Category Archives: Languages/Linguistic curiosities

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Why are women still underrepresented in many high-profile fields like finance and STEM? The reasons behind this are complex and may include gaps in education, lingering gender stereotypes, lack of role models, and concerns over work-life balance. Findings from a recent study titled “Decoding bias: …

“Recent research shows that the language used in job postings may be holding women back from work”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village The term “familect” is not new but has gone viral recently thanks to the BBC TV show QI who launched it to its 1.3 m Twitter followers as the May 21 “Word of the Day”. A “familect” is the distinct dialect you develop with your …

“New words and phrases generated via a collective experience can either unite or sow divisions: the case of “Familects””

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village A preview of the latest set of over 40 potential new emojis, many of which focus on gender neutrality and diversity, was released by Emojipedia shortly ahead of World Emoji Day, July 17. In past years emoji have come a long way in terms of …

“Emoji have come a long way in terms of improving gender and cultural inclusivity but users are asking for increased representation”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village “International Non-Binary People’s Day” is celebrated ever year on the 14th of July since 2012 and is aimed at raising awareness around the issues faced by people who do not identify as male or female. The issue is gaining increasing traction in the current debate …

“Survey data about non-binary people: a critical tool to inform discussions about policy, resource allocations, and other issues that affect them”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Have you ever become impatient during work conversations, speaking over or finishing the sentences of colleagues who are non-native English speakers and are more hesitant? Do you tend to gravitate more towards colleagues who are English native speakers to chat than with non-native speakers? Have …

“Not everyone who speaks English is treated the same way. What happens when accent discrimination creeps in?”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village The act of translating a text, of making it available to people who can’t read the original language, is a political statement in many different ways: what works are chosen to translate, or not to translate, who should translate, what languages to translate into. The …

“Translation can be a political act when is used to give a voice to under-represented groups and challenge gender stereotypes”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Numbers do not exist in all cultures. There are numberless hunter-gatherers embedded deep in Amazonia that instead of using words for precise quantities, rely exclusively on terms analogous to “a few” or “some.” Numbers are a creation of the human mind, they are a tool, …

““Anumeric” people: What happens when a language has no words for numbers?”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village American artist, designer and art director Jennifer Daniel is the first woman to chair the Emoji Subcommittee for the Unicode Consortium, the official gate-keeper for new emoji. Today most of our online communication is typed: emails, text messages, Facebook, Twitter … and an estimated 10 …

“The new Head of the UNICODE Emoji Subcommittee is advocating for more diverse and inclusive emoji”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village The coronavirus pandemic has led to an explosion of new words and phrases in many countries and cultures. We have written about this new lexicon, and how it is helping people to make sense of the changes in our lives, in a few articles for …

“German is an interesting case of how grammar can facilitate the creation of new words and influence the evolution of a language”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village “Falling on deaf ears”, turning a “blind eye”, making a “dumb” choice… Expressions like these are widely used but can have damaging effects on millions of people, even if there is no intent to do harm. Sara Nović, an American writer, translator, creative writing professor …

““Ableist” language receives renewed attention in the current debate on diversity, equity and inclusion”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village In a delightful recent article for the New York Times American writer Lauren Oyler describes her love of punctuation, which, she laments, “despite its unflagging service to the essential project of communication, is often subject to pointless regimes of austerity”. Of all the punctuation marks, …

“Making the case for semicolons, the saddest, most unfairly represented victim of the current regime of punctuation austerity”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village A new online dictionary launched on International Francophonie Day, March 20, 2021, includes French expressions from all the countries where the language is spoken. Promoted by the French government, the dictionary reflects not only the language’s evolution but also the reality that most of today’s …

““International Francophonie Day” celebrations include the launch of a revolutionary new French dictionary”