colonialism

Constructing a Field Dictionary from Scratch

Imagine being the first outsider to document a language with no written form. How would you create its first-ever dictionary?…

3 weeks ago

When Did We Agree on Place Names?

Ever wondered why Bombay became Mumbai, or why The Netherlands is no longer called Holland? The names on our maps…

3 weeks ago

The One-Word Language Myth: Yaghan

The viral myth claims *mamihlapinatapai* is an untranslatable Yaghan word for a romantic, unspoken look. The truth, however, is far…

4 weeks ago

The Australian Kriol Language

** Did you know Australia's largest Indigenous language, by number of speakers, is an English-based creole? Move beyond pidgins to…

4 weeks ago

How English Became the World’s Global Language

How did a language from a small island become the world's default tongue? It wasn't an accident, but a powerful…

4 weeks ago

What Is Pidgin English? A Fascinating Story

Often dismissed as 'broken English', pidgin languages are actually complex, rule-governed systems born from incredible moments in human history. From…

4 weeks ago

The Kazakh Alphabet Switch: A Nation’s Identity

Kazakhstan is undertaking a monumental linguistic and cultural shift, transitioning its national script from Cyrillic to Latin. This deep dive…

4 weeks ago

The Great Manx Comeback

In 1974, UNESCO declared the Manx language extinct with the death of its last native speaker, Ned Maddrell. Yet, this…

4 weeks ago

The Alphabet of the Hills: The Fraser Script

Discover the Fraser alphabet, a remarkable script for the Lisu language where letters are ingeniously rotated to represent different sounds.…

4 weeks ago

Two Tongues, One Soul: The Hindi-Urdu Divide

While speakers from Delhi and Lahore can converse with ease, their national languages, Hindi and Urdu, are officially distinct. This…

4 months ago

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