Lippy Linguist

Not every question is made equal 7am. Early. I am grumpy and not just at the prospect of the 48h journey we are about to embark on across the world, from London to Auckland. I need coffee. As I enter the café below our apartment, a female voice greets me: “What can I get you?” I stare blankly. It’s a … Read More

One of the perks of an academic career is having the ability to apply for, and all being well, be granted sabbatical leave. Of course, travelling with 2 children under 5 around the world is not quite the kind of sabbatical that most academics hope for, but I consider myself lucky to have a supportive husband who will willingly grab … Read More

As a parent of young children, I feel the weight of responsibility on my shoulders in regulating how our children speak – particularly when we are in public, but also during family get-togethers. Are they sufficiently polite? Do they remember to say “please” and “thank you”? Do they say “sorry”? The rules for such behaviours are assumed to be uniform, … Read More

Ever since the Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax, we may have all moved on a little from the “language X has Y words for Z”. It has indeed turned out that all those words for snow were actually based on a mere handful of roots (basic core words) that then acquired various bits of words (morphemes) to make what looked … Read More