Author Archives: aleata

History is complicated. Have you tried to trace someone’s lineage only to find missing information in the archival records? Or, have you heard a family story passed down orally that only certain relatives can verify? This detective work is even harder when the person comes from a culture whose history was intentionally erased. And theContinue reading “The Etymology of Kitchen”

Can you really learn a second language from watching television? Yes. Will you develop full fluency in just a few seasons? Probably not. Diving into a thrilling TV series allows you to focus on language comprehension in a motivating context. But what you pick up from those episodes depends on your level of familiarity withContinue reading “TV Dramas”

When I began learning French in the 1990s, I carried around an arsenal of reference materials: a French-English dictionary, Le Petit Robert (a French dictionary), a Bescherelle (for verb conjugations), a notepad to store my personal vocabulary list, and a pencil and eraser for underlining and in-text note taking. Today, I can manage with justContinue reading “e-Books versus Paper Books”

Motherland, fatherland, or homeland?The mothership’s maiden voyage.The forefather’s brotherhood. Have you noticed how our words are littered with gender? Gender is even more pronounced in some languages that divide their nouns into masculine and feminine categories. For example, in French, la roue (wheel) is feminine while le pneu (tire) is masculine. Use of these categoriesContinue reading “Gendered Language”

Sometimes we communicate ideas figuratively and express our ideas through comparisons. So last week, we celebrated Valentine’s day not just with our beloveds, but also with our sweetie pies, sweet things, and honeys. Have you noticed that many figurative terms of endearment relate to sugary food? Linguists explain this similarity through conceptual metaphors that serveContinue reading “Love figuratively”

Storybooks can serve as useful language learning aids. The text of a book reinforces vocabulary and syntax. Dialogue between characters models the appropriate ways to use language (i.e., pragmatics). So, when my friends started having children and raising them bilingually, I thought dual language storybooks would make nice gifts. And so began my foray intoContinue reading “Bilingual Children’s Books”

We communicate with more than words. Sometimes we use other sounds to express ideas. If someone asks, “do I really have to be there by 8am?”, you might produce a sound like mm-hmm to confirm yes. Or, if you drop your lasagna on the ground, you might produce a sound like uh-oh to indicate yourContinue reading “Verbal Gestures”

Language is ambiguous. Sometimes, one word evokes multiple meanings, what linguists call homonyms. If I ask you what a seal looks like, would you describe an animal, a stamp of authenticity, or a pipe cover? It probably depends. We learn to rely on context clues to distinguish the multiple meanings of a word. So, ifContinue reading “Food for Thought: Apples and Potatoes”