10 Best Articles on Linguistics
The most useful articles on linguistics from around the web—beginners to advanced—curated by thought leaders and our community. We focus on timeless pieces and update the list whenever we discover new, must-read articles or videos—make sure to bookmark and revisit this page.
Top 5 Linguistics Articles
At a glance: these are the articles that have been most read, shared, and saved on linguistics by Refind users in 2023 so far.
- Lost perspective? Try this linguistic trick to reset your view
- Want to Remember More of What You Read? Do These 4 Things, According to a Linguistics Professor
- Tea if by sea, cha if by land: Why the world only has two words for tea
- Three ideas from linguistics that everyone in AI should know
- Where New Slang Comes From
Short Articles
Short on time? Check out these useful short articles on linguistics—all under 10 minutes.
Lost perspective? Try this linguistic trick to reset your view
By using ‘distanced self-talk’, you can leverage the structure of language to take a step back and see the bigger picture
«Through adopting this more distanced self-perspective, Aurelius was able to recognise that his feelings of anguish were temporary»
Want to Remember More of What You Read? Do These 4 Things, According to a Linguistics Professor
How you read makes a big difference.
Tea if by sea, cha if by land: Why the world only has two words for tea
Shared by 313, including Grammar Girl is also @grammargirl@zirk.us, Mariella Petrigni 🌍 Translator, Martina Grolimund, Alberto, Alex Barrera
Passing the ‘chimp test’: how Neanderthals and women helped create language
How did humans learn to talk and why haven’t chimpanzees followed suit? Linguistics expert Sverker Johansson busts some chauvinist myths
«Women and men talk equally well. And that means that an explanation for language has to be gender-neutral or near enough»
Where New Slang Comes From
Emerging slang, identified by searches for words’ definitions
Long Articles
These are some of the most-read long-form articles on linguistics.
Three ideas from linguistics that everyone in AI should know
and why (a) large language models are so prone to fabricating misinformation and (b) DALL-E is no super-genius
If language began in the hands, why did it ever leave?
If language began with gestures around a campfire and secret signals on hunts, why did speech come to dominate communication?
In the beginning was the word, and the word was embodied
A special class of vivid, textural words defy linguistic theory: could ‘ideophones’ unlock the secrets of humans’ first utterances?
10 of the best words in the world (that don't translate into English)
As millions head abroad, our correspondents pick out the words that for them speak volumes about the countries they love and live in
Talking gibberish
The study of languages has long been prone to nonsense. Why is linguistics such a magnet for dilettantes and crackpots?
Publications
We monitor hundreds of publications, blogs, newsletters, and news sources in Linguistics, including:
Aeon+Psyche
Aeon is a magazine of ideas and culture. Psyche is our sister magazine focused on the human condition. Visit http://aeon.co and http://psyche.co for more.
The Pudding
The Pudding is a digital publication that explains ideas debated in culture with visual essays. Email: sup@pudding.cool Support: http://patreon.com/thepudding
Quartz
Global news and insights for a new generation of business leaders. Sign up for Quartz Daily Brief 👉http://qz.com/emails/
Vox
Our world, explained.
The Conversation
Independent news from the sharpest academic minds. Read: http://theconversation.com/au Sign up: http://bit.ly/2YBhBpn Donate: http://bit.ly/2Wsvz8T
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We monitor hundreds of sources on linguistics, including Aeon+Psyche, The Pudding, Quartz, Vox, The Conversation, and many more.
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