For most people, learning a new language is a challenging, long-term commitment that requires daily dedication and air-tight focus. When you’re first starting out, you may notice that your train of thought “pauses” as it works to switch from your native language to your new language. As time goes on and you become stronger in your ability to utilize and [...]
The rich history of African American Vernacular English has endured and flourished, undoubtedly leaving an indelible mark on America and how it speaks, but AAVE’s origin, core features, and even very existence continue to be debated by professional linguists and everyday people alike. Despite the debate, and at times controversy, over what exactly AAVE is, there is a very [...]
Whether you’re a devout Catholic or just a fan of Dan Brown thrillers like The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, you’re likely familiar with one of the world’s most exalted and eccentric places – Vatican City. Despite its name, Vatican City is actually a tiny country, nestled in the heart of Rome, Italy. What it lacks in [...]
How could something so Plain Jane and American as apple pie like standard American English be controversial? Well, it’s because declaring that anything is standard or normal implies that everything else is not standard, and people tend to take issue with that, no matter what the topic. Standard English in the original thirteen colonies was what we would now [...]
Beautiful Boston figures prominently in US history and continues to stand tall as one of the East Coast’s major metropolises. Outsiders may traditionally know it for the food, beer, and passionate sports fans, but Boston has also gained a bit of recent notoriety for its unique accent. The Boston accent is of course nothing new, but it has enjoyed [...]
Just as some old-fashioned librarians and teachers decry the fact that the new generations no longer read (although people are reading MUCH more than previous generations, just usually online), some people also lament the increasing use of emojis, viewing it as a sort of regression back to the days of cave paintings. Is the internet not only shortening our [...]
Los neoyorquinos presumen sin pudor de su acento nativo, y con razón. Es potente, directo y encantador a su manera, como la propia ciudad. A menudo se presenta a Estados Unidos como un crisol de razas, y no hay mejor ejemplo que Nueva York. Algunas de las comunidades más numerosas de Nueva York son la dominicana, la puertorriqueña, la coreana, [...]
Cuando uno piensa en cómo habla la gente en la Big Easy, probablemente se imagina un acento sureño con un elegante toque francés, pero el acento de Nueva Orleans y el acento cajún son en realidad dos cosas muy distintas. La mayor sorpresa para los visitantes de N'awlins es que el acento de Nueva Orleans puede sonar muy parecido al [...]
Si se le pidiera que diera un ejemplo de una palabra nativa americana, el estadounidense medio de hoy probablemente tendría dificultades para dar mucho más que "tee-pee" o quizás "mocasín", pero Estados Unidos guarda un secreto sobre la lengua nativa americana, a saber, que más de la mitad de nuestros estados fueron nombrados originalmente por nativos americanos. Desde Alabama hasta [...]
Hawai es conocido por el buen rollo, las buenas olas y una buena dosis de confusión sobre su idioma. Es uno de los pocos estados oficialmente bilingües de EE.UU., con el inglés y el hawaiano como lenguas oficiales, pero ninguna de ellas es la lengua común que hablan los hawaianos reales y los residentes en Hawai. El idioma cotidiano se [...]
