John Xavier
John Xavier is a freelance writer and student of linguistics and language. Find out more information on language and linguistics at The Linguistics Zone blog.
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Articles by John Xavier
May 21, 2007
Do you sometimes wonder why certain materials are badly translated? One of these reasons why translation is difficult is a phenomenon known as polysemy: the many meanings that a single word can take.
For example, In English, the word plain can take on the following meanings:
ordinary / undec...
May 18, 2007
What Is Linguistics?
Linguistics is, according to Merriam-Webster, "the study of human speech including the units, nature, structure, and modification of language." It is important to note that linguistics deals with the analysis of any language, not just English.
A lot of ground is covered in...