Oxford chooses “ragebait” as the 2025 Word of the Year
Also this week: Whales are found to use “vowels” + 6,000-year-old Mesopotamian seals linked to the dawn of writing
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“6-7” belongs in the dictionary, actually
In defense of Dictionary.com’s 2025 Word of the Year
Dictionary.com announces 6-7 as the word of the year
Also this week: Turkic states agree on a common Latin alphabet; and researchers decode Mandarin Chinese from brain activity
Curiouser and curiouser… A (short) journey through words and language
Join League of the Lexicon game creator Joshua Blackburn as he follows the threads of his curiosity about keyboards
Have scholars finally deciphered the mysterious writing of Teotihuacan?
Also this week: How technological advances in language modeling have allowed researchers to develop speech recognition technology even for small, endangered languages
We’re finally starting to read the scrolls burnt in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius
Also this week: How playing a musical instrument helps children learn to read + Why AI is not like humans
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
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?
What’s in a name?: Eponymous etymology
A sneak peek at Jess Zafarris’ new book, “Useless etymology: Word origins for curious minds”
Could Neanderthals handle language variation?
Also this week: Jane Goodall dies at 91 + Merriam-Webster adds 5,000 words to the dictionary
Where does the alphabet come from? And why does English use it so strangely?
A new book takes us on a linguistic odyssey through the history of the alphabet
Analysis of a century’s worth of political speeches challenges our understanding of how language changes
Also this week: Bilingualism is reworking this language’s rainbow + How speaking in a second language directly affects your moral judgement
Current Linguistics
How a deaf quarterback invented the huddle + Linguists explain the life of slang
Also this week: The world’s oldest written languages, and a cool new book on etymology. Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.
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Your cryptogram is lying to you—/t/ isn’t the most frequent consonant in English
What are the most frequent sounds across languages (and why)?
Current Linguistics
Birdsong exhibits a hidden feature of human language
Also this week: Bilingualism is possible for people with a rare genetic condition that normally limits speech + Talk Like a Pirate Day is coming up! 🏴☠️ Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.
Current Linguistics
New DNA data reveals the origins of the Slavic peoples
Also this week: How our DNA holds the history of our language + The Cambridge dictionary adds 6,000 new words—and not everybody’s happy about it. Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.
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Pumpkin Spice Linguistics
What the words “pumpkin spice” teach us about language change and indigenous history
Current Linguistics
Learning a second language can teach you to distinguish colors you don’t have in your first language
Also this week: Gesture may have been the origin of language + A new mind-reading AI can turn imagined speech into words. Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.
Current Linguistics
An experiment with the Aboriginal language Murrinhpatha suggests language influences perception
Also this week: Why all languages have words for ‘this’ and ‘that’ + Antarctic leopard seal ‘songs’ are surprisingly similar to nursey rhymes. Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.
Current Linguistics
Researchers uncover the origins of the Uralic language family
Also this week: Today is National Navajo Code Talkers Day! And the K-pop band is making Korean Sign Language famous
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Revitalizing a dormant language from 80-year-old manuscripts
How archival manuscripts are helping revitalize the Chitimacha language of Louisiana
Current Linguistics
A mysterious pre-Islamic script from Oman has been deciphered, while AI helps historians complete damaged Latin texts
Also this week: Does your native language affect how you feel pain? And did language evolve because of tools or baby talk? Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.
Newsletter
What to do when someone corrects your pronunciation
Some strategies for educating people about linguistics
Current Linguistics
The last native speaker of Caddo dies at age 95
Also this week: The long-lost Chinese typewriter that changed modern computing, plus why AI doesn’t work in bars. Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.