linguistics

  • Bornholmsk: its history and status in Denmark

    The other day my dad called me into the living room to show me a video on his iPad. The video was of three men conversing in Danish while operating a combine harvester. “Do you recognize the dialect?” my dad asked. I told him no. “All Danish is Danish to me,” I explained, or something…

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  • Forensic linguistics: language and the law

    Forensic linguistics is a subfield of applied linguistics which sees linguistics applied to forensics and the law. The most famous legal case which involved forensic linguistics is the Unabomber case, where the FBI compared Ted Kaczynski’s writings with the Unabomber manifesto. However, the term covers many areas of focus. What is forensic linguistics? Forensic linguistics…

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  • Foods named after places: origins and connections

    I can think of several foods named after different places. The Nanaimo bar, hamburgers, Hawaiian pizza, and so on. But I take for granted – and maybe you do too – that these foods are obviously connected to the places they are named after. Today, I go through five different foods and the locations they…

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  • Linguistics Courses I Loved as an Undergraduate Student

    Are you considering studying linguistics? Maybe you’re currently taking your first linguistics course. Are you curious what else there is to learn beyond the basics?

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  • Good American Speech: How the Transatlantic accent took over Old Hollywood

    Classic Hollywood and old movies have always been a point of fascination for me. As a preteen, I had Turner Classic Movies playing on rotation, introducing me to the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Sydney Poitier, Gregory Peck, and so on. My fascination continued into adulthood as I listened to podcasts like You Must Remember This,…

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  • Why do I keep seeing 20 in other numbers?

    Recently, I was talking to my parents about how I was confused about the way numbers are named in Danish. I’ve been actively studying Danish for the past month and I’m constantly baffled by the numbers, specifically the 10s.

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