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Current Linguistics

The sad passing of Kanzi, penguin etymology, and what “fixin’ to” / “finna” mean

Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.

Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.

Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.

05 Apr 2025 — 13 min read
The sad passing of Kanzi, penguin etymology, and what “fixin’ to” / “finna” mean

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Mom’s voice boosts language-center development in preemies’ brains

Mom’s voice boosts language-center development in preemies’ brains

Also this week: Smart dogs have a humanlike knack for naming new objects + Birds all over the world use the same sound to warn of threats + The Language-Lover’s Lexipedia

lock-1 16 Oct 2025
China lays claim to Austronesian languages

China lays claim to Austronesian languages

Also this week: The Linguistics of a Showgirl: How Taylor Swift’s accent has changed over time + We will soon be able to talk with other species—but which one will be first?

lock-1 09 Oct 2025
What’s in a name?: Eponymous etymology

What’s in a name?: Eponymous etymology

A sneak peek at Jess Zafarris’ new book, “Useless etymology: Word origins for curious minds”

07 Oct 2025
Could Neanderthals handle language variation?

Could Neanderthals handle language variation?

Also this week: Jane Goodall dies at 91 + Merriam-Webster adds 5,000 words to the dictionary

lock-1 02 Oct 2025
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