Linguistics
Culture clash: Sympathy Tokyo Tower, by Rie Qudan, reviewed
Social, moral, architectural and linguistic problems collide in this gem of a novel set in lightly altered contemporary Tokyo
The world’s most exotic languages are vanishing in a puff of smoke
Among the many ‘rare tongues’ explored by Lorna Gibb is the use of smoke signals by native north Americans, the oldest form of long-distance communication
Celebrating Sequoyah and his Cherokee alphabet
The writing system the Native American devised for his people was soon followed by a printing press, a newspaper and a far higher literacy rate than that of their oppressors
A veil of obscurity
Philip Hensher discusses how words relating to women’s ordinary experiences have been shrouded in euphemism over the centuries
A catalogue of invented tongues
The comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, in his stage persona as the dim-witted interviewer Ali G, once asked Noam Chomsky if…
Why do so many academics write so badly?
Why do so many academics write so badly? Those who make the study of language their life’s work are as…
Learning to talk
One of the great achievements of science is that so many of its branches, from astronomy to zoology, have been…
