Historical Linguistics

Ottoman Ciphers: Turkey’s Secret Script

Journey back in time to uncover Siyakat, the secret script of the Ottoman Empire. This deliberately complex and stylized writing…

3 months ago

The Copiale Cipher: A Society’s Secret Rituals

For over 250 years, the Copiale Cipher baffled historians with its mix of abstract symbols and Roman letters. When linguists…

3 months ago

The Great Cipher of Louis XIV

For over 200 years, the secrets of France's Sun King, Louis XIV, were locked away in a fiendishly complex code…

3 months ago

The Cardan Grille: A Mask for Words

Imagine a secret message hidden in plain sight, concealed within a perfectly ordinary letter. The Cardan grille, a simple sheet…

3 months 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…

3 months 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…

3 months ago

The Meroitic Script: Unlocking Nubia’s Words

Venture into the ancient Kingdom of Kush to uncover the secrets of the Meroitic script, a unique writing system that…

3 months ago

The Future Subjunctive: A Fossil in Peru?

The future subjunctive, a verb tense dead in almost all spoken Spanish, is a ghost from the Golden Age. Yet,…

3 months ago

The Lost ‘Vosotros’ of the Americas

Why do Spaniards say 'vosotros' while Latin Americans say 'ustedes'? The answer is a fascinating linguistic journey back to the…

3 months ago

Chavacano: The Spanish Creole of Asia

Journey to the Philippines to discover Chavacano, a unique Spanish-based creole that blends the vocabulary of colonizers with the grammatical…

3 months ago

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