Enduring patterns in world's languages: One-third of grammatical 'universals' stand up to rigorous testing

Souvenir douloureux, mais aussi symbole de résilience et d’unité. #JamaisOublier #FluctuatnecMergitur #Bataclan #DixAnsDéjà #Paris #Fr avec @metafrasis.bsky.social 🙏🌹

Ten years since the darkness of 13 November 2015. Paris remembers. Fluctuat nec mergitur — Tossed by the waves, but does not sink. 💙🤍❤️🕯️🕊️ #13Novembre #Paris #FluctuatNecMergitur #ParisSeSouvient 🖌️ 1 by Chaunu 🖌️ 2 by Mathou

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What a woman! I'll always remember this heartwarming goodbye hug when she brought the chimp back to his home in the jungle. May you rest in peace, Jane Goodall 💔 #RIPjaneGoodall

"En mer, je retrouve ma langue maternelle: le silence." Olivier de Kersauson, à Thessalonique, vivre en Grèce du Nord avec @metafrasis.bsky.social @filosia.bsky.social @vickyloras.bsky.social @viktsam.bsky.social @alexanderca.bsky.social #regards #thessalonique #skg #pause

The Curious Incident of the Dog in ‘The Night Watch’. What inspired that furry figure in the corner of Rembrandt’s celebrated painting? Researchers at the Rijksmuseum say they’ve solved the longtime mystery. Free Access Article. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/a...

"We are mediators between the spaces of #languages and #cultures; to do the work requires putting ego aside and accepting there is always something to learn from the other." #translation #translators

The challenges of creating the new Irish #dictionary: ‘There was no word for avocado’ #IrishLanguage #Language #Culture #Lexicography

Souvent les mêmes visages, les mêmes noms, les mêmes lieux, les mêmes phrases reviennent de l’un à l’autre, comme les motifs d’une tapisserie qu’on aurait tissée dans un demi-sommeil. ― Patrick Modiano #lecoupdefoudre #ShakespeareandCompany #inspiration #littéraire #retour @metafrasis.bsky.social

Good morning friends 🦋 Today I want to share a poem with you. Eyes closed A world unfolds Unbeknown, yet somehow familiar Smiles are bright, faces are cheerful A welcoming atmosphere encompassing all .... #poetry Full poem below 👇🏼

Multilingual artificial intelligence often reinforces bias

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In the bike-friendly Netherlands, cyclists speed down the road without fearing cars. For an American, the prospect is thrilling—and terrifying.

A linguistics expert has answers for you about how new words enter our language news.syr.edu/blog/2025/07... #Linguistics #SocioLinguistics #Language #WordsMatter #Neologisms #LanguageEvolution with @metafrasis.bsky.social 💻🐱 @vickyloras.bsky.social 👩‍🏫 🐝

Shameful

Think you’re using language to express your thoughts? What if it’s the other way around—what if language is doing the thinking for you? Words don’t just describe reality. They shape it iai.tv/articles/lan... @metafrasis.bsky.social @vickyloras.bsky.social #Language #LanguageAndMind #WordsHavePower

"Action is the antidote to despair" Joan Baez ✊️ 💙

Does your language’s grammar change how you think? #Language #Linguistics #Neuroscience #CognitiveScience #LanguageProcessing

#Harvard faculty deans and departmental administrators send messages of support for #internationalstudents after the #TrumpAdministration revokes the University’s ability to enroll them www.thecrimson.com/article/2025... 📸The #JohnHarvard statue, the crown jewel of the Harvard Yard

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Translation for language learning and translation for entertainment are two VERY different things. Removing linguists who are experts in writing for learners and replacing them with the slop machine is going to result in the quality dropping fast. 🧵

Language matters: The role and the power of multilingualism www.unesco.org/en/articles/... #Multilingualism #Language #LinguisticDiversity 🌐📚

The relationship between interpreting experience and empathy | Knowledge Centre on Translation and Interpretation knowledge-centre-translation-interpretation.ec.europa.eu/en/news/rela...

Transliteration of Greek characters into Latin characters 🔗 transliteration.nlg.gr?lang=en #NationalLibraryofGreece #Transliteration #TransliterationTool

Lost in Translation? What Google Translate's Flaws Teach Us About AI's Future impact.ed.ac.uk/opinion/futu... #AI #GoogleTranslate #Error #Language #Translation #Tech #MachineLearning with @metafrasis.bsky.social @filosia.bsky.social @vickyloras.bsky.social

What Trump’s order making English the official language in the US could mean apnews.com/article/trum... via @apnews.com #langsky

What if the wind could do what words can’t? The #Dutch have a word for it: #Uitwaaien (OUT-vwy-ehn) The refreshing clarity you get from walking in the wind. Try it. 🌬️Let’s normalize emotional resets, one wind at a time. Just don’t let it blow you away 😊 @metafrasis.bsky.social @filosia.bsky.social 🐬

Researchers from The Rockefeller University have unearthed intriguing genetic evidence: a protein variant found only in humans that may have helped shape the emergence of spoken language www.rockefeller.edu/news/37279-a... #language #evolution #science @metafrasis.bsky.social @filosia.bsky.social

Reading Greece: Jennifer R. Kellogg on the Challenges of Translating the Poetry of George Seferis into English www.greeknewsagenda.gr/reading-gree...

It’s All Greek to Me: Fun Facts to Celebrate Greek Language Day www.tovima.com/socie...

Must be quite spectacular to be able to personally photograph the Orion Nebula!! 👌🏼📷 #mindblowing

On the language learning journey, we have lots of little victories. Something you can do now that you couldn’t yesterday or last week. Maybe understanding a song. Completing a unit of a book. Memorizing an alphabet. Getting a joke. They are worthy of celebration. (Share yours here?) #langsky

Multilingual #dictionary of new words (8th edition) A compilation of #neologisms discovered and submitted by #translators from each of the European Parliament’s twenty-four #language units. op.europa.eu/en/publicati...

In honour of our 100th episode, we've compiled this list of 101 places where linguists and linguistics fans get enthusiastic about linguistics, featuring recs of books, podcasts, videos, games, irl activities, and more! 🐦🐦

📚✍️ The Surprisingly Literal Reason We Call Letters “Uppercase” and “Lowercase” www.mentalfloss.com/why-letters-...

Mundolingua: the unusual museum of #languages and #linguistics in Paris (a museum for fun!) www.sortiraparis.com/en/what-to-v... via sortiraparis.com #france #paris #museum #travel #langsky

"If people who speak different languages obtain different information through these technologies, it has a crucial influence on their perception of the world." #AI Biased by User #Language

"In contrast to English, sentence processing in Dutch was based on a strategy for predicting what comes next rather than a 'wait-and-see' approach, showing that strategies may differ across languages." 📖

I've become slightly obsessed with anachronyms; words that are used in an anachronistic way, by referring to something that was appropriate in a former time. E.g. to clock in, to film something, to hang up the phone, to dial a number. I've collected a list.

UCLA study adds to the growing body of evidence on the cognitive benefits of speaking multiple languages www.uclahealth.org/news/release... #multilingualism #benefits #languagelearning #language #teaching #communication with @vickyloras.bsky.social @metafrasis.bsky.social @filosia.bsky.social

Boys in Norway are outperforming girls in learning English as a second language: Study phys.org/news/2024-12... via @phys.org.web.brid.gy #languagelearning #langsky

At 96, Noam Chomsky's influence spans #linguistics, #philosophy, and #politics. His work on universal #grammar revolutionized how we understand language and human cognition. Chomsky’s biographer on the life of the educator and public thinker:

What does a translator do? 📚 📝 "Damion Searls, who has translated a Nobel laureate, believes his craft isn’t about transforming or reflecting a text. It’s about conjuring one’s experience of it."

Fluctuat nec mergitur 💙🤍♥️ #RetrouvonsNotreDame

Oxford University Press unveils its Word of the Year for 2024. Check out more details here: corp.oup.com/word-of-the-... #WordOfTheYear #BrainRot #OxfordLanguages #LanguageTrends #Linguistics #CulturalShifts #LanguageMatters with @metafrasis.bsky.social @filosia.bsky.social @vickyloras.bsky.social

Interview: The British #translator of #Asterix on one of her toughest French challenges yet www.connexionfrance.com/magazine/int... via connexionfrance.com #xl8 #literary #translation #langsky

Norway launches the Jon Fosse Prize, honouring translators who share Norwegian literature with the world 📚 "It will be the biggest of its kind in Europe and aims to celebrate the work of an overlooked & underpaid profession facing an existential threat from AI" www.theguardian.com/books/2024/n...

Great banner from @lnvh.nl for a protest against a government that pretends to steer on cost-benefit analysis

"Le dictionnaire est un observatoire, pas un conservatoire." Alain Rey France's new dictionary struggles to keep up with the times 👉 www.bbc.com/news/article...