Mark Newbrook

[Mark Newbrook @MarkNewbrook]

@mrjamesob hi James no time to comment on accents etc but it is language-specific and as you say usually indicates the precise sound involved more on request mark (not martin!) in cumbria

[Ariane Sherine Juniper @ArianeSherine]

I'm not sure this is helpful to the anti-racist cause. White people usually tan in the sun anyway - it's not as though they'd never be brown otherwise - so what's the harm in using fake tan instead and avoiding skin cancer? Much better than them going 'ugh, brown skin' instead!

[Suzannah Lipscomb @sixteenthCgirl]

This is horrifying.

[ALASTAIR CAMPBELL @campbellclaret]

Come again??

[Mark Newbrook @MarkNewbrook]

@alicewoolley1 have I got the right alice woolley? Mark newbrook, linguistics, Reading uni 1981-82

[Mark Newbrook @MarkNewbrook]

@kalahari_kenosi @mrjamesob Question: what is the most important grammar feature shared by Afrikaans and English? Answer: loss of grammatical gender (compare Dutch and Old English). But WHY?!

[Mark Newbrook @MarkNewbrook]

@kalahari_kenosi @mrjamesob Is fascinating and when linguists like me do outreach - eg me regularly on Mystery Hour - we keep coming across new bits of folk ling. Thanks for your info! More on request Mark

[Mark Newbrook @MarkNewbrook]

@LaoTzu5 sorry hindi

[Mark Newbrook @MarkNewbrook]

@LaoTzu5 @mrjamesob @LBC we would not usually regard languages spoken only in such contexts and by educated minorities as genuine spoken languages. for centuries hebrew was like that but now it has been revived as a genuine spoken language

[Mark Newbrook @MarkNewbrook]

@LaoTzu5 ok thanks. many languages are 'invented' in the sense that hindu is when standard languages are required. sanskrit itself was 'elaborated' for special uses, hence its name; the speech of the day involved the prakrits

[Mark Newbrook @MarkNewbrook]

@lordsidcup @mrjamesob maybe the initial question should specify whether or not the oldest forms are still understood, and in speech or writing

[Mark Newbrook @MarkNewbrook]

@lordsidcup @mrjamesob whether you are right or not here depends on whether modern speakers of aramaic can understand the oldest forms of the language (which are indeed very old) of course it is hard to know how a language was pronounced thousands of years ago, even if the structures/vocab are similar

[Mark Newbrook @MarkNewbrook]

@denisec08404379 @millsjim44 lovely man. Great figure in the game

[Mark Newbrook @MarkNewbrook]

@denisec08404379 @millsjim44 Denise your dad came to Bebington Oval on the Wirral in 1977 to help me when I was trying to start open age and kids amateur teams in the area, he brought Reg Boa,wden and 3 other players with him; in 1981 he reffed the first ever Oxford-Cambridge Varsity Match at Fulham

[Mark Newbrook @MarkNewbrook]

@robinince @snugbookshop oh this kind of thing is dreadful. is there really nothing that can be done?

[Mark Newbrook @MarkNewbrook]

@ResonantTweets @DrFrascatore @RichardDawkins What original written language?