Via Gretchen McCulloch’s blog, All Things Linguistic
This week, I decided that I would share with you some other great language blogs where I draw inspiration and information. And if you have any other linguistics blogs that you follow, feel free to share them in the comments or on the Facebook page.
This is the Bible of linguistics blogs. With an all-star (in the linguistics world, anyway) cast of contributors, especially the ultra-prolific Mark Liberman, this blog covers a lot of ground in the field of linguistics, and is frequently cited by major news outlets. The content is widely varied, from jargon-filled posts for professional linguists to discussions of current events like Rachel Jeantel’s testimony in the Trayvon Martin case, to fascinating, bizarre topics like xenoglossy (the sudden “ability” to speak a language you have never learned). The blog is written in a (mostly) accessible way, so you should take a look.
I’ve mentioned this blog before, but its virtues bear repeating. While Language Log is run by veteran linguists, most of them having been in academia for decades, All Things Linguistic is a language blog that appeals to a younger audience. The blog is written by Gretchen McCulloch, a grad student at McGill. She weaves together popular culture and linguistic knowledge in an engaging blog that addresses important topics like the grammar of the doge meme and John Travolta’s “Adele Dazeem” slip-up. She has especially been targeted by news outlets for her knowledge of internet language. Her posts are so popular and have such broad appeal that she has been asked to do guest blog posts for the Toast and has been interviewed on the BBC and CBC.
Anne Curzan is another linguist who has achieved some public visibility. Her blog entries on Lingua Franca, the language blog of The Chronicle of Higher Education cover a number of interesting topics. She is always on the lookout for new language forms, on the internet or otherwise. She often writes on the topic of prescriptivism (for a refresher on what that is, you can check out my post about it) and language and gender (which you may have noticed is one of my pet topics as well). She also has a wonderful short radio program on Michigan Public Radio (Michigan’s NPR station) called That’s What They Say, which you can listen to online or download as a podcast via iTunes.
Do you have a favorite linguistics blog? Please tell us about it!
