Words R Us

This article is about the evolution of language and its correlation to music throughout the ages. Levman goes on to continue to explore the definition of music, and how to distinguish music and language

Goes over the misuse of language. This is relevant towards prescriptionist vs descriptionist debates from class

This article talks about why accents develop and the psychology behind it. It goes into how our social structures and groups cause us to all tend to talk like the other members of the group in order to better relate to them. It also mentions the natural process of accents forming.

This article talks about the phenomenon of linguistic accommodation. This is the process of copying the vocabulary, accent, intonation, and other speech patterns of ones conversation partner.

In this article, the author explains that on top of body language, some language cues can also detect a liar. It mentioned things like liars trying not using first person pronouns and increased use of negative statements that could be subconsciously mirroring the negative emotions a liar may feel such as fear or guilt.

(the website links to a PDF file)

This is a super interesting article + podcast/interview about the last native speakers of Hawaiian. You learn about life and language on the Island of Niihau which is something we will never get to experience. It's 30 minutes and they discuss the tensions between second language speakers and native speakers of Hawaiian, evolution versus engineering of a language, the English influence over the Hawaiian accent, and more.

I thought was a really interesting and helpful website. The entries are short but you can request access to full articles as well. It has articles on LANGUAGE EFFECTS ON PERSONAL IDENTITY, PROFANITY AND MEDIA, PRAGMATISM OF CURSE WORDS, YOUTH SLANG EXPRESSION AROUND THE WORLD, IMPACTS OF "BAD" ENGLISH, UNCONVENTIONAL PHRASES AND AFRICAN RACE.

This article questions, is 'woke' dumbing down the English language? New urban terms can be simpler, but is that better? Detail can be good, a little extra brainwork can be too.

Almost all of us use social media in some shape or form, this article goes into how it stimulates our brain, why we feel the need to post and what we post. Are we addicted?

Three University of Southern California professors offer their thoughts on whether print media and traditional books will survive this digital age, or whether they will become obsolete. "Today, practically anyone with online access can blog or tweet to a worldwide audience. This has both democratized writing and, in some ways, devalued it. At the same time, the rise of digital books and online mega-sellers like Amazon means more writers can self-publish their books, and readers can order books instantly with the push of a button. But authors are getting a smaller piece of the economic pie. Then there's the halo effect of social media. Some authors build strong followings on Twitter and Facebook, which bring writers closer to their readers-turned-fans. In this swirling media landscape, what will happen to the book as we know it?"

This article goes in depth about the history of emojis and its effects in communication. For instance, how it can lead to ambiguity in conversation, how it's used in marketing, etc.

Emojis have now become the norm when it comes to online communication, however, it is now making its mark in health care. There is now interest in using emojis to help facilitate health literacy and engage patients with their own health data.