Phonetics

The Glottal Stop’s Secret Life in English

Think the glottal stop is just for Cockney accents? Think again. This unwritten consonant is hiding in plain sight in…

4 weeks ago

Why Are Slavic Languages So Beautiful?

From the soft, melodic whispers of palatalized consonants to the poetic freedom of its grammar, the beauty of Slavic languages…

4 weeks ago

The Unmoved Lip: Phonetics of Ventriloquism

The magic of ventriloquism isn't just misdirection; it's a masterclass in applied phonetics. Performers overcome the challenge of lip-based sounds…

4 weeks ago

What’s a Diphthong? (And How to Say Them)

Ever wondered what the sounds in 'boy', 'cow', and 'my' have in common? They're diphthongs—two vowel sounds smashed into a…

4 weeks ago

The Pasilalinic-sympathetic Alphabet

What if the letter 'S' looked like a hiss or 'P' was shaped by the lips? We delve into the…

4 weeks ago

When a President’s Accent Becomes a Weapon

The 1960 debate between Kennedy and Nixon wasn't just a visual contest; it was a duel of dialects. This sociolinguistic…

4 months ago

The Vowel That Saved a Kingdom

In the chaos of medieval Bruges, how could you tell friend from foe? For Flemish rebels in 1302, the answer…

4 months ago

Re-voicing the Past: The AT-ST Project

We can read the words of Charlemagne's era, but what did they actually sound like? A groundbreaking initiative called the…

4 months ago

The Phonemic Restoration Effect

Ever wonder how you can understand someone through a crackly phone line or a loud cough? The answer lies in…

4 months ago

The Prosody of a Lie

It’s not just what you say, but how you say it that can betray a lie. The prosody of speech—the…

4 months ago

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