Linguistics

The Last Ubykh Speaker’s Final Words

Ubykh, a language with an astonishing 82 consonants and only two vowels, went extinct on October 7, 1992, with the…

2 weeks ago

The Unseen Rules of Texting Tone

A period can feel aggressive, while an exclamation point is the new digital smile. We decode the new, unwritten rules…

2 weeks ago

The Aleph-Bet’s Missing Vowels

Ever wondered how languages like Hebrew and Arabic are read by millions without written vowels? It's not magic, but an…

2 weeks ago

Metathesis: The Brain’s ‘Waps’ Typo

Ever called a "wasp" a "waps" or heard someone say "aks" instead of "ask"? This common slip of the tongue…

2 weeks ago

Covert Prestige: Why We Admire ‘Bad’ Language

We're all taught to admire 'proper' speech, but we're often drawn to non-standard dialects and slang. This phenomenon is known…

2 weeks ago

The Logic of Illogical Spelling: Ghoti = Fish?

How can 'ghoti' possibly be pronounced 'fish'? This famous linguistic riddle isn't just a party trick; it's a gateway to…

2 weeks ago

The First Language Ban: The Story of the Acadian Expulsion

The Acadian Expulsion of 1755 was far more than a military maneuver; it was one of North America's first major…

2 weeks ago

The Amazon’s Verbal Art: The World of Hixkaryana

Journey to the Amazon basin to explore Hixkaryana, one of the few confirmed languages with a default Object-Verb-Subject (OVS) word…

2 weeks ago

The Vowel That Isn’t There: Schwa Explained

Meet the schwa [ə], the most common yet most invisible vowel in the English language. This humble sound lives in…

2 weeks ago

The Sentence as a River: What is Information Structure?

This isn't just about grammar; it's about information structure, the art of packaging 'old' and 'new' information to guide your…

2 weeks ago

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