Oxford picked 'big society' as Word of 2010 over vuvuzela and Boris bike. The shortlist is a case study in how English coins, blends and borrows new words.
Posts with tag.: Language Evolution
David Crystal says the web did not accelerate language change so much as expose it, and the texting panic collapses once you count the words.
Vienna linguist Nikolaus Ritt argues sounds and words are selfish replicators that use speakers to copy themselves, turning language change into Darwinian evolution.