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Sound symbolism is a non-arbitrary relationship between speech sounds and meaning. We review evidence that, contrary to the traditional view in linguistics, sound symbolism is an important design feature of language, which affects online processing of language, and most importantly, language acquisition. We propose the sound symbolism bootstrapping hypothesis, claiming that (i) pre-verbal infants are sensitive to sound symbolism, due to a biologically endowed ability to map and integrate multi-modal input, (ii) sound symbolism helps infants gain referential insight for speech sounds, (iii) sound symbolism helps infants and toddlers associate speech sounds with their referents to establish a lexical representation and (iv) sound symbolism helps toddlers learn words by allowing them to focus on referents embedded in a complex scene, alleviating Quine's problem. We further explore the possibility that sound symbolism is deeply related to language evolution, drawing the parallel between historical development of language across generations and ontogenetic development within individuals. Finally, we suggest that sound symbolism bootstrapping is a part of a more general phenomenon of bootstrapping by means of iconic representations, drawing on similarities and close behavioural links between sound symbolism and speech-accompanying iconic gesture.

The Atlanticʻs Alia Wong writes about the U.S. Censusʻ recognition of Hawai`i Creole English (sometimes termed "pidgin" in local Hawai`i parlance). Wong sees it as a symbolic gesture acknowledging the "legitimacy of a tongue widely stigmatized, even among locals who dabble in it, as a crass dialect reserved for the uneducated lower classes and informal settings. It reinforces a long, grassroots effort by linguists and cultural practitioners to institutionalize and celebrate the language-to encourage educators to integrate it into their teaching, potentially elevating the achievement of Pidgin-speaking students. And it indicates that, elsewhere in the country, the speakers of comparable linguistic systems-from African American Vernacular English, or ebonics, to Chicano English-may even see similar changes one day, too."

Chinese characters have been an obstacle preventing the development of Chinese proficiency for learners of Chinese whose native language does not have characters. A substantial literature review identified linguistic, pedagogical, and political factors as causes of those difficulties. Tone changes represent different meanings of a word. Compound characters include the phonetic component radicals that do not always sound the same as the phonetic radicals. These unique linguistic features of the Chinese language add even more challenges for learning of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL).Technology integration has been found to facilitate the teaching and learning foreign languages in many efficient and effective ways.

Talks about why texting is important and how integral it is in our modern day relationships.

This article ultimately explains that texting is simply the next form of communication. It isn't something to be bashed, but rather celebrated. While it has a loose etiquette, texting can help a myriad of people (as this article elaborates on).

This article talks about the several different types of language learning methods and the different types of language learners. They start from basic methods to more complex ones and integrate different methods together. This is all to take into account pronunciation, grammar rules, speaking and writing skills, and vocabulary and best course of options to find it.

This article examines the compulsory nature of learning English in Taiwan and the subsequent impacts on Taiwanese society. There is a direct connection made between the teaching of English and the integration of neoliberal ideals like that of choice, competition, and free marketplace. The article acknowledges that countries may adopt compulsory teaching of English for economic and/or political gains, and looks at how neoliberal notions of competition materialize at the local level. For example, in Taiwan, local regions needed to compete with each other in speedy attainment of English to achieve higher national test scores or government funding.

This paper talks about Chinese loanwords in selected Southeast Asian languages (Khmer, Thai, Hmong, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Indonesian) and compares how different Chinese words got into different SEA languages depending on how the Chinese integrated with the local population.

AI is not completely developed enough to overthrow writers yet. AI is able to produce full paragraphs by comparing and applying similar patterns across Wikipedia pages and other writings found on the Internet. The future of AI writing includes mixed media. For example, creating pictures or videos out of a text prompt. But AI will be seemingly integrated into day-to-day word processors and possibly become the "norm."

The U.S. National Library of Medicine launched the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) in 1984 to help computers understand biomedical meaning as well as retrieve and integrate information from various electronic sources such as patient records and biomedical literature. From the set up of parameters for vocabulary sources, to the release of the UMLS "Metathesaurus," this article takes a look at how a vocabulary database tackled the most significant barrier to the application of computers in medicine, the lack of standard language in medicine.

This journal article discusses the prevalent use of emojis and how they are becoming more integrated into our language. It talks about the literal and metaphorical meanings of emojis, functions of emojis, and emoji interpretation across different cultures. It explains how pictography has been used in the past and what the future could hold for emojis.