A paper published this year reports estimates of the number of languages spoken on Earth over the last 12,000 years. The authors estimate that the number of languages: was around 4,500 to 6,200 (and perhaps as low as 3,300 to 7,800) 12,000 years ago, when the estimated world population was around 4 to 7 million…… Continue reading When many more languages were in use
Tag: News
That stitched thing from Bay-you
The airwaves are full of reports and interviews about the imminent exhibition of the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum. I’m surprised how many British speakers have been calling this embroidered cloth the Bay-You /beɪjuː/ Tapestry. I’ve always called it the /baɪjɜː/ Tapestry, and I always thought everyone else did too. I checked what the…… Continue reading That stitched thing from Bay-you
How do you say Magyar?
A few weeks ago, Hungary elected a new Prime Minister, Péter Magyar. Perhaps that is an instance of nominative determinism—his surname Magyar means ‘Hungarian’. The Hungarian word for ‘Hungary’ is Magyarország. English speakers sometimes use Magyar as semi-jocular synonym for Hungarian, but I have the impression that this has become less common in recent decades.…… Continue reading How do you say Magyar?
Recording regional and hyper-local swear words before they disappear
Linguists at the University of Sheffield have launched a project to create the UK’s first national repository of regional swear words. UK’s first-ever national swear word census to capture real use of English language | News | The University of Sheffield The researchers say they aim to preserve a record of regional and dialect words…… Continue reading Recording regional and hyper-local swear words before they disappear
A Celtic language, just not the right one
A branch of the UK supermarket chain Tesco decided to put in some bilingual signs not just English but also the local language, a member of the Celtic family. A commendable and well-intentioned gesture. Unfortunately, the branch is in Cornall and the signs were not in Cornish (Kernewek) but in its Celtic relative Welsh. Apparently…… Continue reading A Celtic language, just not the right one
Shaetlan—the language of Shetland
Shaetlan, the language of Shetland, has now been awarded an ISO 3-letter code: scz https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/scz For more on ISO language codes, please see Russian: an official language at the ISO – Language Miscellany Shaetlan has sometimes been regarded as ‘just a dialect’ of English or as a ‘just a dialect’ of Scots, but the awarding…… Continue reading Shaetlan—the language of Shetland
Words of 2025
It’s again that time of year when dictionary publishers select a ‘word of the year’. Here is a list of the English words of 2025 selected by the main dictionaries: parasocial: involving or relating to a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know, a character in a book,…… Continue reading Words of 2025
Oversight over an oversight
On the radio this morning, I heard an interview with the Chair of the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). The interviewer asked about yesterday’s faux pas (mis-step) in which the OBR inadvertently and mistakenly released a report early. The report was part of the material intended to be released shortly after the Chancellor of…… Continue reading Oversight over an oversight
World Linguistics Day
Apparently, today (26 November) is World Linguistics Day. This event started in 2024 as National Linguistics Day in the UK. This is a ‘new awareness campaign which is designed to be a focal point in the year to get people thinking, talking and learning about the science of language’. It seems to have been designed…… Continue reading World Linguistics Day
Happy Hangul day
I reminder that today (9 October) is Hangul day. Hangul is the name used in South Korea and most of the world for the writing system used in writing Korean. For more on Hangul, please see Hangul Day – Language Miscellany