Category Archives: Linguistics

We think what we speak

Posted on November 6, 2009 by

Each language has a toolkit to help us learn what to pay attention to. So argues Stanford psychology professor Lera Boroditsky during this episode of the Stanford University radio show Entitled Opinions (about Life and Literature) (website, iTunes). Boroditsky studies … Continue reading →

Posted in Academic podcasts, Five-star professors, Idea of the week, Lectures, Linguistics, Psychology | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The Structure of English Words

Posted on July 22, 2009 by

This one is for you word nerds out there. Stanford linguist William Leben offers a lively romp through the history and structure of the English language in Structure of English Words (iTunes) on iTunes U. Even if you hated grammar … Continue reading →

Posted in Academic podcasts, Courses, Five-star professors, Linguistics | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

History of the English language

Posted on June 17, 2008 by

If you’ve ever wondered why English spelling is so complicated, check out Towson University Professor Edwin Duncan’s lecture History of English Orthography (or how our spelling system came to be so screwed up), one of the video lectures available for … Continue reading →

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Closing the achievement gap

Posted on April 3, 2008 by

It’s no secret that African American children who grow up speaking the informal vernacular known as Ebonics or African American English often have a hard time in school settings that require formal English, and consequently often get lower reading test … Continue reading →

Posted in Courses, Five-star professors, Linguistics | 1 Comment

The history of information

Posted on January 1, 2008 by

The theme of this UC Berkeley history of information course is “not by technology alone.” Although we are bombarded every day with news of some new technology which will “revolutionize” our lives, this course offers a more nuanced view. Yes, … Continue reading →

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Languages and cultures of America

Posted on December 28, 2007 by

Linguist Max Weinreich wrote, “A Language is a Dialect with an Army and a Navy.” What he was getting at is that the distinction between a dialect in a language is often more political than anything intrinsic to the language … Continue reading →

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