Syntax

AI’s Language Puzzle: Who Has the Telescope?

Consider the classic riddle: "I saw a man on a hill with a telescope." This simple sentence, which can mean…

1 week ago

A Grammar of Whalesong: The Humpback’s Dialect

Beyond the familiar sounds of the ocean lies a complex world of communication, where humpback whales sing in distinct, evolving…

1 week ago

The Final Word: Verb Chaining in Papuan Languages

Imagine a sentence that lists a dozen actions before revealing the main verb at the very end. This is the…

1 week ago

The Amazon’s Verbal Art: The World of Hixkaryana

Journey to the Amazon basin to explore Hixkaryana, one of the few confirmed languages with a default Object-Verb-Subject (OVS) word…

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 Sentence That Attacks Itself: Center-Embedding

The sentence "The rat the cat the dog chased ate died" is perfectly grammatical, yet it feels like a cognitive…

2 weeks ago

More Than a Suffix: The World of Clitics

What do 'll in "we'll" and 's in "cat's" have in common? They are clitics—phonologically weak words that can't stand…

2 weeks ago

The Double Negatives of Afrikaans

Ever heard an Afrikaans speaker say "Ek praat nie Afrikaans nie" and wondered about that extra "nie"? This seemingly redundant…

2 weeks ago

The Case of the Missing ‘Is’ in Russian

In Russian, "My brother is a doctor" becomes "Мой брат – врач" (My brother – doctor). This isn't a mistake…

2 weeks ago

Forgetting the Subject: The Case of Pro-Drop in Italian

Ever wonder why an Italian speaker says "Vado al cinema" instead of "Io vado al cinema"? This linguistic magic trick…

2 weeks ago

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