Sign Language: Simplified Gestures? Most people who have never had contact with sign languages assume that the varied hand movements are just simplified gestures. Point at someone? That means “you.” Push the first two fingers together in a slicing motion repeatedly? “Scissors.” Without exposure to sign languages, a person may believe that simply making gestures is sufficient to communicate. [...]
Language education offers a variety of social benefits, from making new friends to fostering cross-cultural connections. Because the risk of isolation in retirement is so substantial and poses both emotional and tangible physical consequences, it’s never too late to start your next linguistic journey. Whether you’re hoping to ignite new friendships or simply counteract some of the effects of [...]
Sales and marketing predates recorded history by hundreds (if not thousands) of years. But perhaps even more fascinating is the close relationship between marketing and language, which has seemed to develop side by side since the beginning of time. Since the earliest forms of production and barter systems, the methods humans have employed to pitch, promote, and persuade reflect [...]
When we think of intelligent life in the animal kingdom, dolphins often swim straight to the top of the list. With their playful behavior, social complexity, and knack for cooperation, dolphins seem to blur the line between instinct and intelligence. But it’s not just their brains that make them special. It’s also their voices. Dolphins are incredibly vocal creatures. [...]
The language you choose matters less than simply choosing it and sticking to it, so don’t be afraid to try anything from French to Fulani! Let’s explore the benefits of learning a language late in life, from staving off dementia to improving memory and neuroplasticity. The Benefits of Multilingualism Languages are diverse, and many people choose to learn more [...]
Honeybees might not seem very chatty, but these nectar-seeking marvels of the natural world have an astonishingly complex communication system. They don’t rely on vocalizations or written symbols like humans do, yet they convey detailed information about food sources, threats, and hive coordination with remarkable precision. Their most famous method? The waggle dance, a sophisticated movement that functions as [...]
How Illiteracy Shaped Seafaring Language Anyone who has enjoyed literature and films portraying life at sea may have quickly noticed that the ship environment is alive with unfamiliar jargon. Words such as “bosun” and “stays’l” might fill the air, but upon looking in a dictionary, no such words seem to exist! The reason for many of the warped pronunciations [...]
One of the often overlooked features of language is that it’s constantly evolving and adapting. A fascinating aspect of this evolution is the incorporation of "untranslatable" words from various languages into English. These loanwords fill lexical gaps, offering nuanced expressions previously lacking in English. There’s an important reason for these additions. At any given time, a language can adequately [...]
Controlled Natural Languages Seaspeak was created in 1985 to standardize how sailors and others on naval vessels communicated with each other. When a ship from an English-speaking location such as the United States would like to ask for assistance from a passing ship from, for instance, Brazil, the language barrier can quickly become a problem. Seaspeak allows these ships [...]
Cliches are the lynchpin of one particular linguistic maneuver that works in subtle but impactful ways. Thought termination, also called the thought-terminating cliche, can end conversations instantly and even keep people beholden to an ideology. How do these innocent phrases carry such an effect? It all comes down to how people relate to each other. What Is Thought Termination? [...]
