They're not saying "Java is atomic and volatile", they're saying how atomic and volatile are implemented in Java on x86, or java's atomic and volatile (possessi

They're not saying "Java is atomic and volatile", they're saying how atomic and volatile are implemented in Java on x86, or java's atomic and volatile (possessive case) implementations. Atomic and volatile, in the context of the article, are things that languages do, have or implement, not properties of the language.