While Norwegian is a Germanic language, centuries of contact have left it with linguistic "ghosts" from the indigenous Sami languages.…
Go beyond the humor of long German words and discover the powerful logic that builds them. This article deconstructs the…
For scientists and staff "wintering-over" in Antarctica, months of profound isolation have forged a unique micro-dialect. This "Antarctic English" features…
In the 1960s, a radical new alphabet for English was born, bankrolled by the will of playwright George Bernard Shaw.…
What happens when a language preserved in a 1,000-year-old time capsule re-encounters its rapidly evolved cousin? The meeting of Icelandic…
Why isn't the past tense of "go" *goed*? The answer lies in a fascinating linguistic phenomenon called suppletion, where a…
From the simple 'bye-bye' in English to the Indonesian *wiku-wiku* (very fast), repeating words is a powerful tool found in…
Ever wondered why Germans call their country Deutschland, but we call it Germany? This linguistic puzzle is a perfect window…
For over two centuries, Japan was sealed from the world. Yet, on the tiny island of Dejima, a single language—Dutch—became…
"Hello" is so common we rarely question its origin, but it wasn't always our go-to greeting. This now-ubiquitous word exploded…
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