It's been six years since the movie Arrival arrived in theaters and immediately attracted buzz here on Language Log and elsewhere in the linguaverse. The protagonist Dr. Louise Banks (played by Amy Adams) is a field linguist called upon to communicate with aliens, and the filmmakers took efforts to make that portrayal mirror Dr. Banks' real-life […]
This is a guest post submitted by Nathan Sanders and colleagues. It's the text of an open letter to Neil deGrasse Tyson, who made a comment about linguists on Twitter not long ago. Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, As fellow scientists, we linguists appreciate the work you do as a spokesperson for science. However, your recent […]
The movie "Arrival" has been in theaters for three weeks now, and it has already grossed $100 million worldwide. That's an impressive box-office draw, and it can't all be due to linguists and their friends attending. Clearly this contemplative film, with a field linguist as the heroic protagonist, is resonating with audiences. But what does that mean […]
Linguists have been having a field day with the movie "Arrival" (see: "'Arrival' arrives"). From Ollie Sayeed on Facebook, here's a playful take on the shot of Louise Banks (Amy Adams) holding up a whiteboard with the word "HUMAN" for the aliens' perusal.
"Arrival" hits the theaters this weekend, and I'd heartily recommend it to all Language Log readers. The film, despite its science-fiction trappings, does a remarkably good job of depicting how a linguist goes about her work. I've posted about the movie a few times before even seeing it, based on the trailers: "'Language is messy,' […]
Thanks to Chinese characters, we are inundated with such preposterous profundities. In the day before yesterday's UK Observer, there is an article by Claire Armitstead titled "Madeleine Thien: ‘In China, you learn a lot from what people don’t tell you’: The Man Booker-shortlisted writer on a solitary childhood in Canada and daring to question the […]
A few days ago I posted the trailer for the forthcoming science-fiction movie "Arrival," based on Ted Chiang's linguistically rich tale of alien contact, "Story of Your Life." While most commenters have wondered how well Chiang's xenolinguistics will translate to the big screen, a couple of eagle-eyed observers noted something worrying in the trailer: incredibly […]
Of all the languages I know, Japanese is the richest in onomatopoeia (and poorest in swearing). Here's a brief introduction to reduplicative sound symbolism. ‘Pachi pachi’ or ‘kachi kachi’? Japan launches foreigners’ guide to tricky world of onomatopoeiaAs foreign population reaches record levels, the western prefecture of Mie has compiled a guide for those who […]
Email from John B.: Writing to you about a never-expected-to-see sentence, in a novel I’m reading. “And get some linguists out here as fast as you can.” (Well, but why not?) It’s a newly released off the wall novel, The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis. The heroine, Francie, has agreed to be maid of […]
The recent controversy about Florida's new State Academic Standards for Social Studies leaves something out, in my opinion. The point of contention is the assertion (p.6) that "Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit". Critics have taken this as an inappropriate pitch for the benefits […]
They were already talking about this when I was in Kazakhstan twenty years ago. The ABC of alphabet reform in Kazakhstan Moving from Cyrillic-based to modified Latin script will distance the central Asian state symbolically from Russia By Tony Barber, Financial Times (7/3/23) —— It took only a few hours after my arrival in Astana, […]
Animal communication is not a favorite topic here at Language Log, but according to the following account, one project concerning it seems serious and is being conducted by credible scientists. Although their claims for its ultimate significance may be inflated, I believe the research they are undertaking is worth considering, especially after hearing the clicks […]
David Owen, "The Objectively Objectionable Grammatical Pet Peeve", The New Yorker 1/12/2023: Usage preferences are preferences, not laws, and I sometimes switch sides. […] But some common practices are objectively objectionable, in my opinion. Here’s an example of a sentence type that I think no writer should ever use: A former resident of Brooklyn, Mrs. […]