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Articles on Language

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Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks during the October 9 presidential town hall debate. Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Donald Trump and the dangerous rhetoric of portraying people as objects

An expert in political rhetoric singles out Trump’s repeated use of reification – the tendency to treat people as things – and the role it’s played in his tortured response to the leaked tape.
Go ahead, just let off some steam. 'Swearing' via www.shutterstock.com

Do we swear too much?

With the taboo on swearing loosening over the past few decades, will profanity lose its effectiveness in spoken language?
Will our digital phrasebook finally be able to handle more than just simple snippets? cybrain/Shutterstock.com

Has auto-translation software finally stopped being so useless?

Auto-translation software has been pretty frustrating to use. But news of vast improvements to Google’s translation software raises the prospect that websites will soon be browsable in any language.
One South African school issues ‘demerits’ if their pupils speak anything but English. David Ritchie/Cape Argus

How schools use language as a way to exclude children

Schools and universities in post-colonial contexts still operate within the logic of coloniality. This is starkly illustrated by their language policies.
Our relationships, desires, anxieties are reflected in the way we communicate. from www.shutterstock.com

Words stripped of meaning: a guide to linguistic spam

A “passion” was once thought of as a love or desire so irresistible as to take one to the threshold of death. What are we to make, then, of a passion for innovation or management consulting? What’s happening to our words?

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