Animal Sounds

We discuss ideas from the study Does bilingualism protect against dementia? A meta-analysis by John A. E. Anderson, Kornelia Hawrylewicz, and John G. Grundy. Find the study at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32462636/ .

A syntax discussion! What is merge? Is language actually special at all, or just one of a billion instances of merge in the human experience?

Stacie references the book Merge in the Mind-Brain: Essays on Theoretical Linguistics and the Neuroscience of Language by Naoki Fukui.

We talk about working with teams, note-taking, the value of networking, and building connections by asking questions.

How do langauges become international? How do widely spoken languages impact minority ones? What would it take for Icelandic to become a lingua franca?

We discuss markedness, with a brief foray into phonetics. Stacie references the 1986 book Markedness, edited by Fred R. Eckman, Edith A. Moravcsik, and Jessica R. Wirth.

How do different languages handle numbers?

Note: Here is a reference for different languages' plural rules for software localization: https://www.unicode.org/cldr/charts/43/supplemental/language_plural_rules.html 

What are the different ways people perceive grammaticality in language? 

In this discussion, we rely heavily on Dr. Gert-Jan Schoenmakers' recent research in Linguistic judgments in 3D: the aesthetic quality, linguistic acceptability, and surface probability of stigmatized and non-stigmatized variation, which can be downloaded here: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/ling-2021-0179/html

We discuss how the Navajo language was used as an unbreakable code during World War II. We recommend reading Chester Nez's book Code Talker to learn more.