Forgotten First Languages Leave Imprint On Brain, Study Shows

Forgotten first languages - baby wearing headphones

You never forget your first language – even if you have never spoken it, scientists have discovered. Babies develop knowledge of the language they hear in their first few months of life and will always retain that knowledge on an abstract level. It has been discovered that your brain retains the hidden ability to recall forgotten first languages decades on. The findings indicate not only that you never truly forget your birth language but also that language acquisition as a baby is abstract in nature and not dependent on experience. Continue reading

Italians Resist an English Language Invasion

Italy flag - Italians Resist an English Language InvasionThe Times has reported that the English language is currently a worry to Italian linguists. It seems that the Italian language guardians at Accadmia della Crusca are concerned that an influx of English words is corrupting the beauty of the Italian language.

The academy is looking for ways to put a stop to the Anglo-Saxon influence and will hold an emergency meeting about the matter today. We explore the recent news story and examine how the English language has influenced Italian – and in turn, how the Italian language has influenced English. Continue reading

Study Reveals Growth Towards Informality in English Grammar

The Cambridge English Corpus recently collated 1 billion words of written English and 75 million words of spoken English. The language is more fruitful now than ever before, yet native English speakers have an increasingly poor use of grammar.

These are the findings of a recent linguistics study at the University of Nottingham. But does incorrect grammar indicate a lack of education or is it simply a move towards more informal usage and a natural development of the language? Continue reading

What is Proper English?

The call for immigrants to learn ‘proper’ English is commonly heard from natives wanting to help preserve their country’s linguistic heritage. But what is proper English? The language of English is rich in borrowed words and foreign phrases, and the language continues to grow and evolve thanks largely to the influx of foreign words brought over by immigrants. This leads us to ask, with such a mingling of languages in the world today, can a ‘proper’ language ever really exist?

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