AI’s Word Boundary Problem
To a computer, what exactly is a "word"? This seemingly simple question opens up the "word boundary problem", a surprisingly complex challenge in AI and linguistics. From handling compound nouns…
Languages
The Vai Script: A Dreamed-Up Alphabet
In the 1830s, an illiterate Vai man in West Africa named Momolu Duwalu Bukele had a vivid dream where he was shown a book of symbols. Inspired by this vision…
The Grammar of “Chit-Chat”: Reduplication
From the simple 'bye-bye' in English to the Indonesian *wiku-wiku* (very fast), repeating words is a powerful tool found in languages worldwide. This morphological process, known as reduplication, can create…
Verner’s Law: The Glitch in the System
Grimm's Law neatly explains many sound changes from ancient Proto-Indo-European to Germanic languages, but puzzling exceptions remained a mystery for decades. This post explores Verner's Law, the brilliant discovery that…
The Language of Avoidance: In-Law Tongues
Imagine having to learn a completely separate vocabulary just to be in the same room as your mother-in-law. For speakers of the Australian Aboriginal language Dyirbal, this wasn't a joke—it…
A World Without ‘P’: Phonemic Gaps
Did you know that some languages get by perfectly without sounds we consider fundamental, like the 'p' in 'puppy'? This surprising phenomenon, known as a phonemic gap, reveals the incredible…
Why Is Germany Not Called Deutschland?
Ever wondered why Germans call their country Deutschland, but we call it Germany? This linguistic puzzle is a perfect window into the concepts of endonyms (what locals call a place)…
The Copyright That Wasn’t: The Klingon Language Lawsuit
Can you own a language? This very question was at the heart of a high-stakes lawsuit when Paramount sued the creators of a Star Trek fan film, claiming copyright over…
The Dutch Door: Japan’s Hidden Language Bridge
For over two centuries, Japan was sealed from the world. Yet, on the tiny island of Dejima, a single language—Dutch—became a secret bridge, funneling Western science and ideas into the…
When Did “Hello” Become the Standard Greeting?
"Hello" is so common we rarely question its origin, but it wasn't always our go-to greeting. This now-ubiquitous word exploded in popularity due to the invention of the telephone and…
The Grammar of a Recipe: A Linguistic Puzzle
Have you ever noticed the strange, clipped language of a recipe? This post decodes the unique grammar of the kitchen, exploring how imperative commands, missing subjects, and a specialized vocabulary…
The Grammar of ‘Some’: The Partitive Article
Ever been baffled by French speakers saying *du pain* for "some bread" or Italians asking for *del vino*? This special "partitive article" is a ghost of Latin, a grammatical fossil…
Clay, Papyrus, Vellum: How Writing Surfaces Shaped Language
Before keyboards or even paper, the very material a scribe wrote on dictated our linguistic conventions. From the wedge-shaped efficiency of cuneiform on clay tablets to the long, flowing sentences…
A Thousand Grains of Rice: The World of Classifiers
Why can you say "three dogs" in English, but speakers of Chinese, Japanese, and Mayan languages must use a special word to count almost everything? This post explores the world…
Digging for Words: Linguistic Paleontology
How can we know what prehistoric people talked about without any written records? The answer lies in linguistic paleontology, a fascinating science that reconstructs ancient words to reveal the culture,…
Why ‘Cot’ and ‘Caught’ Sound the Same
For millions of English speakers, the words "cot" and "caught" are pronounced identically, while for others, they remain distinct. This is due to the "cot-caught merger", a massive sound change…
How to Count Without Numbers
What if you couldn't say "one", "two", or "three"? For anumeric cultures in the Amazon and beyond, this is a reality. Discover the ingenious, non-numerical strategies they use to navigate…
The Real Language of Pirates
Think pirates all sounded like Long John Silver, shouting "Shiver me timbers"!? The historical reality is far more fascinating. This article explores the real language of the high seas—a complex…
The Sound of a Merger: Spain’s ‘Y’ vs ‘LL’
Explore "yeísmo", the fascinating linguistic phenomenon where the Spanish 'll' and 'y' sounds have merged into one. This post delves into why 'calle' and 'cayó' often sound identical, mapping the…
The Ghost in the Object: Spain’s Personal ‘a’
Ever wonder why Spanish speakers say "Veo a María" but "Veo la mesa"? This grammatical quirk, known as the "personal a", is more than just a random rule; it's a…