183 Quotes About Linguistics

Lydia's English is a help, but there are many different languages in el norte. There are codes Lydia hasn't yet learned to decipher, subtle differences between words that mean almost, but not quite the same thing: migrant, immigrant, illegal alien. She learns that there are flags that people use here, and those flags may be a warning or a welcome. She is learning.

...the [mental] organization of grammar [is] a case where complexity in the mind is not caused by learning; learning is caused by complexity in the mind.

Language is more fashion than science

Unlike meaning, the truth always survives translation.

Often it’s not we who shape words, but the words we use that shape us.

The whole mechanism of guilt as a deterrent to right action is just as much a linguistic fault.

Non si riferisce il reale, lo si proferisce.

I know what you’re thinking about,” said Tweedle-dum, “But it ain’t so, nohow.” “Contrariwise,” continued Tweedledee, “if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.

Irish and English are so widely separated in their mode of expression that nothing like a literal rendering from one language to the other is possible.