The Art of Interrupting in Sign Language
In spoken language, interruption means talking over someone. But how do you interrupt in a visual language like ASL? We explore the complex and polite ways signers manage turn-taking, revealing…
Linguistics
The Ancient Glitch That Makes English Irregular
Ever wonder why we have both "was" and "were", or why the plural of "mouse" is "mice" but "house" is "houses"? These aren't random mistakes but fossils of ancient sound…
Birdsong Syntax: Are Birds Using Grammar?
We often dismiss birdsong as simple alarms or mating calls, but what if birds are forming simple sentences? Groundbreaking research on species like the Japanese Tit reveals they combine calls…
Algospeak: The Internet’s Evolving Code Language
Ever wondered why online comments use bizarre words like "seggs" or "unalive"? This is "algospeak", a secret cryptolect constantly evolving to bypass automated content moderation on platforms like TikTok and…
The Life and Death of a Brand Name Word
Ever wonder how "aspirin" or "zipper" went from protected trademarks to everyday words? This is "genericide", the high-stakes process where a brand name becomes so famous it loses its legal…
The Voice in Your Head: Why You “Hear” Words You Read
Ever wonder about the little voice that reads along with you in your head? This phenomenon, known as subvocalization, is the brain's clever trick for understanding written language by linking…
The Hidden Grammar of Emojis
Far from being simple digital decorations, emojis follow a complex and unwritten grammar that dictates their meaning. The order of emojis can tell a story, their context can completely change…
How to Whisper in a Tonal Language
Languages like Mandarin and Thai use pitch to distinguish words, so how can you possibly whisper? Speakers subconsciously use a fascinating set of phonetic tricks, compensating for the lack of…
Why “Literally” Doesn’t Mean Literally Anymore
Ever cringe when someone says they "literally died laughing"? This common complaint points to a fascinating linguistic process called semantic bleaching, where powerful words lose their intensity through overuse. Far…
The Glottal Stop: A Ghost in the Machine
It’s the subtle catch in your throat in the middle of "uh-oh" or the defining feature of a Cockney accent saying "bu'er". The glottal stop is a consonant that often…
Reading Japanese: The Brain’s 3-Script Juggle
The Japanese writing system uniquely blends three distinct scripts—Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana—often within a single sentence. This presents a fascinating neurolinguistic puzzle: how does the brain simultaneously process logograms for…
Bilingual Aphasia: The Lost Language Puzzle
What happens when a bilingual person suffers brain damage and loses one of their languages, but not the other? This is the reality for some with bilingual aphasia, a rare…
Shadow Tongues: The World’s Anti-Languages
Ever overheard a conversation that sounded like your language, but made no sense? You might have stumbled upon an anti-language, a secret lexicon forged by subcultures to build community and…
The Uncracked Code of a Murder Victim
In 1999, murder victim Ricky McCormick left behind two encrypted notes that have stumped the FBI for over two decades. The mystery isn't just who killed him, but what his…
Fungi Language: Decoding Nature’s Web
Can fungi talk? A groundbreaking study reveals that mycelial networks transmit electrical impulses in patterns that strikingly mirror human language, complete with a vocabulary and syntax. We may be on…
Kusunda: The Ghost Language of Nepal
Once believed to be extinct, the Kusunda language of Nepal is a true linguistic ghost, with no known relatives in the world. Spoken by only a handful of people, its…
Recreating Ötzi the Iceman’s Voice
Scientists have peered into the life of Ötzi the Iceman, learning what he ate and how he died. Now, thanks to CT scans and digital modeling, they have recreated the…
The Language of North Sentinel Island
On a remote island lives a people who have rejected all contact with the modern world. Their language, Sentinelese, is the ultimate linguistic black box, a complete mystery to science.…
Vinča Symbols: Europe’s Oldest Writing?
Long before Egyptian hieroglyphs, a mysterious Neolithic culture in the Balkans etched thousands of symbols onto clay. These Vinča symbols have sparked a fierce debate: are they mere decorations, a…
Linguistic Fossils: Spain’s History in Idioms
Ever wondered why Spaniards say "there are no Moors on the coast" to mean the coast is clear? Many Spanish idioms are time capsules, preserving pivotal moments like the Reconquista…