The Oxford comma. “Ask” instead of “aks.” There, their, and they’re. The legitimacy of “ain’t” and “y’all.” These are familiar, if sometimes contentious, issues in the usage of the English language.

Students acquiring the English language are one of the fastest growing populations of K-12 public school students in the country. Legally, districts are required to provide them with adequate ...

Linguist Anne Curzan delights in the nuances and evolution of language. She says we should embrace they/them as singular pronouns---which have actually been used for hundreds of years. Anne Curzan is ...

Today's episode features interviews with two authors who are very invested in the English language. First, NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Hana Videen about her new book, The Wordhord, which collects ...

Language is unique to humans, but did it evolve gradually or suddenly, from a chance mutation or as a consequence of a larger brain? Two studies now suggest that language may have arisen gradually ...

"To be, or not to be, that is the question." So mused Hamlet in Shakespeare’s timeless prose, a line that has echoed through centuries as a pinnacle of linguistic elegance. Fast forward to 2024: ...