London Language

Britney, Pitney and vocal fry

Geoff Lindsey's new Speech Talk blog is one of the best language sites at the moment. Every post is packed with fascinating thoughts on speech. Here's his latest on 'vocal fry':

Speech Talk — Britney, Pitney and vocal fry

 

Billy

 

 

Project Nim reviewed

 

Mali Elfman's review is maybe not one the Project Nim publicists would use:

Project Nim — Screencrave Sundance Review

She makes some positive comments but I doubt whether we'll ever see these lines as poster quotes:

- 'I don't think I could ever recommend it to anybody'

- 'it'll leave you feeling pretty depressed and helpless'

and maybe 'best' of all:

- 'it's so hard to see that much darkness in humanity'

Our staff and students also found it depressing. It might seem a bit trivial to say after watching such a sad story, but there's also very little linguistics in the film.

Billy

 

Signs of a Savant

This is a must-read for anyone interested in language or linguistics. You can download Cat Davies interviewing Neil Smith on the New Books in language podcast here:

Cat Davies talks to Neil Smith

For kindle users, the kindle edition is cheaper than either of the print copies.

Billy