cognition language and thought psycholinguistics grammar connotation usa linguistic relativity europe colonialism syntax slang phonetics Sapir-Whorf hypothesis identity politics historical linguistics language learning communication accommodation theory alphabet ambiguity accent stereotypes ancient greece sociolinguistics communication ancient history spain spanish language brain ai language 20th century language evolution china vocabulary language and culture etymology language history language change acoustic phonetics anatomy ancient languages french spanish linguistic diversity comparative method phonology french language 19th century conquistadors japanese language computational linguistics ancient rome contact language latin loanwords english language africa esperanto italian language africa colonialism writing systems semantics britain accents american english lernen pragmatics latin language german shakespeare writing system affix accessibility cross-cultural communication social status language and society