Unesco chooses a cultural theme to highlight and celebrate every year. Now, in 2019, indigenous languages are ready for a long overdue closeup.  Continue reading...

If we start from the fact that language is first and foremost a spoken activity, the methods by which people have extended its powers to writing offer a fascinating lens into human history.  Continue reading...

Nothing is more intuitive and natural to humans than communicating via language, and specifically, via speech. Language must be central to developing a more robust channel for human-robot communication.  Continue reading...

Canons, whether you believe that their prime movers are divine or not, are the work of humans, and are surely among our most imaginative creations. But our ways of interpreting and implementing the language of religious canons are equally imaginative and creative.  Continue reading...

Written language has an afterlife that is practically unlimited. When we commit something to writing we make a record that far outlives the context in which it is produced. Take the United States Constitution for example, now on the job for more than 225 years.  Continue reading...

In our increasingly polarized world, it may be helpful to investigate how sides came to mean things that exist in vehement opposition to each other.  Continue reading...

How do you come to know the meaning of mean, and to be comfortable with the notion of meaning?  Continue reading...