AI Shows Linguistic Experience essential for Language Skills—Not Grammar Knowledge

“Children should be seen, not heard” goes the old saying, but the latest AI language models suggest that nothing could be further from the truth. Instead, children need to be engaged in the back-and-forth of conversation as much as possible to help them develop their language skills. Linguistic experience—not grammar—is key to becoming a competent language user.

Morten Christiansen & Pablo Contreras Kallens writing in Fast Company

Words that have the Power to Change Minds

Researchers have discovered that certain words or phrases have the power to change the course of a conversation. Here are some dos and don’ts they discovered:

• List options rather than recommending “best-interest” solutions.

• Use “willing” —as in “Would you be willing to…” (and “I know it’s not your first choice but would you…”

• Don’t use “just” (as in “Could I just” or “I just wanted to”) because it is a ‘permission’ word, an apology implying interrupting and people do not respond as well when a warm-up to a request is offered first.

• Use “speak” instead of “talk” (such as “I’m here to talk.). “Talk” is a reminder of the negative cultural idioms associated with the term (such as “talk is cheap”).

• Use “sort” (as in “Let’s sort it out”) instead of “help.” “Sort” seems more direct and active.  

• Ask “Can I speak to you about this?” rather than “Can we talk?”

• Avoid “How are you?” when it’s not your intention to discuss the topic. Better to get to the point.

• Avoid “any” (as in “Anything else I can do for you?” because the question is too broad) and instead use “some” (as in “Is there something else I can do for you today?”).

• Avoid “yes, but” and once you do hear the phrase repeated three or more times, pack it in. The conversation is going nowhere. Try “What’s needed here?” or “What do you need?”

• Offer a bright “hello.”

Based on research from: 

Talk: The science of conversation, Elizabeth Stokoe  

Some vs Any, John Heritage and Jeffrey Robinson

Workstorming, Rob Kendall

Never Split the Difference, Chris Voss

Articles of Interest about Literature, Journalism, Writing & Languages – Jan 29

***WRITING & READING

The Enemies of Writing: A writer who’s afraid to tell people what they don’t want to hear has chosen the wrong trade  https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/packer-hitchens/605365/

 JRR Tolkien's son Christopher dies aged 95 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/16/jrr-tolkiens-son-christopher-dies-aged-95

 Exploring various scholars' rationales for self-plagiarism https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/01/10/essay-rationales-self-plagiarism

***GRAMMAR 

Who do they think they are? The battle over the singular use of “they” has been waged for centuries https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2020/01/18/who-do-they-think-they-are   

English's pronoun problem is centuries old https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/english-s-pronoun-problem-is-centuries-old-120012301829_1.html

***JOURNALISM

7 things to consider before adopting AI in your news organisation: A training module for newsrooms https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2019/12/12/7-things-to-consider/

Journalism still has power: But not the way you’d hope  https://www.cjr.org/cjr_outbox/hegseth-trump-gallagher.php

The latest newspaper chain to face Alden Global Capital cost-cutting  https://www.axios.com/media-local-newspapers-private-equity-0add6bce-f44a-4938-82bb-6d4bb01068c8.html

Jim Lehrer's 16 Rules for Practicing Journalism with Integrity www.openculture.com/2020/01/jim-lehrers-16-rules-for-being-a-journalist-with-integrity.html

***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM

Flipboard expands into local news https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/28/flipboard-expands-into-local-news/

Facebook awards $700,000 in local news grants  https://www.axios.com/facebook-local-news-grants-advertising-f9f7048b-2bd2-4eb6-9bfc-6fe72fb5c359.html

The New York Times used to be afraid of BuzzFeed. Now it’s hired its biggest star. https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/1/28/21112608/ben-smith-new-york-times-buzzfeed-media-revenue-jonah-peretti

***FAKES & FRAUDS

Big Tech platforms struggle to police deepfakes ahead of the 2020 elections    https://www.axios.com/deepfakes-big-tech-policy-facebook-reddit-tiktok-ca7a99b8-e571-4b0b-933a-27e4b2c0b0f7.html   

2020 rules of the road for the Age of Misinformation https://www.axios.com/2020-rules-of-the-road-for-the-age-of-misinformation-87bc3f7e-b064-4b47-bc71-7639b9a82b8a.html

How Swedes Were Fooled By One Of The Biggest Scientific Bluffs Of Our Time https://medium.com/@Soccermatics/how-swedes-were-fooled-by-one-of-the-biggest-scientific-bluffs-of-our-time-de47c82601ad

A new text message scam is disguising itself as a FedEx notification https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/23/business/fedex-text-scam-trnd/ 

How To Spot 2020 Election Disinformation https://www.npr.org/2020/01/23/798809217/how-to-spot-2020-election-disinformation

Clearview AI Says Its Facial Recognition Software Identified A Terrorism Suspect: The Cops Say That's Not True https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/clearview-ai-nypd-facial-recognition

Half of Americans don’t know 6m Jews were killed in Holocaust, survey says    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/22/holocaust-survey-americans-pew-research-center

American Distrust Of The Voting Process Is Widespread, Poll Finds https://www.npr.org/2020/01/21/798088827/american-distrust-of-the-voting-process-is-widespread-npr-poll-finds

Is this video “missing context,” “transformed,” or “edited”? This effort wants to standardize how we categorize visual misinformation https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/01/is-this-video-missing-context-transformed-or-edited-this-effort-wants-to-standardize-how-we-categorize-visual-misinformation/

Misinformation about coronavirus tests Facebook, Google and China  https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-misinformation-facebook-twitter-google-china-246a0325-b4ea-4465-92ae-5f364a7e965c.html

The New York Times tested blockchain to help you identify faked photos on your timeline https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/01/heres-how-the-new-york-times-tested-blockchain-to-help-you-identify-faked-photos-on-your-timeline/

***SOCIAL MEDIA 

Twitter’s Jack Dorsey on edit button: ‘We’ll probably never do it’ https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/15/21066815/twitter-edit-button-jack-dorsey-says-no

Twitter apologises for letting ads target neo-Nazis and bigots https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51112238

Targeting TikTok’s privacy alone misses a larger issue: Chinese state control https://qz.com/1788836/targeting-tiktoks-privacy-alone-misses-a-much-larger-point/

***LANGUAGE 

 How we use language, with a look under the hood https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/columnists/mcintyre/bs-ed-mcintyre-20200111-tmf465vuubdebmtpu3p6ngsz2q-story.html

Things You Didn't Know Had Names  https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/63034/48-things-you-didnt-know-had-names 

Using a child’s identified pronouns might feel complicated, but it’s crucial. Here’s why (opinion) https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/01/16/using-childs-identified-pronouns-might-feel-complicated-its-crucial-heres-why/ 

The alphabets at risk of extinction https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200121-the-alphabets-at-risk-of-extinction

Author Interview: Dennis Baron On 'What's Your Pronoun?' https://www.npr.org/2020/01/26/799629318/author-interview-dennis-baron-on-what-s-your-pronoun

'Baby Shark,' Now In 19 Languages And Counting — Including A Navajo Tongue https://www.npr.org/2020/01/28/800557518/baby-shark-now-in-19-languages-and-counting-including-a-navajo-tongue

Discover the Disappearing Turkish Language That is Whistled, Not Spoken www.openculture.com/2020/01/discover-the-turkish-language-that-is-whistled-not-spoken.html

***LITERATURE

The Obscure Editions of Jane Austen Novels That Made Her Internationally Known  https://lithub.com/the-obscure-editions-of-jane-austen-novels-that-made-her-internationally-known/

UCLA receives $25 million from Uniqlo founder for Japanese literature and culture studies http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/25-million-uniqlo-founder-japanese-literature-and-culture

Edgar Allan Poe's Baltimore home was named a literary landmark https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/edgar-allan-poe-baltimore-literary-landmark-trnd/index.html

Virginia Woolf Books To Read If You Want To Explore 20th Century Literature https://www.republicworld.com/lifestyle/books/virginia-woolf-books-to-read-to-explore-20th-century-literature.html

Is Jane Austen the Antidote to Social Media Overload? https://daily.jstor.org/is-jane-austen-the-antidote-to-social-media-overload/

Jeanine Cummins' migrant book 'American Dirt' is problematic; author’s note makes it worse https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2020/01/21/american-dirt-jeanine-cummins-book-review-mexican-migrant/4497859002/

***POETRY

What happens when machines learn to write poetry: should artificial intelligence alter our appreciation of art? http://bit.ly/30CkvI3

Have You Abandoned Your New Year's Resolutions? Tell Us In A Poem https://www.npr.org/2020/01/16/795953834/have-you-abandoned-your-new-years-resolutions-tell-us-in-a-poem

'Ghost poetry': fight over Samuel Beckett's Nobel win revealed in archives https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/17/ghost-poetry-fight-over-samuel-beckett-nobel-win-revealed-in-archives

***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA  

Augmented reality contacts are real, and could be here sooner than you think https://mashable.com/article/augmented-reality-contact-lenses-mojo-vision/

The Culling Has Begun’: Inside the iHeartMedia Layoffs  https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/iheartmedia-mass-layoffs-937513

Could iHeart layoffs be the beginning of local radio’s endgame? https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2020/01/could-iheart-layoffs-be-the-beginning-of-local-radios-endgame.htm

2020 won't be the year digital election ads surpass TV  https://www.axios.com/2020-digital-election-ads-tv-75cd82b1-b9a1-4637-b885-8aa654e63291.html

***PRIVACY & SECURITY

Clearview app lets strangers find your name, info with snap of a photo, report says  https://www.cnet.com/news/clearview-app-lets-strangers-find-your-name-info-with-snap-of-a-photo-report-says

Facial Recognition could replace the fingerprint https://story.californiasunday.com/facial-recognition

The Secret History of Facial Recognition https://www.wired.com/story/secret-history-facial-recognition/

Most Americans support right to have some personal info removed from online searches  https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/01/27/most-americans-support-right-to-have-some-personal-info-removed-from-online-searches/

Articles of Interest about Literature, Journalism, Writing & Languages – Nov 29

***WRITING & READING 

The Weirdest Book Titles On Amazon https://www.sadanduseless.com/weird-amazon-books-list/

How do you cope with knowing that the project you poured years of your life into is not quite setting the world on fire? https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/25/writing-is-tough-my-book-went-so-unnoticed-i-won-an-award-for-it

The Last Decade Has Been Tumultuous For The Publishing Industry https://www.npr.org/2019/11/26/782867252/the-last-decade-has-been-tumultuous-for-the-publishing-industry

Prisons Around the U.S. Are Banning and Restricting Access to Books www.openculture.com/2019/11/prisons-around-the-u-s-are-banning-and-restricting-access-to-books.html

Messy handwriting reveals mystery translator: Queen Elizabeth I https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/29/handwriting-identifies-elizabeth-i-tacitus-translation

***JOURNALISM

New York Times dropping most social media trackers https://www.axios.com/new-york-times-social-media-trackers-47f547d5-a241-424a-a398-12344c78ac32.html  

Reporting That Hits People Where They Live — by Reporters Who Live There Too https://cronkitenewslab.com/broadcast/2019/11/14/new-generation-storytellers-changing-rules-abc

How one woman captured 30 years’ worth of broadcast news https://lwlies.com/articles/recorder-the-marion-stokes-project-director-interview/?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email

5 Photojournalists Sue Homeland Security for First Amendment Violations https://pdnpulse.pdnonline.com/2019/11/5-photojournalists-sue-homeland-security-for-first-amendment-violations.html

Americans favor mobile devices over desktops and laptops for getting news https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/11/19/americans-favor-mobile-devices-over-desktops-and-laptops-for-getting-news/ 

An Exhaustive Ranking of Movie Journalists  https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/11/25/20974644/movie-journalists-ranked  

***JOURNALISM & AI

The relationship of journalism to AI http://bit.ly/35z5F6s    

Relevance of AI in Accelerating Journalism and Newsroom Workflow https://www.analyticsinsight.net/relevance-ai-accelerating-journalism-newsroom-workflow/

Actually, it’s about Ethics, AI, and Journalism: Reporting on and with Computation and Data https://www.cjr.org/tow_center_reports/ai-ethics-journalism-and-computation-ibm-new-york-times.php

***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM

9 charts about America’s newsrooms https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/11/26/9-charts-about-americas-newsrooms/

Putting a price tag on local news https://knightfoundation.org/reports/putting-a-price-tag-on-local-news/

AP to add 14 statehouse reporters in collaboration with Report for America https://www.ap.org/press-releases/2019/ap-to-add-14-statehouse-reporters-in-collaboration-with-report-for-america

Portland Has Been Overcharging People for Public Records, Court Finds https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2019/11/19/27502241/portland-has-been-overcharging-people-for-public-records-court-finds

***STUDENT MEDIA

Student reporters at BYU-Idaho allegedly pressured not to publish negative stories https://www.eastidahonews.com/2019/11/student-reporters-at-byu-idaho-allegedly-pressured-not-to-publish-negative-stories/

High school journalists who fought censorship win award https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2019/11/25/burlington-high-schoolers-censorship-granted-journalism-award/4295236002  

Lawsuit pits father against daughter after article alleging sex abuse appears in UNC student newspaper  https://www.greensboro.com/news/local_news/no-turning-back-in-lawsuit-pitting-father-against-daughter-after/article_f093b659-134f-5fd8-a7ad-6b98c9f9be2f.html

***FAKE NEWS

The neuroscience of how fake news grabs our attention, produces false memories, and appeals to our emotions https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/11/galaxy-brain-the-neuroscience-of-how-fake-news-grabs-our-attention-produces-false-memories-and-appeals-to-our-emotions/

Fake News Is Costing the World $78 Billion a Year https://cheddar.com/media/exclusive-fake-news-is-costing-the-world-billion-a-year

The Incredibly True Story of Fake Headlines https://daily.jstor.org/the-incredibly-true-story-of-fake-headlines/

Before Trump: the real history of fake news https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/22/factitious-taradiddle-dictionary-real-history-fake-news

***SOCIAL MEDIA 

Here’s What Cancel Culture Looked Like in 1283 (video) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/18/opinion/cancel-culture-victims.html 

Facebook still isn’t clear about why it won’t take down false political ads https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/11/18/20970942/facebook-political-ads-policy-carolyn-everson-code-media   

‘This app is free and therapy is not’: Gen Z will keep using TikTok even if they don’t trust it https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/11/15/this-app-is-free-therapy-is-not-gen-z-will-keep-using-tiktok-even-if-they-dont-trust-it/

TikTok Denies Censoring A Teen Who Criticized China's Concentration Camps — They Said They Banned Her After A Joke About Osama Bin Laden Thirst https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/teen-tik-tok-china-osama-bin-laden

Twitter Said It Will Not Delete The Accounts Of Dead People https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katienotopoulos/twitter-wont-delete-the-accounts-of-dead-people-for-now

***LANGUAGE

The Loudness Of Vowels Helps The Brain Break Down Speech Into Syl-La-Bles https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/11/20/780988618/the-loudness-of-vowels-helps-the-brain-break-down-speech-into-syl-la-bles

‘Climate Emergency’ Is the Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2019-11-20/climate-emergency-is-the-oxford-dictionaries-word-of-the-year 

What happens when college students discuss lab work in Spanish, philosophy in Chinese or opera in Italian?   https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/education/what-happens-when-college-students-discuss-lab-work-in-spanish-philosophy-in-chinese-or-opera-in-italian/2019/11/18/0eef3f7a-0985-11ea-bd9d-c628fd48b3a0_story.html

***LITERATURE 

The 50 best nonfiction books of past 25 years  https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/11/50-best-nonfiction-books.html

Author hits back after library removes LGBT picture book from shelves  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/20/author-west-virginia-library-removes-lgbt-book-shelves-daniel-haack-prince-and-knight   

George Eliot translation of Spinoza sheds new light on her fiction  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/22/george-eliot-translation-of-spinoza-sheds-new-light-on-her-fiction

***POETRY

‘My cell is smaller than my size’ – how writing poetry saved a political prisoner (video) https://aeon.co/videos/my-cell-is-smaller-than-my-size-how-writing-poetry-saved-a-political-prisoner

Finding poetry in the letters of Vincent van Gogh https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/finding-poetry-in-the-letters-of-vincent-van-gogh-1.4090884   

Typewriter poet pounds out poems in 20 minutes https://www.ktre.com/2019/11/22/webxtra-typewriter-poet-pounds-out-poems-minutes/      

In the Woods of Greenwich, a Studio for Writing Poetry https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/style/in-the-woods-of-greenwich-a-studio-for-writing-poetry.html   

Don’t Let Your Children Become Insufferable Poets https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/18/opinion/future-humanities-science-education.html   

Gay Poet's Book Canceled Over Sexy Instagram Pictures https://www.out.com/books/2019/11/15/gay-poets-book-cancelled-over-sexy-instagram-pictures

Who’s More Qualified to Write About Death Than a Funeral Director Poet? https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/26/books/review/the-depositions-thomas-lynch.html

***PRIVACY & SECURITY 

Key takeaways on Americans’ views about privacy, surveillance and data-sharing https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/11/15/key-takeaways-on-americans-views-about-privacy-surveillance-and-data-sharing/

Suspect can’t be compelled to reveal “64-character” password, court rules https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/11/police-cant-force-child-porn-suspect-to-reveal-his-password-court-rules/

***PRODUCING MEDIA

How to Make Your Podcast Sound Like NPR  https://lifehacker.com/how-to-make-your-podcast-sound-like-npr-1840048544

Articles of Interest about Literature, Journalism, Writing & Languages – Nov 4

***JOURNALISM

Here are the 34 news projects Google is funding in North America https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/10/audio-archiving-public-meeting-tracking-and-more-local-boosts-here-are-the-34-news-projects-google-is-funding-in-north-america/

These watchdogs track secret online censorship across the globe https://www.cnet.com/features/the-watchdogs-tracking-secret-online-censorship-across-the-globe-ooni/

Local news is more trusted than national news — but that could change https://www.knightfoundation.org/articles/local-news-is-more-trusted-than-national-news-but-that-could-change

***FAKE NEWS

'It's a fine target': Census bureau to fight misinformation https://www.apnews.com/7d310c83acc648cd8762d0fb05f49afb

“Data voids” on the web have opened a door to manipulators and other disinformation pushers https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/11/watch-your-language-data-voids-on-the-web-have-opened-a-door-to-manipulators-and-other-disinformation-merchants/

***SOCIAL MEDIA 

The Most Frequent Emoji https://home.unicode.org/emoji/emoji-frequency/

Facebook’s removal of false ad shows a double standard for policing content https://wapo.st/2CdZ6tb

Instagram May Be Causing an Increase in Yoga Injuries https://www.thecut.com/2019/11/instagram-cause-yoga-injuries-increase.html

***LANGUAGE 

What 26,000 books reveal when it comes to learning a language https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191025110311.htm

Do our reading lists determine how we process language?https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326891.php#1

From vocabulary to grammar, long-dead elements of the language still haunt our everyday speech (podcast) https://slate.com/podcasts/lexicon-valley/2019/10/zombie-elements-of-the-english-language

***WRITING & READING

An expedition reveals the perils of reading Dostoyevsky in Antarctica https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2019/10/10/an-expedition-reveals-the-perils-of-reading-dostoyevsky-in-antarctica

Scientific evidence on how to teach writing is slim https://hechingerreport.org/scientific-evidence-on-how-to-teach-writing-is-slim/

***LITERATURE

An 18th-century guide to hunting vampires inspired the first works of vampire fiction https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2019/09-10/vampire-mania-in-eastern-europe/ 

Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Novel Adaptation

www.openculture.com/2019/11/anne-franks-diary-the-graphic-novel-adaptation.html

***POETRY 

'Love Poems (For People With Children)' https://www.npr.org/2019/10/26/773030262/sleep-loss-sunscreen-and-very-little-sex-in-these-love-poems-for-parents

One language dies every two weeks. How can poetry help? (podcast) https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2019/oct/29/one-language-dies-every-two-weeks-how-can-poetry-help-books-podcast  

When poetry can help to ease the pain https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/oct/28/when-poetry-can-help-to-ease-the-pain

New ‘Divining Poets’ Poetry Decks Spotlight Quotes By Rumi And Emily Dickinson https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelkramerbussel/2019/10/28/new-divinging-poets-poetry-decks-spotlight-quotes-by-rumi-and-emily-dickinson/#59dbc69763a0

***PRIVACY & SECURITY 
Adobe left millions of Creative Cloud user records exposed online https://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/adobe-left-millions-of-creative-cloud-user-records-exposed-online /

Under digital surveillance: how American schools spy on millions of kids https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/22/school-student-surveillance-bark-gaggle

ACLU sues feds to get information about facial-recognition programs https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/10/aclu-sues-feds-to-get-information-about-facial-recognition-programs/

China touts dubious emotion recognition AI tech to find criminals http://bit.ly/2qmsVFe

***INTERNET

50 years ago, I helped invent the internet. How did it go so wrong? (opinion) https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-10-29/internet-50th-anniversary-ucla-kleinrock

The Internet Archive is adding digital previews of book sources to Wikipedia articles https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/4/20947403/wikipedia-internet-archive-book-citations-digitizing-online

Tiny tweaks in word choice make a difference

In 1973, America watched as then President Richard Nixon vehemently declared on national television, “I am not a crook” in regards to the Watergate scandal.

Not many people believed him.

In fact, as soon as he uttered the word “crook,” most people immediately envisioned a crook.

The major mistake Nixon made was in his framing. By saying the word “crook,” he evoked an image, experience, or knowledge associated with crook in the minds of everyone watching. 

George Lakoff, a professor in cognitive science and linguistics at University of California, Berkeley, makes the point in his book Don’t Think of an Elephant! that when trying to get your point across, refrain from using the other side’s language. Doing so will activate and strengthen their frames and undermine your own views. Instead, successfully arguing a point requires you to establish your own frames and use language that evokes images and ideas that fit the worldview you want.

Think about it this way: Something that has a “95% effective rate” will sell better than something with a “5% failure rate.” It’s all in how you frame it.

Vivian Giange, writing in Fast Company