LanguageNews.net

Scientists Decode Brain Waves to Eavesdrop On What We Hear

josh — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:28:11 GMT

Neuroscientists and surgeons have recorded electrical activity in the temporal lobe -- the seat of the auditory system -- to discover how the brain encodes sound. Their model allows them to predict what a person heard based solely on temporal lobe activity. If, as studies suggest, internal "imagined" conversations activate similar areas of the temporal lobe, it may be possible to hear the internal verbalizations of people who cannot talk because of paralysis or stroke.

Art in Paradise: Getting Gaelic

josh — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:57:54 GMT

There are few languages as melodiously lovely as Irish (often dubbed Irish Gaelic). There are, on the other hand, few as fearsome to behold in print or as unusual in pronunciation. Take the letter "m." In Irish, it sounds just like "m" in English. Unless, that is, it's followed by an "h." Then it sounds like "v" or "w," depending on the vowels that surround it.

Study: Vast majority of EU citizens are marginalized by dominance of English language

josh — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:54:03 GMT

The European Union has 27 member countries and 23 official languages, but its official business is carried out primarily in one language — English. Yet the striking findings of a new study show that barely a third of the EU's 500 million citizens speak English. What about the other two-thirds? They are linguistically disenfranchised, say the study's authors.

Whoopensocker dictionary of American dialect completed after 50 years

josh — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:44:24 GMT

From whoopensocker to upscuddle, strubbly to swivet, 50 years after it was first conceived the Dictionary of American Regional English is finally about to reach the end of the alphabet. The fifth volume of the dictionary, covering "slab" to "zydeco", is out in March from Harvard University Press.

Hangeul and Its Inventor Get Global Academic Attention

josh — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:26:15 GMT

King Sejong the Great, who is credited with inventing the Korean alphabet or Hangeul, is getting attention from linguists around the world. In its "Fifty Key Thinkers" series, British publisher Routledge devotes a chapter to the Korean monarch in the "Fifty Key Thinkers on Language and Linguistics."