Language Arts

Prolixities Docked Prolixities Docked

Revisiting an enduring guide to battered ornaments, elegant variations and Gr8 Db8s.

May 27, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko

Reading on the Brain Reading on the Brain

In the history of reading, does progress hinge on the weird, obsolete or eccentric among us?

Apr 5, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko

Superfluity and Bounty Superfluity and Bounty

The Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary is a reserve set aside for thinking about the categorical inferiority of destruction to creation.

Mar 23, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko

Borrower’s Remorse? Borrower’s Remorse?

Is bilingualism a sign of vitality, or the gradual takeover of one language by another?

Jan 19, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko

Linguistic Currency Linguistic Currency

In an information economy, tiny asymmetries in language comprehension translate into vast profits--and large-scale collapses.

Nov 3, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko

To Sleep, Perchance to ‘Sleep and Think’ To Sleep, Perchance to ‘Sleep and Think’

Conlangs often succeed only in stripping language of its surprise.

Sep 1, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko

Lingo: Fopcorn Lingo: Fopcorn

Is the history of English really the history of adult learners of a second language?

Jun 16, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko

Dirt Dogs and Jinegar: Baseball’s Slang Dirt Dogs and Jinegar: Baseball’s Slang

The richness of baseball's old, weird vernacular is pure, pointless creativity.

May 13, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Nick Stillman

Lingo: And Then Some Lingo: And Then Some

Would a master thesaurus contain the history of human perception?

Apr 14, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko

Lingo: What Child Is This? Lingo: What Child Is This?

This is Lingo, a new occasional column about language. Is language acquisition uncanny or orphic?

Mar 17, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko

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