Ever wondered why saying 'mā' in Mandarin can mean 'mother' while 'mǎ' means 'horse'? Or how the exact same words,…
Why does the "s" in the Irish word "sláinte" sound like an "sh"? The answer lies in slender and broad…
Move beyond the Great Vowel Shift and explore French's "Great Silence"—the massive, historical loss of final consonants. This single change…
Have you ever heard a vowel that wasn't spelled, like the "a" in the Irish word *uisce* (ish-ka)? This phenomenon,…
Ever wondered why Polish sounds and looks so different from its Slavic cousins like Russian or Czech? From its unique…
Ever wonder why so many people say 'probly' instead of 'probably' or 'libry' instead of 'library'? This common linguistic shortcut…
Named after the Cheshire Cat, Cheshirization is a fascinating phonological process where a vowel vanishes but leaves a ghostly trace…
Ever called a "wasp" a "waps" or heard someone say "aks" instead of "ask"? This common slip of the tongue…
Imagine if saying "horse" with a rising pitch turned it into "mother." For over half the world's population, this isn't…
In the history of language, sounds can vanish without a trace. Or can they? This post explores compensatory lengthening, the…
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