Metaphors help us understand complexity, but they can also be dangerous, or even misleading.
Articles on Language
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Using the term ‘war’ when fighting alleged drug traffickers or terrorists serves to justify killing them without proof they’ve committed any crimes.
The ‘moral foreign language effect’ makes you more rational, and less emotional.
Bitch is a slur – and a powerful symbol – that continues to divide us. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely to ever be fully reclaimed. Here’s why.
Migrants with dementia who’ve acquired English later in life may revert to their childhood language – and many rely on family members to interpret.
How do we make a complex piece of tech easy to understand? An analogy helps – as long as it’s not misleading.
The fact that animals don’t use words makes it hard to decode their communication. But technology is starting to make it easier.
Kids have a lot to say. Sometimes they just need a little help to feel confident speaking up.
Unusual words or punctuation may serve as ‘tells’ that something has been written by a chatbot. But even with that knowledge, most people struggle to discern human writing from AI-generated text.
A new study shows large language models find it much harder to understand the nuances of Indian, British and Australian English.
Whether reading a book or listening to a podcast, the goal is the same: understanding. But these activities support comprehension in different ways.
An expert in American dialects explains how a ‘health drink’ from the early 1800s spawned so many names and variations.
Australians are outdone by Americans and Brits, both in how often they swear, and in how many users swear online.
Many scientists see evidence of language in the sounds animals put together, but they may be kidding themselves.
Recursion was thought to be a unique feature of human language.
As the UK government doubles down on English as the sole route to integration, it shouldn’t mean leaving other languages behind.
For a younger generation of secular Jews, Yiddish is acquiring a new appeal.
Twins Bridgette and Paula Powers have gone viral for the way they speak in unison, using the same gestures and words.
Sorry really can be the hardest word.
Aussie slang is rich, weird and wildly specific—so what happens when artificial intelligence tries to learn it?
Top contributors
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Senior Lecturer in Linguistics, Monash University
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Professor of Linguistics, Monash University
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Roger J. Kreuz is a Friend of The Conversation.
Associate Dean and Feinstone Interdisciplinary Research Professor, University of Memphis
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Honorary Associate Professor in Writing, The University of Queensland
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Professor of Linguistics, University of York
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Professor of English Language and Literature, University of Oxford
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Associate Professor in Linguistics, Macquarie University
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Professor of African Language Studies, University of the Western Cape
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Senior Research Fellow of Linguistics, University of Colorado Boulder; Griffith University; University of New England
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Associate Professor of Linguistics and Director of Language Lab, The University of Western Australia
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Associate professor, Universidad Nebrija; UCL
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Associate Professor in Language, Literacy and TESL, University of Canberra
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Postdoctoral research fellow (Forensic Linguistics/ Language and Law), University of the Western Cape
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Professor of Linguistics and English, Florida International University
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Director, Office of Scholarly Communication and Publishing, University of Pittsburgh