DailyDirt: Speaking The Language
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
It's not hard to make the case that language is more worthy of study than any other topic — after all, it's virtually impossible to study any other topic without relying on language, and all its built-in assumptions and biases, in the first place. You can learn a lot about people by the words they use, and you can learn a lot about words from the people who use them. Here are a few interesting language facts to consider in whatever language your inner monologue prefers:
- Ithkuil is a recently-invented language that was met with enthusiasm from the linguistics community, but got hijacked by some unpleasant people. The creator — an amateur who surprised everyone — was caught completely off-guard when his language was adopted with gusto by a Russian "psychonetics" expert aiming to create a "Slavic superman". [url]
- A language map of the USA (with English and Spanish excluded) reveals considerable variety. Among the leading tongues (by state) are two Native American languages, Navajo and Dakota, plus Yupik in Alaska. [url]
- At the local level, the US is rich in regional dialects, with Pennsylvania sporting the most diversity. Most states have two or three regional dialects, but the Keystone State has five. [url]
If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
Filed Under: dakota, ithkuil, language, linguistics, navajo, pennsylvania, yupik
