Pragmatics

The Telegram That Ended a War (With a Typo)

Discover the story of the Ems Dispatch, a royal telegram that sparked the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. See how master…

1 week ago

The Day a Radio Play Caused a Panic

On Halloween Eve 1938, Orson Welles didn't just tell a scary story; he masterfully manipulated the language and structure of…

1 week ago

The Man Who Taught a Gorilla to Lie

The story of Koko the gorilla is filled with moments of wonder, but none are as philosophically charged as the…

1 week ago

The Unseen Rules of Texting Tone

A period can feel aggressive, while an exclamation point is the new digital smile. We decode the new, unwritten rules…

2 weeks ago

The Sentence as a River: What is Information Structure?

This isn't just about grammar; it's about information structure, the art of packaging 'old' and 'new' information to guide your…

2 weeks ago

The Meaning of ‘Allora’: The Ultimate Filler Word

You hear it constantly in Italy, punctuating every conversation: 'Allora...'. But what does this quintessential Italian word actually mean? We…

2 weeks ago

The Diplomacy of ‘You’: T-V Distinction Beyond French

The difference between France’s tu and vous is a classic challenge for language learners, but this formal and informal 'you'…

2 weeks ago

The Great ‘Um’ Debate: Are Filler Words a Flaw?

We're often told to eliminate words like 'um' and 'uh' from our speech, but are they really a sign of…

2 weeks ago

Linguistic Implicature: What We Mean, Not What We Say

Have you ever understood someone's "no" even when they didn't say the word? This is linguistic implicature, the art of…

2 weeks ago

The Logic of ‘Doch’: Germany’s Magic Word

German learners are often baffled by tiny words like 'doch'. This post unpacks the world of German modal particles, the…

2 weeks ago

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