A word is an arbitrary label - that's the foundation of linguistics. But many people think otherwise. They believe in word magic:… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Structural linguistics is a bitterly divided and unhappy profession, and a large number of its practitioners spend many nights drowning their sorrows… — Douglas Adams Copy Share Image
It is only since linguistics has become more aware of its object of study, i.e. perceives the whole extent of it, that… — Ferdinand de Saussure Copy Share Image
I think that this vein is close to being mined out already, but I'll say that my knowledge of and talent for… — Neal Stephenson Copy Share Image
I went to Briar Cliff College initially, and then I transferred to Georgetown University, because I was a Russian major, and I… — P. J. Soles Copy Share Image
A linguist deaf to the poetic functions of language and a literary scholar indifferent to linguistics are equally flagrant anachronisms. — Roman Jakobson Copy Share Image
“Das mine!' protested Ava, Bennie's daughter, affirming Alex's recent theory that language acquisition involved a phase of speaking German. She snatched a… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
The methodologies of examining hip hop are borrowed from sociology, politics, religion, economics, urban studies, journalism, communications theory, American studies, transatlantic studies,… — Michael Eric Dyson Copy Share Image
“I think government starts civilization not writing. In fact why did writing happen in the first place? What happened was bureaucrats were… — Roy Casagranda Copy Share Image
Linguistic philosophers continue to argue that probably music is not a language, that is in the philosophical debate. Another point of view… — Robert Fripp Copy Share Image
“Every world has its distinct lingo, you gotta catch the right chord. Same language evokes different feelings, based on time and age… — Abhijit Naskar Copy Share Image
The job of the linguist, like that of the biologist or the botanist, is not to tell us how nature should behave,… — Arika Okrent Copy Share Image
“To discuss endlessly what silly people mean when they say silly things may be amusing but can hardly be important.” — Bertrand Russell Copy Share Image
“But Spanish and English aren't different languages, only extreme dialects of Latin. It's almost possible to translate word for word. Translation from… — Natasha Pulley Copy Share Image
“Linguists are no different from any other people who spend more than nineteen hours a day pondering the complexities of grammar and… — Ronald Langacker Copy Share Image
To my mind this makes psychedelics central to any political reconstruction, because these are the only force in nature that actually dissolve… — Terence McKenna Copy Share Image
“Is it possible to make a sharp distinction between the content and the the form, between the personality of the Texas auctioneer… — Cleanth Brooks Copy Share Image
“Language, never forget, is more fashion than science, and matters of usage, spelling and pronunciation tend to wander around like hemlines.” — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
“If metaphors require an underlying cultural framework, then the heiroglyphhic language of the gods cannot be a merely primitive stage of human… — Umberto Eco Copy Share Image
If you focus on literature through only one small element of it, like the more scientific element of linguistics, then where is… — T.C. Boyle Copy Share Image
“Not everyone who knows how to write can be a writer. Not everyone who knows two languages can be a translator.” — Nataly Kelly Copy Share Image
“Of the 193 recognized countries in the world, only politically isolated North Korea is considered monolingual.” — Nataly Kelly Copy Share Image
“All Indo-European languages have the capacity to form compounds. Indeed, German and Dutch do it, one might say, to excess. But English… — Bill Bryson Copy Share Image
