Four blogs on language and linguistics

Today I want to briefly mention* four language/linguistics blogs that deserve your attention and might not have broached your radar.

Actually I linked to Glossologics lately, but there’s lots of new posts since. Its emphasis is on etymology – origins of words and phrases – but there’s plenty of other stuff too: on foreign grammar, writing systems, language learning and more. Writer Alex Tigers updates it regularly with tasty linguistic morsels – and apparently she makes the best chocolate cake, though regrettably I can’t confirm this.

Word Jazz is “a celebration of linguistic creativity” from Matt Davis, a linguistics postgrad in London who is fascinated by all things language. The blog debuted at the start of this year and so far has looked at several aspects of linguistic creativity, such as vowels in pop music, lexical combinations, and the colourful life of adverbs (“the garden glittered greenly in the sun”).

the mashed radish will also be of interest to etymology fans. It’s written by language hobbyist John Kelly, who by his own admission is obsessed with English etymologies and the “stories our words tell about us”. Over the last few weeks he has delved into the histories of bask, self and other, and various citrus fruits: all sorts of everything etymological.

Finally, …And Read All Over is the brainchild of linguistics major Joe McVeigh, champion of free-form grammar and Robert Burchfield, Original Gangster. Notwithstanding its satirical tendencies, the blog has a serious side; recent posts have discussed the language instinct debate, and academic and marketing applications of corpus linguistics. He reviews books too.

All four are well worth visiting, and perhaps bookmarking or subscribing if their subject matter and style appeal.

*

* Not I want briefly to mention, which would mean something quite different, split infinitive watchers.