Hindi, and Seke. This shows how the language might pass on to future generations.

"Many refer to Hawai'i as the melting pot of cultures, and along with that comes a wide range of languages. A recent U.S. census survey looked at languages spoken here in the islands and for the first time Hawaiian Pidgin English was included on that list." Ugh, bad reporting: surely the US Census Bureau meant Hawai`i Creole English (HCE)? But still, interesting that it's receiving federal validation as a bona fide language...

Written language is an imperfect method for the messy, complex business of communication, where facial expressions, gestures and vocal tones transmit oceans of meaning and subtext - for those, at least, who can read them. Words themselves offer none of that: In a famous study, Albert Mehrabian, a psychology professor at U.C.L.A., found that humans tend to perceive only a fragment of a speaker's meaning through spoken words. Instead, he observed, most meaning is gleaned from body language and tone of voice. In a text-only environment, how can we ever be certain other people understand what we mean when we post online? Enter tone indicators. Tone indicators are paralinguistic signifiers used at the ends of statements to help readers fill in the blanks. Put simply, they are written shorthand for the poster's intent and emotion. One might use "/srs," short for "serious," to express sincere affection for a pop culture crush.

This post (a 2021 update of a 2018 post) contains several useful infographics and charts, including a visualization of the top 23 most-spoken languages in the world, distribution of those languages by country, a family tree of Indo-European languages.

A website that documents all existing languages and provides videos of them. Their purpose is language revitalization. They also have various languages spoken with different accents. They have short and intriguing videos on their YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/user/wikitongues

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.

The culture of Okinawa, Japan is quite distinct from other Japanese islands. It became a part of Japan in 1879, but has a strong American influence because of three decades of military occupation following WWII. Today, 20% of the island is made up of over 30 U.S. military bases. This history has resulted in the near extinction of the Okinawan language, called Uchinaguchi, which was systematically suppressed when the island was annexed by Japan. Because of ubiquitous U.S. presence, Okinawans perceive more of a need for English competence than for learning the language of their ancestors. Once the U.S. ceded control of the island back to Japan in the 1970's, the island underwent changes that many Okinawans perceived as another occupation, but this time instead of U.S. military projects, Japanese business took over the island. Japanese power over Okinawa can even be seen in the language politics: Uchinaguchi was long considered a dialect of Japanese despite the two languages having less than 60% in common. In 2009 UNESCO recognized Okinawan as its own language along with five others spoken in the region, all of which are endangered. Native speakers are aging and dying off. Efforts to revitalize Uchinaguchi on the island are regularly stifled by the local government's indifference towards the language. Nonetheless, the language is praised for its folkloric value and is featured in local theater. Some schools offer language classes, such as Okinawa Christian University. Because Uchinaguchi is a low priority in the political field, the cultural field is the site of language revitalization and resistance to its extinction. One benefit of promoting the language through culture is that, unlike the government, the culture can have influence overseas.

For intimate expressions - praying, lying, expressing anger, showing affection, even cursing - our native language is usually our strongest, says Boston University professor of psychology Catherine Harris. The language spoken primarily in the home or with loved ones develops a deeper emotional resonance than one learned in the classroom.

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, which owns Facebook, wants to break language barriers across the globe using artificial intelligence (AI). Meta announced an ambitious AI driven project, which will be key to building its Metaverse. The company said that it is building a universal speech translator, along with an AI powered virtual assistant. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in an online presentation, stated, "The ability to communicate with anyone in any language - that's a superpower people have dreamed of forever, and AI is going to deliver that within our lifetime.For people who understand languages like English, Mandarin, or Spanish, it may seem like today's apps and web tools already provide the translation technology we need. Nearly half the world's population can't access online content in their preferred language today. No Language Left Behind is a single system capable of translating between all written languages. "We're also working on Universal Speech Translator, an AI system that provides instantaneous speech-to-speech translation across all languages, even those that are mostly spoken," said the company in a blog.

This article delves into the grammatical structure of sign languages and highlights the differences between spoken and signed languages. It places an emphasis on the primary differences between them, which is the fact that signed symbols can be delivered simultaneously instead of in a linear fashion.

This article details a study that analyzed the parts of the brain involved in producing and understanding sign language. A main conclusion of this study was that both spoken and sign languages utilize the same areas of the brain.

A coded lexicon mostly spoken by gay men, Swardspeak draws from English and Tagalog, as well as Spanish and, to a lesser extent, Japanese. It's what might be referred to as an "anti-language," the lingua franca of an "anti-society"-in this case, the Philippines' gay subculture.

Konglish is the term used to describe the variety of English unique to Korea. It is just one of many varieties of the English language that exists far beyond the borders of so-called "inner circle" Englishes - those spoken in countries such as Britain and the US, for example. The author takes umbrage against those who argue that Konglish is incorrect. From a linguistic standpoint, deeming only one variety of grammar and vocabulary usage as correct is, nonsensical. Rather, Konglish reflects cultural identity, connects with linguistic diversity and above all, is already used to communicate in Korea, which is the ultimate purpose of language.