Origins of Indo-European languages
Now evolutionary biologists have jumped in where linguists fear to tread, namely the stormy question of when and where Indo-European languages …
‘English wiped out local languages elsewhere, not in India’
Eighty-Five years after George A Grierson, a British administrator, conducted the first survey of languages in India, another such exercise has …
Let's talk
Languages are becoming extinct much faster than species. The digital divide can make it worse
Resurrecting Babel
A member of a non-profit committed to documenting all of the world’s 7,000 languages, explains why her organisation is on such a mission
International Mother Language Day 2023: Adivasi children in India unable to study in their own tongues needs redressal
Tribal children do not have teachers, reading material or even a proper script for their dialects or languages
ChatGPT threatens language diversity. More needs to be done to protect our differences in the age of AI
When writing tools prioritise one way of writing over another, they reinforce existing hierarchies that unfairly position Standard American …
Seven decades after independence, many tribal languages in India face extinction threat
To lose these indigenous languages means losing huge human capital and rich cultural diversity
Linguists found the weirdest languages – and English is one of them
Some computational linguists have, however, used data in the World Atlas of Language Structures to explore which languages might be considered …
Why we studied proverbs to understand emotion among Ghana's Akan people
They contain valuable cultural information that symbolises a specific society’s uniqueness
People on Vanuatu’s Malekula Island speak more than 30 indigenous languages. Here’s why we must record them
Vanuatu has been described as the world’s “densest linguistic landscape”, with as many as 145 languages spoken by a population …
Book Excerpt: Swahili in German East Africa
Morgan J Robinson's 2022 book explores how Swahili was standardised and eventually became a pan-African language
Insights from Fulani pastoralists and host communities in southwestern Nigeria
Their migrant status and strained relationships with host communities have led to disadvantaged access to infrastructural facilities
World Biodiversity Day: Why language should not be forgotten
Languages are a treasure trove of knowledge about a region’s flora, fauna and medicinal plants, say experts
Word wars: Language copyright
It's becoming harder to exercise one's freedom of expression, even in the land of liberty. When at & t used the phrase "freedom of expression" in …
Shockwave over Iran
Over the years, overseas-based Persian language satellite tv broadcasters have won over the hearts of a number of Iranians. And to make matters …
Cambridge Dictionary’s definition of ‘woman’, ‘man’ is now more inclusive
Definition updated to include people who identify as a gender other than their biological sex
Protecting endangered languages feels right, but does it really help people?
The theme of righting historical wrongs among minority groups assumes they will somehow benefit from defence of their language
'Climate catastrophe' and not 'Climate change'
Even as a major British newspaper changes its terms for climate change, it is imperative that India, suffering the most from it, builds a …
War of words: why journalists need to understand grammar to write accurately about violence
An important but contested roles of journalism is the act of putting political violence into words. If they sound neutral, it’s likely …
Zulu vs Xhosa: how colonialism used language to divide South Africa’s two biggest ethnic groups
The decision to think of isiZulu and isiXhosa as two separate languages can to some extent be traced back to African interpreters on whom …
When did humans first start to speak? How language evolved in Africa
Ability to produce speech sounds catapulted Homo sapiens into a world in which they would dominate all other species
How culture shaped evolution
A new book argues that cultural evolution helped in the accumulation of locally adaptive knowledge much faster than genetic evolution
Here’s all you need to know about the International Day of Sign Languages
September 23 was chosen as it marked the anniversary of the World Federation of the Deaf’s formation in 1951
Net gains as language barriers fall in global trade
All corners of the planet are en route to better internet access, helping send the traditional language barriers plaguing global trade tumbling
AI called GPT-3 can now write like a human without thinking like one
GPT-3 is capable of producing excellent syntax. It boasts a wide range of vocabulary, owing to an large knowledge base from which it can generate …
