Archive for the ‘Language’ Category

You Plural

It remains an unfortunate mystery how the English language developed without one word to communicate “you” plurally. While I try to avoid saying “y’all” too much, it just is so convenient.
But the UK has opened my mind to a different possibility: “You’s”
I’m not sure exactly how to spell it, but it makes sense. To make [...]

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Separated by a common language

I never thought I would experience the need to focus almost just as much to understand Scots speaking English as I did to understand Mexicans speaking Spanish.

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Preserving Indigenous Languages

There is an article today at BBC News about “Saving Native American Languages.”  It claims that “the US is second only to India in having the highest number of endangered languages” and that “The US has already lost more than a third of the indigenous languages that existed before European colonisation.”
The students we live with [...]

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Feminine/Masculine Argh!

I have something to vent about: in my gradual grasping of the beautiful Spanish language, there is something is always seems to creep in there and thwart my fluency.  That thing is the gendered aspect to the language.  The article and adjective differs based on whether you are talking about a male or a female.  [...]

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