americas

Where Is Italian Spoken? (It’s Not Just Italy)

Think the Italian language is confined to the borders of Italy? Think again. From its official status in the mountains…

12 months ago

The Dene-Yeniseian Bridge: A Tale of Two Continents

Could the Navajo language of the American Southwest be related to a remote Siberian tongue spoken by only a few…

1 year ago

Linguistic Exogamy: Marrying Out to Survive

In certain Amazonian societies, there's a strict rule: you cannot marry someone who speaks your own language. This practice, known…

1 year ago

Puerto Rican Spanish: A Guide to the Lingo

From the musical way the 'r' melts into an 'l' to the joyful shout of '¡Wepa!', Puerto Rican Spanish is…

1 year ago

The Great Banana Debate: A Spanish Word Guide

Ordering a banana in Spanish seems simple, but it can lead to some delicious confusion. Is it a `plátano`, `banana`,…

1 year ago

The History of Spanish Influence in America

Long before the English arrived, Spanish explorers and settlers left an indelible mark on the landscape and language of North…

1 year ago

The Colonist’s Dictionary, The People’s Voice

Colonial-era dictionaries and grammars, once crafted as tools of control to convert and assimilate Indigenous peoples, carry a profound irony.…

1 year ago

The Chinook Jargon: Language of the Pacific Fur Trade

For over a century, a unique pidgin language connected Indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Asians along the Pacific Northwest coast. Known…

1 year ago

A Linguistic Map of the Pre-Columbian Americas

Long before 1492, the Americas were a kaleidoscope of linguistic diversity. The controversial "three-wave" migration theory attempts to explain this…

1 year ago

The Spanish That Crossed the Atlantic

Ever wonder why Spanish in Mexico sounds so different from Spanish in Madrid? The story begins not in the capital,…

1 year ago

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