Robin Bradley Kar (Illinois): On the Proto-Indo-European Language of the Indus Valley Civilization (and Its Implications for Western Prehistory). Turkey might be the geographic origin of languages from English to Hindi, according to epidemiological tracking techniques. An interview with Tore Janson, author of The History of Languages: An Introduction. Why are languages so different — and disorderly? Philip Ball wants to know. One language dies every 14 days; by the next century nearly half of the roughly 7,000 languages spoken on Earth will likely disappear, as communities abandon native tongues in favor of English, Mandarin, or Spanish — what is lost when a language goes silent? A look at how math can help save a dying language. Will it matter if we speak different languages in the future? While proponents of universal English language teaching for development may not intend to collude in linguistic domination, they fail to achieve any of their well-intentioned aims because they ignore the fact that language is not only about communication but also about legitimacy. Dive into the weird world of invented languages with Aidan Flax-Clark, linguist Arika Okrent, and an array of language inventors.
