Linguistics

Tributes paid to ‘an extremely significant figure’ in the assessment of academic English

Humanities scholars play a crucial role in communicating with the public during Covid

Tributes paid to a ‘sparkling intellect’ celebrated for his radio talks and books on language

The language specialist talks about his monoglot roots, the joys of linguistics and why academics could take a trick or two from English teachers

Colleagues may judge those with regional accents more harshly, but poorer students respond to lecturers from similar backgrounds, says Ryan Coogan

A collection of assessments and reappraisals of Noam Chomsky’s celebrated essay ‘The Responsibility of Intellectuals’ by the author and other scholars shows the activist academic to be as provocative as ever, writes Matthew Reisz 

Chloe Chard considers a wide-ranging but not very focused attempt to illuminate jokes

Leiden University acted unlawfully, a court has ruled, in using anonymous letter to discredit an applicant for a professorship

The conservator of threatened language explains why two people are as important as 2 billion, from a linguistics point of view

When authoritarian populists employ the speech forms once deployed to counter totalitarians, how are we to critique what we consider abuses? wonders Deborah Cameron

Tributes paid to expert in English language testing

Courses in Dutch language and literature are now more popular in Poland than in the Netherlands, figures suggest

Ugly, hateful talk must be countered with debate and argument, not bans, says Joanna Williams

A forensic linguist’s compelling and sometimes chilling case files demonstrate how criminals’ punctuation can be their undoing

Andrea Macrae reflects on what is being said when we accept the things that go without saying

Lynda Mugglestone ponders what Dr Johnson might have made of an exposé of philologists’ limitations

Academic whose research interests were shaped by an African childhood remembered

A look at intercultural dialogue ends up as an irritating guide to manners, says Susan Bassnett

Peking University joins the top 20 of the Times Higher Education subject table for the first time

The speech of the lower classes won acceptance only after a make-over, finds Elspeth Jajdelska

Putting a bottom line value on language skills is a laudable aim, but the benefits and challenges of linguistic diversity merit more exploration, says Ingrid Piller

An expert on children’s reading who was closely involved in the merger that created the University of Manchester has died

‘Sinister’ internationalisation agendas still too focused on recruiting students, researcher claims

Women's submissions to a leading seminar were viewed more warmly once a gender-blind process was introduced

Jane O’Grady on a reminder that the development of communication was a collaboration

Eva Shan Chou on a study of how anglophone texts have come to overshadow many vernacular writings

Doctoral student Ana Kedveš asked her colleagues to submit the strangest questions they have faced

The good, the bad and the offbeat: the academy through the lens of the national press

David Crystal sets the record straight on claims the Australian accent originated in drunken speech

UK maintains its strength in the arts while US loses ground

Willy Maley delights in a study casting light on the lexicographer’s life as both drudge and judge

This survey shows how textbook materials often reveal more about the ‘home’ culture than they do about the one being taught. Sylvia Jaworska writes

The merger of seven subpanels into a single one for modern languages and linguistics has skewed results, claim scholars

Richard Joyner on the dwindling role of German and Russian in the communication of research

Michelle Aldridge on a comprehensive presentation of the case that human verbal communication emerges from use

Geoffrey Galt Harpham on a timely reminder of the common root of modern human sciences

Kerstin Hoge on a manifesto correcting the view that the language we speak affects how we think

Shattering stereotypes starts with sharing everyday experiences, suggests Annabel Tremlett