Free Republic

...the account may best be understood as a form of conjectural history. This genre is a particular kind of narrative strategy which, as Christopher Pelling suggests, '[analyzes] the logical presuppositions of a functioning system and transposing them, for expositional clarity, into a historicist register.' Herodotus' narrative strategies interrogate the very same presuppositions on which Psammetichus' experiment is built: the primacy of language in human development, and the analogy between childhood and the world's first humans.Reading Herodotus' passage alongside Lucretius' De rerum natura and Plato's Cratylus, I argue that Herodotus exploits an ambiguity in terms φωνή and ἔπος in order to...

A plan to implement multilingual alerts during natural disasters was put on hold only five months after the deadly fires in Los Angeles California Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán is urging the Federal Communications Commission to move ahead with the program.California Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán urged the Federal Communications Commission on Monday to follow through on plans to modernize the federal emergency alert system and provide multilingual alerts in natural disasters for residents who speak a language other than English at home. The call comes nearly five months after deadly fires in Los Angeles threatened communities with a high proportion of...

William F. Buckley Jr.’s centenary arrives as free speech falters and truth-telling grows perilous—a reminder that every generation must fight anew for civilization’s soul. William F. Buckley, Jr., who died in February 2008, would have been 100 years old in November of this year. There are many tributes planned to celebrate his centenary. The huge, authorized biography by Sam Tanenhaus will be out in just a few weeks. I will not say anything about that book apart from noting that its subtitle—“The Life and the Revolution That Changed America”— is apt. For five or six years at the end of...

A Florida woman was denied service at a Taco Bell because none of the workers spoke English. Apparently the Chalupa Supreme Combo doesn’t translate South-of-the-border. Alexandria Montgomery posted a video of the entire incident as it unfolded in the drive-thru of the Taco Bell in Hialeah. “Nobody here speaks English? Nobody in the back speaks English? So you can’t take my order,” Montgomery said. At one point another staffer intervened, but that individual claimed not to speak English, too. “She doesn’t want to help me because she don’t speak English. But you know the menu. You work here, so you...

n a quest to understand complex speech, scientists inserted what's been dubbed a human “language gene” into mice. Remarkably, the genetic tweak had a profound impact on the little rodents' ability to squeak, revealing astonishing clues about the evolution of vocal communication. Mouse pups that had the human version of the language gene showed different vocalization patterns from their buddies with the usual version mice have. When calling for their mother, their squeaks were higher pitched and featured a different selection of sounds than usual. “All baby mice make ultrasonic squeaks to their moms, and language researchers categorize the varying...

Syracuse Crunch forward Maxim Groshev was suspended 10 games Friday by the American Hockey League for using what the AHL termed “racially insensitive language” toward an opponent. The game in question occurred Saturday against Rochester. Because Groshev already sat out one game, he will be eligible to return to play March 30. He also can appeal the remainder of his suspension after eight games if he takes part in the NHL’s Player Inclusion Coalition and makes what is deemed by AHL President and CEO Scott Howson as sufficient progress in the training program. “The American Hockey League is committed to...

On March 1, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring English the official language of the United States—a historic act that reverberates with the timbre of our nation’s founding. This is not mere policy; it is a clarion call to reclaim the linguistic bedrock upon which America’s greatness was forged. For too long, we have drifted in a sea of Babel-like ambivalence, diluting our cohesion with well-meaning but misguided multiculturalism. Today, conservatives stand at a crossroads: we can embrace this as a triumph of unity and identity, or squander it in the face of predictable progressive hand-wringing. The...

y the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose and Policy. From the founding of our Republic, English has been used as our national language. Our Nation’s historic governing documents, including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, have all been written in English. It is therefore long past time that English is declared as the official language of the United States. A nationally designated language is at the core of a unified and cohesive society, and the United States is strengthened...

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Friday that makes English the official U.S. language. The move will rescind a Clinton-era mandate that required federal agencies and recipients of federal funding to provide language assistance. Now, those agencies will have the flexibility to determine whether to offer service in languages other than English, though the order encourages “new Americans to adopt a national language that opens doors to greater opportunities.” Through the order, President Trump “affirms that a common language fosters national cohesion, helps newcomers engage in communities and traditions, and enriches our shared culture,” a...

Pelham Grenville (PG – or Plum) Wodehouse breathed his last on Valentine’s Day fifty years ago. As Evelyn Waugh saw it, Wodehouse inhabited a world as timeless as A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Alice in Wonderland. Wodehouse himself said it was as though he was forever in his last year at school. It was, Waugh said, ‘as if the Fall of Man had never happened’. In a letter to some admirers, Wodehouse wrote: The world I write about, always a small one – one of the smallest I ever met, as Bertie… would say – is now not even small,...

In a previous video I introduced the oldest voices that can still be heard through recordings made on Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville’s phonautograph and Thomas Edison’s early tinfoil phonograph. This time, we look at how efforts to promote Edison’s new “perfected” phonograph in Britain led to the preservation of the voices of many famous Victorians - from poets and composers like Robert Browning and Arthur Sullivan, to major political figures like William Gladstone. We will also see how his rivals finally succeeded in recording the voice of Queen Victoria.

A person from Boston speaks differently than a person from New York City, to say nothing of the difference between Midwestern and Southern accents. While all of these are American, the roots of the Southern drawl have a unique colonial history.While many countries have geographical differences in accents (for example, a posh London accent versus the rough-and-tumble Cockney accent), America’s various accents are particularly pronounced. A person from Boston speaks differently than a person from New York City, despite their relative geographic closeness, to say nothing of the difference between Midwestern and Southern accents. While all of these are American,...

Everything’s bigger in Texas, including the lexicon, as evidenced by the extensive list of local sayings and idioms used throughout the Lone Star State. These turns of phrase make it easy to spot a Texan from a mile away (though the ten-gallon hats and spurred cowboy boots certainly help as well). There are classic expressions, such as “howdy” and “y’all,” as well as some phrases you may not be familiar with unless you’re from Texas. Let’s look at some of the distinctive phrases that are particularly common among Texans. Fixin’ To “Fixin’ to” is the unofficial state verb of Texas....

Sperm whales communicate with each other using rhythmic sequences of clicks, called codas. It was previously thought that sperm whales had just 21 coda types. However, after studying almost 9,000 recordings, the Ceti researchers identified 156 distinct codas. They also noticed the basic building blocks of these codas which they describe as a "sperm whale phonetic alphabet" – much like phonemes, the units of sound in human language which combine to form words. Pratyusha Sharma, a PhD student at MIT and lead author of the study, describes the "fine-grain changes" in vocalisations the AI identified. Each coda consists of between...

Language clash on a rush-hour train ignites political uproar in Belgium – and an official complaint. A seemingly innocent greeting from a train conductor has sparked a full-blown political row in Belgium, after a Dutch-speaking passenger took offence to a French ‘bonjour’ on board a rush-hour train. The conductor’s attempt to please all passengers has instead ignited a war of words in a country already deeply divided over language politics. Now Belgium’s language watchdog, the Permanent Commission for Linguistic Control has got involved. That’s right, the big dogs have stepped in the ring. Who knows where this may take us...

Luigi Mangione’s body language as he was escorted into a Pennsylvania courthouse gives insight into the accused killer’s mindset, according to a body language expert. Mangione, accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan, was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday when a McDonald’s customer saw he resembled images of the suspect in the shooting. Charged in Pennsylvania with forgery and carrying a firearm without a license, he has not waived his right to an extradition hearing to face murder charges in New York. As he was escorted into Blair County Court on Tuesday by a cadre of officers,...

One word appears to be universal across languages. That's pretty weird, huh? Go to any country where you don't speak the language, and you will obviously have some trouble communicating. You may have a little help, with languages sharing common roots and similar words, but without background knowledge it's probably time to start pointing, grunting, and apologizing in your own language as best as you can get across. But there's one word that appears to have a "universal" meaning across many different languages. Say it, and you will likely be understood despite language barriers, prompting linguists to investigate further. Word...

The propaganda campaign labeling Donald Trump as an aspiring dictator determined to use the military and national security apparatus against his political opponents is designed not to affect the upcoming election but rather to shape the post-election environment. It is the central piece of a narrative that, by characterizing Trump as a tyrant (indeed likening him to Hitler), establishes the conditions for violence — not just another attempt on Trump’s life, but political violence on a massive scale intended to destabilize the country.

Finnish is known for its challenging grammar and vocabulary, which can be daunting for learners. It features a complex system of cases—15 in total—which can change the endings of nouns based on their function in a sentence. Additionally, Finnish is a language isolated from other European languages, so there are few cognates for English speakers to rely on. Nevertheless, Finnish is a language worth learning for its unique position in the world. Finland boasts a high standard of living, stunning natural landscapes, and a rich cultural history. Learning Finnish can enhance your experience if you plan to travel or work...

Traditionally linguists have bemoaned the fact that the general public knows little of what we do because the subject isn’t taught in schools. But that has changed over the past 20 years or so, as the internet and especially social media have been so effective at getting the word out. I have rejoiced to see the public becoming ever more hip to the fact that language always changes, that you aren’t handicapping your child by raising them to be bilingual, that the way I just used “them” does not spell the fall of our Republic.Twenty years ago I never thought...