Women are responsible for 90% of modern language changes, with teenage girls historically having been the linguistic innovators.
Louisiana has its own version of French called…
Louisiana has its own version of French called “Creole French” which only 70’000 people can speak. It varies so much from standard French that native French speakers cannot understand it.
In 1923 the State of Illinois passed an act declaring “American”…
In 1923 the State of Illinois passed an act declaring “American” (as opposed to “English”) to be the state’s official language. The act was proposed by Senator Frank J. Ryan of Chicago who was “fed up” with American being called English. Ryan, in turn, got the idea from Montana Congressman Washington McCormick, who had tried, […]
The German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt in South…
The German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt in South America in 1800 encountered a very old parrot that was the sole speaker of a dead Indian language, the original tribe having gone extinct.
A man memorized the French dictionary to win the French…
A man memorized the French dictionary to win the French Scrabble Championship, he does not speak French.
A 21-year old Sacramento college student boarded the wrong plane…
A 21-year old Sacramento college student boarded the wrong plane in Los Angeles and found himself en route to Aukland, New Zealand instead of Oakland, CA. The accents of the airline staff resulted in the word “Aukland” being pronounced as “Oakland” which confused the flyer.
Multilinguals who speak two or more languages change…
Multilinguals who speak two or more languages change their personality when they change language.
Some languages have a distinct style of speech that is only used when
Some languages have a distinct style of speech that is only used when the speaker is in the presence of their mother in law, called “avoidance speech”.
English words for livestock (cow, sheep, chicken) are Germanic-based and the words…
English words for livestock (cow, sheep, chicken) are Germanic-based and the words for meats (beef, mutton, poultry) are French-based. This is because the people who raised the animals were Anglo-Saxon peasants and the people who ate them were Norman aristocrats.
A woman spent 12 years in a Kansas mental institution against her will…
A woman spent 12 years in a Kansas mental institution against her will after being diagnosed as a schizophrenic because they assumed she was mentally ill and speaking gibberish. She was really Tarahumara Indian from Mexico who spoke a rare dialect.