Kenneth Chang, guest-blogging at TeirneyLab, laments the use of the word "organic" in both the contexts of organic chemistry and as a term for natural foods: Organic derives from Greek, organikos. The original meaning was, logically, something related to an...
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Posted on July 9, 2008 1:07 PM • 7 Comments •
Language Log has a fascinating article about creole languages and birdsongs: Zebra finches are among the songbirds who learn their songs by imitating adults, just as human children learn their language by interaction with those who already know it. Male...
Posted on May 9, 2008 1:49 PM • 0 Comments •
A post over at the Scientist blog laments the difficulty in getting people to acknowledge the English-language bias in science: Many, perhaps most, scientists are grateful that English has become the international language, but an informative protest comes from Prof....
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Posted on May 5, 2008 1:31 PM • 24 Comments •
You would think that language as a general phenomena in the human species is genetically prescribed, but the peculiarities of individual languages -- such as whether a people uses a particular phoneme or not -- is the result of historical...
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Posted on June 6, 2007 11:57 AM • 6 Comments •