Words R Us

This article discusses the history of Trinidad Creole English, also known as TCE. It explains the history, sociolinguistic situation, and phonology of TCE. Published by The Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures Online, this factual page contains statistics and a detailed overview of how TCE came about and how it has evolved throughout the years. There are charts of Trinidad's population and the languages spoken in Trinidad & Tobago. The article includes lists of practice sentences and pronunciation lessons.

This article explains Trinidad Creole English, or TCE, from the perspective of a native TCE speaker. Karel Mc Intosh demonstrates her passion for TCE along with the challenges that come with it. TCE speakers love their "broken English." It is a part of their culture and identity. Although it is a comfortable way of conversing with each other, TCE speakers are looked down upon by those who do not understand it and are not used to it. This causes many TCE speakers to code switch, which means speaking with an accent in relaxed settings and speaking proper English in more formal settings. Intosh describes her experiences as a TCE speaker and states her opinion on the negative perception that follows it.

For centuries, Central America's Afro-Indigenous Garifuna people have kept the culture's oral history alive through their ancestors' native language. But decades of modernization, haphazard native-language training in Garifuna schools, intermarriage between cultures, and the ridicule of young people who speak the language, collectively led to Garifuna being listed on the UNESCO Atlas of Endangered Languages in 2001. Today, linguists estimate that about 100,000 speakers remain. The threat of language extinction isn't new. Some linguists estimate a language dies every two weeks, as some languages become dominant tools for social and economic exchange, while others are pushed to the margins. But there are ways to save at-risk languages, as well. The key is that the language needs to be thought of less as preserved, "but indeed part of their present and their future," says Liliana Sánchez, a linguist and professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. That's exactly what the Garinagu (Garifuna people) are doing. For the past two decades, Garifuna artists have used a cultural cornerstone-spirited dance music-to inspire young Garinagu to learn and share their native language. Now, with a new Garifuna Tourism Trail project in Belize, travelers can experience and support the cultural renaissance, too. Elements of the Garifuna culture-including music, dance, and language-were listed as a UNESCO Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2001. Around that same time, Garifuna musicians and cultural activists hatched a plan: Create irresistible melodies, sung entirely in Garifuna, to rally young Garinagu to embrace the culture and learn the language. Will music save the Garifuna language? Time will tell. Garifuna remains on UNESCO's endangered-language list, last updated in 2010. And, as the Hawaiians learned from revitalizing their own language post colonization, this kind of revival is a long, multi-generational road.

When a human baby is born, its first cry is a normal sign of good health. Having never taken a breath before, the baby signals its first inhalation and exhalation-in the form of a screech. How do babies know to create a sound they've never made before? And is their first yelp truly the start of speech development? As it turns out, human babies may be practicing how to cry long before they ever make a sound. That is, if they're anything like marmosets, humans' primate cousins. A study of marmosets by Daniel Takahashi, a co-author of the study and an animal behaviorist at the Brain Institute at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil. shows fetal monkeys practicing crying in the womb. Takahashi notes, "marmosets are monkeys that we know vocalize a lot, and they share a lot of features with humans." For instance, both male and female parents raise their offspring together, and unlike other primates, marmoset babies are relatively helpless when they're born, like human infants. Takahashi says the central finding will help illuminate when speech development begins, and that studying pre-birth-rather than the moment of birth-may help identify speech or motor development problems earlier. "There are a lot of things going on in the womb that might be relevant to what's going on afterwards," he says.

In this vibrant borough of Queens, NY, a street called Roosevelt Avenue cuts a cross-section through some of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods on Earth. Spanish, Bengali, Punjabi, Mixtec, Seke, and Kuranko are among the hundreds of languages spoken here.

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 study found that smokers' who performed self-affirming activities were less defensive and more responsive to cigarette warning ads and quitting smoking than smokers who did not perform these activities.

This article shares the perspective of a woman who was raised in Ni'ihau. She conveys her passion and the importance of perpetuating the unique Ni'ihau dialect.

This article gives a history recap, a Ni'ihau dialect lesson, and a unique perspective on the differences between how Ni'ihau natives speak versus the modern Hawaiian language we hear more commonly. I've met the interviewee in this article and she's a very well-respected and well-known kumu in Hawai'i.

This is a Hopkins Medicine page that shares information on ADHD specifically in children. It gives the basic definition of ADHD as well as some of the basic information on the learning disorder. It gives common causes, types of ADHD, who is affected, symptoms, diagnosis, etc.

This is a CDC document that shares information on ADHD in the classroom, what can be done to aid students with ADHD, etc. Overall this site gives information on ways to teach students with ADHD, methods, and more.

This is a CDC document with facts on ADHD, the signs of ADHD, types of ADHD, etc. Overall this site gives a basic run down of ADHD.

This article published from Yale briefly informs the reader about what dyslexia is, and how it can impact a person's everyday life. Something that is very interesting is even though dyslexia can create a setback when interpreting literature, many people who have dyslexia are some of the most creative thinkers. This just proves that the condition cannot define the intelligence of an individual. Even though it cannot be cured, it is very possible to have success and "overcome" this obstacle.

This article talks about general language disorders, how to detect impairments, options for treatment, and much more. More specifically, one portion of the article focuses on receptive versus expressive forms of language, and the characteristics that fall beneath each of these categories. Lastly, the article addresses how parents can help their child succeed from a young age.

This article discusses how languages in Native American communities are near being on the verge of being endangered. This article specifically mentions the Cherokee language. The cause of language disappearance is due to the government and their policies throughout history. For example, children would be beaten if they spoke their native language. The United States have went out of their way to destroy culture as a way to get rid of Native Americans. The Biden administration may have put out a draft of a 10 year plan to restore Native languages.

This article talks about how an Objiwe women built robots in order for the Native American children in her community (and others) to learn their indigenous culture and languages. It is so interesting to program a robot to speak a language to prevent indigenous languages from going endangered/extinct.

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.

This article discusses how communication disorders cause social isolation and low self-esteem, especially in children. Social interaction is essential for psychological development and plays a massive role in a child's confidence and self-image. They talk about how crucial it is that we eliminate social stigmas surrounding communication disorders in order to live in a more inclusive society.

Have you ever caught yourself talking a little bit differently after listening to someone with a distinctive way of speaking? Perhaps you'll pepper in a couple of y'all's after spending the weekend with your Texan mother-in-law. Or you might drop a few R's after binge-watching a British period drama on Netflix. Linguists call this phenomenon "linguistic convergence," and it's something you've likely done at some point, even if the shifts were so subtle you didn't notice. People tend to converge toward the language they observe around them, whether it's copying word choices, mirroring sentence structures or mimicking pronunciations.

A phenomenon called "linguistic convergence" causes people to subtly change their speech when talking to someone with a different accent. Code-switchers are an example of convergence, but people can also diverge, or go away, from a certain aspect of their speech.

This article, published by BYU, talks about the effects that certain accents have on people's perceptions. Because everyone talks in a different way, some cultures may associate people with certain labels. Many studies are conducted within this article that displays statistical data on the perception of certain accents. Some people perceive certain accents positively while others see them negatively. This article reflects how different cultures act while being combined and the outcomes that come out of that action.