Latest Language News

Think 'brain rot' summed up 2024? Oxford agrees it was the word of the year

Dec. 02, 2024 20:34 PM EST

LONDON (AP) — Many of us have felt it, and now it’s official: “Brain rot” is the Oxford dictionaries’ word of the year. Oxford University Press said Monday that the evocative phrase “gained new prominence in 2024,” with its frequency of use increasing 230% from the year...

Emboldened 'manosphere' accelerates threats and demeaning language toward women after US election

Nov. 30, 2024 11:10 AM EST

CHICAGO (AP) — In the days after the presidential election, Sadie Perez began carrying pepper spray with her around campus. Her mom also ordered her and her sister a self-defense kit that included keychain spikes, a hidden knife key and a personal alarm. It’s a response to an...

More than 1,000 mariachis belt out classics like 'Cielito Lindo' in a Mexico City plaza

Nov. 11, 2024 00:04 AM EST

MEXICO CITY (AP) — More than 1,000 mariachis gathered in Mexico City’s main plaza Sunday, strumming guitars and singing classics like “Cielito Lindo” to end a mariachi congress celebrating the musical form. The number of musicians apparently topped the previous record of 700...

Murray Sinclair, First Nation advocate for justice and Canadian senator, has died

Nov. 04, 2024 16:11 PM EST

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Murray Sinclair, a former First Nation judge, senator and chair of the commission that delved into Canada's troubled history of residential schools for First Nations students, has died. He was 73. The father of five died peacefully Monday morning in a...

In Amharic, Karen and Spanish, worship is like home for migrants in heartland town

Oct. 31, 2024 08:16 AM EDT

WORTHINGTON, Minn. (AP) — Come noon on Sundays, overlapping worship options reflect how much Worthington has changed from a typical Midwestern farming community to a majority-minority hub with migrants from around the world. An overflow crowd is still swaying to thumping praise...

How does abortion translate? Ballot measures are a challenge for interpreters

Oct. 21, 2024 23:27 PM EDT

Reproductive rights measures are on the ballots in 10 states after heated debates over how to describe their impact on abortion — and that's just in English. In 388 places across the U.S. where English isn't the primary language among communities of voters, the federal Voting...

Meta’s Oversight Board says viral video left on Facebook threatened LGBTQ+ people in Nigeria

Oct. 15, 2024 12:21 PM EDT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Meta's oversight board expressed serious concern Tuesday over the company's failure to take down a viral graphic video showing two men bleeding after they were apparently beaten up for being allegedly gay. The video was posted in Nigeria, one of more than 30...

For small cities across Alabama with Haitian populations, Springfield is a cautionary tale

Oct. 09, 2024 13:09 PM EDT

ENTERPRISE, Ala. (AP) — The transition from the bustling Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to a small Alabama city on the southernmost tip of the Appalachian mountain range was challenging for Sarah Jacques. But over the course of a year, the 22-year-old got used to the quiet and settled in....

Civilization 7 makers work with Shawnee to bring sincere representation of the tribe to the game

Oct. 04, 2024 15:25 PM EDT

MIAMI, Okla. (AP) — Shawnee Tribe Chief Ben Barnes grew up playing video games, including “probably hundreds of hours” colonizing a distant planet in the 1999 title Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. So when that same game studio, Firaxis, approached the tribal nation a...

In Senegal, the bastion of the region's Francophonie, French is giving way to local languages

Oct. 04, 2024 11:20 AM EDT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — For decades Senegal, a former French colony in West Africa, has been touted as the bastion of the French language in the region. Leopold Sedar Senghor, the country’s first president and a poet, is considered one of the founding fathers of the concept of Francophonie, a...