"As the world's leading linguist, what are your thoughts on Watson, the robot that will be appearing on "Jeopardy"?"

"Microbloggers may think they're interacting in one big Twitterverse, but researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science find that regional slang and dialects are as evident in tweets as they are in everyday conversations."

"Psychologists had already suspected that language was important for understanding numbers. Earlier studies of two tribes in the Amazon - one that had no words for numbers greater than five and another whose counting system seemed to go "one, two, many" - showed that people in those tribes had trouble reporting exactly how many objects were placed in front of them. But in those cultures, which don't have monetary systems, there might be no need to represent large numbers exactly. The question posed was whether language kept those Amazonian people from counting, or a lack of cultural pressure. To address that question, Spaepen and colleagues turned to Nicaraguan homesigners, deaf people who communicate with their hearing friends and relatives entirely through made-up hand gestures."

"A fascinating new exhibition at the British Library shows how all attempts to standardise the English language have been resisted - and that's why it continues to flourish today, says Adrian Hamilton."

First stanza: "linguistic theoryhidden representationsto surface structures"

"No other book, or indeed any piece of culture, seems to have influenced the English language as much as the King James Bible. Its turns of phrase have permeated the everyday language of English speakers, whether or not they've ever opened a copy."

According to a new study: "The human mirror system/motor speech system is not critical for speech perception. Temporal lobe structures, rather than motor structures, are the primary substrate for speech perception."

"Some words feature prominently in every US presidential State of the Union message, others come and go as events dictate or fashions change. As President Barack Obama prepares to address Congress, we look at the ups and downs of the 10 nouns and adjectives (and one pronoun) used most often since 1790."

"MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech is not only literarily brilliant, its structure follows the presentation form perfectly, by traversing back and forth between what is and what could be, and ending by describing what the new bliss of equality looks like. In addition, MLK carefully chooses phrases and metaphors that resonate deeply with his audience." I'd recommend watching the video: http://vimeo.com/18792376

"The findings are necessarily limited, but do suggest that retrieval practice, as the essay-writing was called, is a powerful learning tool."

"Welcome to Popular Linguistics Magazine, the monthly online magazine that brings language- and linguistics-focused stories and research to the masses!"

"This past December, a new video debunking this claim made the rounds."

"There are elements of truth in this, but also some things which scientists studying the psychology of language (psycholinguists) know to be incorrect. I'm going to break down the meme, one line at a time to illustrate these points, pointing out what I think is the relevant research on the role of letter order on reading."

"The goal of the Lexicalist project is to develop a dictionary that depicts, in real time, the changing demographics of English in the United States, a dictionary that supplements the fundamental meaning of a word or phrase with the current cultural backdrop that's informing its use today."

"Lexicalist uses artificial intelligence to analyze the web and figure out who's talking about what. The result is a demographic picture of language in actual use today."

"Mothers and fathers used to bring up children: now they parent. Critics used to review plays: now they critique them. Athletes podium, executives flipchart, and almost everybody Googles. What's the driving force behind it? "Looking for short cuts, especially if you have to say something over and over again, is a common motivator," says Groves."

Fascinating discussion between Lera Boroditsky and Mark Liberman (and three guests) about whether or not language shapes how we think. Many other interesting links, also. (At the end of the 10-day debate, Economist readers voted, 78-22%, that they believe that language shapes how we think.)

Including corpora of historical and contemporary American English, British English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Check out the visualization: http://www.forbes.com/2010/12/21/speechome-interactive-visualization-language-acquisition.html "This interactive visualization provides a look into the most complete record of a single child's speech development ever created... But parentese is not universal. It varies between different parents and cultures, and in some cases has been reported to be absent altogether. What effect, then, does it have on child development? Answering this question could help guide better ways to help children that have difficulty learning language." With links to the actual studies at the bottom of the page.