Syntax

When Did We Start Asking Questions?

Questions represent a monumental leap in human evolution, demanding a complex toolkit of intonation, syntax, and abstract words like "why."…

4 months ago

The Grammar of Swearing

Far from being linguistic sludge, swearing is a surprisingly sophisticated system that follows its own intricate grammatical rules. Profanity is…

4 months ago

Why You Can’t Just “Count” in Thai

Ever tried to say "two dogs" in Thai and been corrected? That's because you can't just count nouns; you need…

4 months ago

The Silent Language of 64 Squares: Deconstructing the Grammar of Chess Notation

Beyond the silent battle of wits on the board, chess has its own powerful language. This post deconstructs Algebraic Notation,…

4 months ago

A Heckin’ Good Syntax: The Surprisingly Complex Grammar of DoggoLingo

Beyond the cute misspellings of "doggo" and "pupper," the internet phenomenon of DoggoLingo has developed its own surprisingly consistent grammatical…

4 months ago

The “If” That Changes Everything: How Counterfactuals and the Subjunctive Mood Built Science

What if the ability to say "if" was a prerequisite for science itself? This post explores how counterfactuals and the…

4 months ago

Building Languages for Machines: The Linguistic Principles Behind Programming Languages

We think of Python or Java as "computer languages," but they are fundamentally constructed languages built on core linguistic principles.…

4 months ago

The Agent and the Patient: How Transitivity Shapes Blame and Responsibility

Who broke the window? The choice between saying "The boy broke the window" and "The window broke" is more than…

4 months ago

The Future Tense That Never Was: How Languages Without a Future Tense Shape Planning and Perception

Did you know that many languages, like Mandarin Chinese and Finnish, get by perfectly well without a grammatical future tense?…

4 months ago

I Heard, I Saw, I Inferred: The Linguistic World of Evidentials

In English, we use optional phrases like "I heard" or "I saw" to show how we know something. But in…

4 months ago

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