Linguist Geoff Nunberg reflects on Europanto, a form of language aimed at allowing Europeans to talk with each other without using English all the time.
In his new book, Talking Right, linguist Geoff Nunberg examines the parlance of the American political right. Conservatives, Nunberg notes, have been remarkably effective at creating a language through which to convey their agenda.
Since the 1961 publication of the Third International Dictionary, people have debated the merits of dictionaries that describe language as it is and those that explain how it should be. Today the debate continues, but it doesn't hold the same cultural significance as before, writes Geoff Nunberg.
Linguist Geoff Nunberg reflects on the use of the phrase "stiff upper lip" when referring to the British, especially in reports of the July 7 London bombings.
The election results didn't just reshuffle the Congress -- they also got people debating the meanings of the labels people use to map out the political spectrum. Our linguist Geoff Nunberg has been thinking about what's in a label.
Language commentator Geoff Nunberg considers why actors adopt foreign or regional accents in film -- and why they sometimes speak in their natural voice, regardless of the part they play.
President Trump has a penchant for breathing new life into expressions with troubled pasts, like "America first" and "enemy of the people." It's not likely his uses of those phrases will survive his presidency. But he may have altered the political lexicon more enduringly at a Houston rally two weeks before the elections, when he proclaimed himself a "nationalist" and urged his supporters to use the word.
