Have you ever ordered naan bread with your tikka masala or chai tea to go? If so, you’ve been repeating yourself more than you likely realize. Chai tea means tea tea, naan bread means bread bread, and the Sahara Desert means desert desert. Why do English speakers do this? The answer comes down to the moments in history when English [...]
If you’ve ever heard someone speaking in a language other than your own, it might have sounded like they were talking five times faster than you ever have. Or perhaps their language was slow and deliberate, maybe even poetic. Does that mean that “speedy” language speakers are more efficient at communicating more information in less time? Not necessarily. In [...]
The Bee Gees might once have suggested in one of their songs that words alone are enough to sway another person. But as it turns out, human beings use much more than just words to communicate in conversation. Rhythm is an equally important facet of conversation—the rate at which participants speak, how often they interrupt each other, and how much [...]
Have you ever overheard two people begin a sentence in English, slide into another language partway through, and then shift back again? If so, you've encountered code-switching. While some people assume that “needing” to switch back and forth between two languages indicates a person’s incomplete language proficiency, code-switching actually requires a high level of fluency. Code-switching is used to navigate [...]
For new language learners, one experience is common: dreaming in the language you are currently studying. Many people assume that dreaming in a new language is a mark of true fluency, but then you wake up to discover you're not nearly as skilled as you remember. Why does this happen? It can feel like a different version of you [...]
You probably know words like “tick-tock” and “wishy-washy,” but have you ever tried to use “tock-tick” or “washy-wishy” instead? Your brain instinctively knows that these aren’t right, and the reason why comes down to an unwritten rule about the English language called ablaut reduplication. You didn’t need to be taught this principle; rather, you absorbed it as part of your [...]
In previous discussions of transcription inside the courtroom, we explained that modern-day transcription is the most accurate that the legal system has ever seen. However, complications still exist on top of technical issues and background noise. A single misheard or ambiguous word can shift the legal meaning of an entire statement. Research indicates that shorthand reporters often mistranscribe non-standard dialects, [...]
If you’re reading this sentence, you have at least some level of literacy. But did you know that learning to read is more than just a skill? When you learned how to parse the letters on the page, your brain was quietly reorganizing itself, not just conceptually, but at the physical level. This is demonstrable in brain imaging, but we [...]
The invention of the telegraph revolutionized communication. In the 19th century, telegraphy swept across the globe, connecting continents in mere minutes and sharing detailed information for anyone willing to take the time to spell out a message. However, China soon found itself largely left out of the process. Its language was not conducive to the communication capabilities of the telegraph. [...]
What’s said in a courtroom matters, not just during the trial, but afterward. Imagine what would happen if judges couldn’t go back and review cases in full because those cases existed for only a brief moment in time, turning to nothing but a note of the verdict afterward. To preserve courtroom contents, people have been keeping an official record for [...]
