by Paul Waddington | Apr 9, 2026 | Issue guide
Articles The languages of the pre-Roman West Young Writers’ Competition winner Jonathan Lucas on how Latin took over as the civic language of the Empire 75 years of Ethnologue Stephen Jones outlines the past, present and future of the guide to the languages of the...
by Paul Waddington | Dec 17, 2025 | Issue guide
Articles What’s the point of Donald Trump? Christopher Hart on co-speech gestures in right-wing populism Millennials vs boomers Becki Dey takes a look at how generational language is shaping public perceptions Unlikely language enforcers Emma Humphries uncovers...
by Paul Waddington | Jul 30, 2025 | Issue guide
Babel No52 (Autumn 2025) Articles Autistic adults online Martine can Driel and Nelya Koteyko on autistic social media useBreton’s battleground Jack Shiers explores the repression and resurgence of the Breton language in France’s classroomsMāori language Benjamin...
by Paul Waddington | Jun 2, 2025 | Issue guide
Babel No51 (Summer 2025) Articles A pound of pineapple David Voisin uncovers the etymologies of ‘pound’ and ‘pineapple’Hands across time Justin Marrier looks at the unique heritage of American Sign LanguageKamala Sen on reviving the near-extinct Kusunda Uday Raj Aaley...
by Paul Waddington | Mar 4, 2025 | Issue guide
Babel No50 (Spring 2025) Articles 50 fantastic linguistics books Babel linguists tell us about their favourite linguistics books The language of the birds Our Young Writer’s Competition winner, Benjamin Hong, looks at whistled languages Regular features Meet the...
by Paul Waddington | Nov 1, 2024 | Issue guide
Babel No49 (Winter 2024) Articles When empathy meets communication Victor Gonzalez-Ruiz and Antonio Martin look at the importance of plain language At the movies Natalia Server Beneto looks at sociolects in Mid90s What can we learn from endangered languages? Tim...
by Paul Waddington | Aug 2, 2024 | Issue guide
Babel No48 (Autumn 2024) Articles In defence of plumbing Joseph Wilson talks to James Pennebaker about his studies into the significance of function words The One With All The Sarcasm Pauline Madella discusses the pragmatics of Chandler Bing’s sarcastic humour...
by Paul Waddington | May 21, 2024 | Issue guide
Babel No47 (Summer 2024) Articles Social consensus and divine inspiration Peter Hallman looks at Ibn Jinni’s remarks on the origin of languageLanguage contact and syntactic change Robin Meyer explores how the structures of one language can be influenced by anotherAre...
by Paul Waddington | Feb 27, 2024 | Issue guide
Babel No46 (Spring 2024) Articles Panamanian English Catherine Laliberte uncovers the linguistic legacy of the Panama CanalWhat they said. Or did they? Jim O’Driscoll on the importance of how we present others’ speech‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ Lesley Jeffries looks at the...
by Paul Waddington | Nov 2, 2023 | Issue guide
Babel No45 (Winter 2023) Articles Alice in Green-land Katie Wales investigates the rhetoric of rubbishThe relentless language of superiority and comparison Crispin Thurlow dissects the symbolic power of ‘elite’ and ‘premium’Bringing historical linguistics into the...
