Language Evolution & Change

Wit and Git: The Lost Dual Pronouns of Old English

Old English possessed a grammatical rarity called the "dual number", using specific pronouns—*wit* (we two) and *git* (you two)—to refer…

3 weeks ago

The Knight in the Panther’s Skin: A 12th-Century Time Capsule

While English speakers struggle to decipher texts from just 500 years ago, modern Georgians can read their 12th-century national epic…

3 weeks ago

The Ablative Absolute: Latin’s Efficiency Hack

The Ablative Absolute is Latin's ultimate "zip file", allowing complex context into just two grammatically disconnected words. While this construction…

3 weeks ago

The Appendix Probi: When ‘Bad’ Latin Won

Discover the *Appendix Probi*, a 3rd-century list of "mistakes" that unintendedly documented the birth of the Romance languages. This article…

3 weeks ago

The Case of the Missing Consonants: Mandarin’s Evolution

Unlike its southern relatives such as Cantonese, standard Mandarin has completely lost the "entering tone" and the clipped final stops…

3 weeks ago

Kalmyk: The Only Native Mongolic Language in Europe

Nestled near the Caspian Sea, the Republic of Kalmykia is home to the only native Mongolic language spoken in Europe.…

3 weeks ago

Frisian: The Closest Living Relative to English

Discover why linguists consider Frisian to be the closest living sibling to the English language. This article explores the Anglo-Frisian…

3 weeks ago

Crimean Gothic: The Dialect That Cheated Death

Discover the fascinating story of Crimean Gothic, a Germanic dialect that survived in isolation on the Black Sea coast for…

3 weeks ago

Retronyms: Why We Have ‘Desktops’ and ‘Landlines’

Retronyms are new names given to old objects when a modern version arrives to steal the default title—like how "guitars"…

3 weeks ago

Maltese: The Sole Survivor of Siculo-Arabic

Explore the fascinating history of Maltese, the only Semitic language in the European Union and the sole survivor of the…

3 weeks ago

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