2019-11-21
by savita.gauchan

Internet writing: behind the apparent carelessness is a subtly tuned awareness of the full spectrum of the language

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Towards the end of the last decade, a distinctive minimalist style emerged among the users of the micro-blogging site Tumblr: capitals were mostly dispensed with, other than for emphasis, punctuation became notable by its absence; hashtags were used mostly for irony. A new literary genre …

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2019-11-20
by savita.gauchan

The case of Interslavic, or Medžuslovjanski: a natural or constructed language?

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Attempts to create an “interslavic” language date as far back as the 17th century. The current version of Interslavic, or Medžuslovjanski, was established in 2017, and was the fruit of the merging of the Slovianski and Neoslavonic projects, the two most active projects from the …

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2019-11-18
by savita.gauchan

Should we use “translate” as a noun? A case of “nominalisation” of a verb

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village The conversion of verbs into nouns is called “nominalisation” (the opposite, turning nouns into verbs, is called “verbing” or “denominalisation”). There are two types of nominalisation. The first involves adding a suffix: the verb “to investigate” produces the noun “investigation.” The second type is known as “zero …

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2019-11-15
by savita.gauchan

New trends in emoji use call into question their possible future role as a “universal language”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village As of October 2019 there are 3.019 officially approved emoji. Anyone can submit a proposal to Unicode and make their argument for inclusion of a particular emoji – this has worked well in past years to get emoji that better represent diversity and accessibility, in …

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2019-11-13
by savita.gauchan

It’s that time of the year again when dictionaries announce their selection of top trending words

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village The Collins Dictionary has just announced its 2019 “Word of the Year” (WotY) and it is “climate strike”. The term was first registered in 2015 during the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, when the first event of its kind took place. But the movement …

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2019-11-06
by savita.gauchan

One language dies every two weeks. How poetry can help activate interest in endangered languages

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village A new anthology of poetry from around the world, edited by poet and UK National Poetry Librarian Chris McCabe, gathers together 50 poems in languages from around the world that have been identified as endangered, for reasons as diverse as political upheaval, climate breakdown, genocide, …

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2019-11-04
by savita.gauchan

Scientific research on constructed languages suggests that, in language learning, the human mind may be structured in advance of experience

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village A recent article by David Adger, Professor of Linguistics at Queen Mary University of London, for the BBC’s “Science Focus” magazine, addresses the age-old controversy among linguists about whether human minds are set up to learn language in a particular way, or whether we learn languages …

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2019-10-25
by savita.gauchan

On how emoji are increasingly making their way into political communication

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village On October 17 2019 EU Commission President Juncker announced the Brexit deal on his Twitter account with three emoji: 🇪🇺🤝🇬🇧. Examples of other politicians or institutions that regularly use emoji include the UK Foreign Office, the Italian and German Ministries for Foreign Affairs, Australian foreign …

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Languages of New York City map
2019-10-21
by savita.gauchan

The revival of a language is a matter of justice and a step in restitution and recovery

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village An interesting take on indigenous language preservation by Ross Perlin, Co-Director of the Endangered Languages Alliance. In the October issue of “Artforum” he makes a compelling case for the need for financial support, from majority populations’ institutions, foundations, schools, and governments, to the “revitalizers” of …

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Margaret Atwood for The Testaments
2019-10-15
by savita.gauchan

What makes this year’s Booker Prize different?

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village There are a number of interesting “firsts” for the 2019 Booker prize, the two winners of which were announced recently. Bernardine Evaristo is the first black woman to win and the first black British author (only four black women have ever been shortlisted, out of …

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Oxford comma
2019-10-13
by savita.gauchan

A very entertaining article about the “Oxford comma”, and why we recommend using it

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village The Oxford comma, also known as a “serial comma”, is used after the penultimate item in a list of three or more items, before “and” or “or”, and its presence or absence can significantly alter the meaning of a sentence. The example that is most …

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Olga Tokarczuk Nobel prize
2019-10-11
by savita.gauchan

Would Olga Tokarczuk have won the Nobel prize if she had not been translated into English?

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Nobel prize laureate Olga Tokarczuk has been a bestselling author in Poland for three decades. In a recent interview for “The Guardian” she says she wonders how her life would have worked out if her books had been translated into English sooner. The novel “Flights”, …

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