How to Kill a Language

In language, few things are as interesting and intriguing as the capacity for innovation and creativity that serve as the basis of a “living language.” Without these properties, languages become
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The Use of Quotation Marks

The principal function of quotation marks is to mark quotes and dialogues. In Spanish, there are two formulas for dialogues: dashes and quotation marks. The latter are used when dialogues
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Changing Chinese Names

As I have brought up on this site before, one of the things I most appreciate about the English language is the amount of creativity speakers have due to the
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Social Register: Say What?

When we communicate, we give away more about ourselves than we imagine: through our choice of words, through the way we pronounce them, and through the general references that we
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More Symbology: Arabic

Arabic is a macrolanguage of the Semitic family, as are Aramaic, Hebrew, Acadian, and Maltese. It is the oldest of the Semitic languages, which is to say the closest to
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