Johnson
Our columnist examines the use and misuse of language from accents to grammar
Culture
How to protect an endangered language
A new book looks at the threats facing six small languages and the efforts to save them
Culture
Euphemism and exaggeration are both dangers to language
But verbal extremism is now the bigger threat
Culture
Young Americans are losing the southern accent
Millennials and Gen Z sound increasingly like their countrymen
Culture
The importance of handwriting is becoming better understood
Research on pens and paper highlights their benefits
Culture
AI could make it less necessary to learn foreign languages
That is good news for travellers, bad news for soulful connection
Culture
In northern Europe, a backlash against English is under way
Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway hope to restore the primacy of their languages at universities
Culture
AI is making it possible to clone voices
That could help fraudsters and disrupt creative industries
Culture
Talking about AI in human terms is natural—but wrong
When it comes to artificial intelligence, metaphors are often misleading
Culture
Gestures are a subtle and vital form of communication
Susan Goldin-Meadow explains why and how in “Thinking With Your Hands”
Culture
ChatGPT raises questions about how humans acquire language
It has reignited a debate over the ideas of Noam Chomsky, the world’s most famous linguist
Culture
A new language textbook in Mexico has caused a brouhaha
At the centre of the controversy is a single letter associated with a non-standard form of grammar
Culture
ChatGPT is a marvel of multilingualism
It may make things up, but it does so fluently in more than 50 languages
Culture
“Omit needless words!” But not all of them
When and why redundancy can be useful in writing and speech