Languages of the World

The Greenberg Controversy: Lumpers vs. Splitters

Joseph Greenberg shocked the linguistics world in 1987 by claiming all Native American languages belonged to just three families, sparking…

2 weeks ago

Baby Sign Language: Accelerating Communication?

Does teaching infants manual signs before they can speak boost IQ or delay speech? We review the linguistic research behind…

2 weeks ago

Ithkuil: The World’s Most Complex Grammar

Explore Ithkuil, a constructed language designed for maximum precision and conciseness, featuring 96 grammatical cases and logic so dense that…

2 weeks ago

Syllable vs. Mora: The Timing of Japanese Poetry

While English speakers measure rhythm in variable syllables, Japanese relies on the steady, metronomic "mora." Understanding this crucial timing difference…

2 weeks ago

The Capital “I”: Ego or Typography?

English is the only major language that capitalizes the first-person singular pronoun "I", a quirk that many assume stems from…

2 weeks ago

The Buffalo Sentence: Grammar Pushed to the Edge

This post breaks down the famous linguistic puzzle: "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo." We explore how a…

2 weeks ago

Ithaca & Ulysses: The Greek Diglossia Struggle

For over a century, Greece was locked in a fierce linguistic civil war between Katharevousa, an artificial "high" language of…

2 weeks ago

Parataxis: The Grammar of Hemingway’s Style

Explore the linguistic mechanics behind Hemingway's iconic literary voice by examining the difference between Parataxis (side-by-side arrangement) and Hypotaxis (subordination).…

2 weeks ago

The Dolch List: 220 Words You Need to Read

The Dolch List consists of 220 high-frequency "sight words" that comprise up to 75% of all juvenile reading material. This…

2 weeks ago

Guaraní: The Indigenous Language That Won

Unlike almost everywhere else in the Americas, the indigenous language of Paraguay, Guaraní, is spoken by the vast majority of…

2 weeks ago

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