anthropology

How to Count Without Numbers

What if you couldn't say "one", "two", or "three"? For anumeric cultures in the Amazon and beyond, this is a…

3 weeks ago

Why Your Last Name Tells a Story

Your last name is more than just a label; it’s a linguistic fossil, a tiny time capsule carrying clues about…

3 weeks ago

The Art of Interrupting in Sign Language

In spoken language, interruption means talking over someone. But how do you interrupt in a visual language like ASL? We…

3 weeks ago

Shadow Tongues: The World’s Anti-Languages

Ever overheard a conversation that sounded like your language, but made no sense? You might have stumbled upon an anti-language,…

3 weeks ago

Kusunda: The Ghost Language of Nepal

Once believed to be extinct, the Kusunda language of Nepal is a true linguistic ghost, with no known relatives in…

3 weeks ago

The Language of North Sentinel Island

On a remote island lives a people who have rejected all contact with the modern world. Their language, Sentinelese, is…

3 weeks ago

Parsing the Unparsable: The Dhaasanac Language

Journey to the Omo Valley to meet the Dhaasanac people of Ethiopia, whose language defies easy categorization. Instead of marking…

3 weeks ago

Australia’s Sign Language of the Plains

Discover Warlpiri Sign Language, a complete and complex language used not by the Deaf, but by the hearing Warlpiri community…

3 weeks ago

The Gestural Origins of Grammar

Have you ever wondered why so many languages follow a "Subject-Verb-Object" structure? A fascinating theory suggests that grammar wasn't born…

3 weeks ago

The First-Contact Linguist: The Ethical Tightrope of Studying a Previously Uncontacted People’s Language

What are the ethical responsibilities of a linguist who is the first outsider to document a language from a previously…

3 weeks ago

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