Linguistics

The Syntax of Scent: Can We Ever Truly Describe Smells with Words?

Why can we describe a shade of blue with a dozen words, but struggle to articulate the scent of rain?…

4 weeks ago

The ELIZA Effect: Why We Talk to Chatbots Like They’re Human

Have you ever found yourself saying "please" and "thank you" to a chatbot or voice assistant? This is the ELIZA…

4 weeks ago

The Graveyard of Words: Who Decides When a Word Is Officially Dead?

For every new word that enters the dictionary, thousands of others fall into disuse and disappear into the graveyard of…

4 weeks ago

Who Owns Slang? The Complexities of Linguistic Gentrification in the Digital Age

From "on fleek" to "slay," words born in specific communities—particularly AAVE—often travel into the mainstream, where they're adopted by brands…

4 weeks ago

The Shape of Nothing: How the Invention of ‘Zero’ Was a Linguistic and Mathematical Revolution

The concept of zero is more than just a number; it’s a profound linguistic and philosophical idea that had to…

4 weeks ago

The Outrigger and the Noun Phrase: How the Austronesian Language Family Conquered the Pacific

How did one language family colonize a third of the planet, from Madagascar to Easter Island? The answer lies in…

4 weeks ago

The Emperor’s Fading Echo: The Precarious Survival of the Manchu Language

Once the official language of China's last imperial dynasty, Manchu is now on the verge of extinction with only a…

4 weeks ago

Hearing with Your Eyes: The McGurk Effect and the Illusions of Speech Perception

What happens when your eyes and ears receive conflicting information? The McGurk effect is a powerful illusion where seeing a…

4 weeks ago

When a Language Won’t Awaken: The Hard Truths of Linguistic Revitalization

While the revival of Hebrew is a celebrated success, the path of language revitalization is often fraught with failure. The…

4 weeks ago

The World’s Smallest Languages: When a Language Has Fewer Than 10 Speakers

What happens when a language's entire world can fit into a single room? We explore the most extreme cases of…

4 weeks ago

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