Along with the words and phrases that still ring out 239 years later are less noticed turns of phrase. They say a lot about the messages Thomas Jefferson and the other founding fathers wanted to send.
A hundred years ago, a Polish physician created a language that anyone could learn easily. The hope was to bring the world closer together. Today Esperanto speakers say it's helpful during travel.
Several thousand people sent NPR examples of their favorite eggcorns — words or phrases that are mistakenly used but still make some sense. We read them all and picked some of the best.
An eggcorn is a word or phrase that isn't right, but makes some sense. It's among more than 1,700 words Merriam-Webster just added to its dictionary. What are your favorite eggcorns?
It can be hard to decipher what a non-native speaker is saying. But that might not always be a bad thing when it comes to understanding or remembering, scientists say.
There's a growing tendency to bring the tiny hieroglyphs off of phones, but not everyone is fluent. New takes on emoji integration suggest misunderstanding may be remedied with universal translation.
The latest edition of the official dictionary of the Swedish language contains a new pronoun among its 13,000 new words — hen, to go along with he (han) and she (hon).
When NPR correspondents report about that group, they try to make it clear that it is not a "state" in the standard sense of that word. This month's "Word Matters" conversation explains why.
New York City is home to more than 700 languages, including distinct "New Yorker" accents. A new exhibit examines how changes in the city's population are contributing to their decline.
Tiny Boonville, Calif., is known for a few things. Its wineries, its tight-knit community, and its very own language. Boontling was created in the late 1800s as a way to gossip covertly.
In a year filled with gripping health stories, here are the ones that were the most popular with Shots readers. Think beauty pageant queens, pronouns and Ebola.
Andrea is 10, and she speaks three languages: English, Spanish, and a dialect of Guatemalan. At least, that's what she thinks. Andrea speaks none of those languages fluently, even after years in her school's English-only immersion program. Why doesn't it work for her? And what can we do better? Fronteras reporter Devin Browne spent five years following Andrea, and reports on the ups and downs of an education tactic seen first-hand through a child's eyes.
Stanford and UC Berkeley linguist and author Geoffrey Nunberg discusses language and politicians: his new book is Talking Right: How Conservatives Turned Liberalism into a Tax-Raising, Latte-Drinking, Sushi-Eating, Volvo-Driving, New York Times-Reading, Body-Piercing, Hollywood-Loving, Left-Wing Freak Show .
