Ever wonder how the word "will" came to signal the future? This linguistic magic trick is called grammaticalization, a process…
Why do we call the "Land of the Rising Sun" Japan instead of its native Nippon? This linguistic puzzle opens…
In the history of language, sounds can vanish without a trace. Or can they? This post explores compensatory lengthening, the…
The sentence "The rat the cat the dog chased ate died" is perfectly grammatical, yet it feels like a cognitive…
Dementia does more than steal memories; it systematically unravels the very fabric of language. This post explores the specific linguistic…
When does a 'heap' of sand stop being a heap after you remove one grain at a time? This is…
Have you ever understood someone's "no" even when they didn't say the word? This is linguistic implicature, the art of…
German learners are often baffled by tiny words like 'doch'. This post unpacks the world of German modal particles, the…
Teaching a machine that "Oh, great" can mean the exact opposite is one of the toughest challenges in artificial intelligence.…
Why can AI translate French perfectly but struggles with Navajo or Swahili? The answer lies in the "data drought", a…
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