Why Icelandic Creates New Words, Not Borrows Them
While English readily borrows words, Icelandic takes a different path, deliberately creating new terms from its Old Norse roots. This practice, known as linguistic purism, gives us poetic words like…
Tag: colonialism
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. Today, these same historical documents are being reclaimed by Indigenous…
LTR vs. RTL: The Direction of Writing Compared
Ever wondered why English is written left-to-right while Arabic is written right-to-left? This post explores the fascinating history behind the world's writing directions, from ancient chisels on stone to modern-day…
From Singlish to Taglish: Asia’s Hybrid Tongues
Explore the dynamic world of Singlish, Taglish, and Manglish, the vibrant hybrid languages of modern Asia. Born from multiculturalism and shared identity, these tongues challenge our ideas of 'pure' language…
The Ket Language: Siberia’s Last Echo
Deep in the Siberian wilderness, the Ket language is the last of its kind, a linguistic island with a mind-bendingly complex grammar. More than a curiosity, it holds the key…
The Lies on the Map: When Placenames Deceive
We trust our maps to tell us the truth, but what if they're lying? From Greenland's icy shores named to attract settlers, to places like "Canada" born from a linguistic…
The Brazil-Portugal Spelling War
Imagine a civil war fought not with weapons, but with dictionaries. For decades, Brazil and Portugal have been locked in a cultural and linguistic struggle over how to write their…
AI’s Low-Resource Language Crisis
AI models like ChatGPT can write poetry in English, yet they stumble over languages spoken by millions. This 'low-resource' language crisis is creating a new digital divide, silencing entire cultures…
The Ghost in the North: Sami’s Echo in Norwegian
While Norwegian is a Germanic language, centuries of contact have left it with linguistic "ghosts" from the indigenous Sami languages. From essential vocabulary for reindeer and arctic nature to potential…
What is a Language Worth? The Economics of Extinction
Can you put a price tag on a language? This article explores the emerging field of linguistic valuation, where economists and lawyers attempt to calculate the monetary value of a…
The Singapore Stone’s Lost Story
Long before the British arrived, a massive inscribed stone stood guard at the Singapore River's mouth, holding the secrets of a lost kingdom. In 1843, it was unceremoniously blown to…
10 Endangered Scripts to Watch in 2025
Long before a language falls silent, its unique writing system can fade into obscurity. This post explores ten beautiful and endangered scripts, from the vertical Mongolian alphabet to the Philippines'…
The Politics of Place Names: Why Cities Change
From Bombay to Mumbai, place names are more than just labels on a map; they are battlegrounds for identity, power, and history. This deep dive into toponymy explores why cities…
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, but in the southern ports of Andalusia, where the ships…
The Ghost of Spanish in the Philippines
For over 300 years, Spanish was the official language of the Philippines, but today it is a linguistic ghost. Its spirit survives not in widespread fluency, but in the unique…
The Lisp That Isn’t a Lisp: Spain’s Seseo
Ever wondered why some Spanish speakers seem to have a lisp when they pronounce 'c' or 'z'? It's not a speech impediment, but a fascinating historical feature called *distinción*, born…
Sardinian: The Living Echo of Latin
Often called the most conservative Romance language, Sardinian is a true linguistic time capsule. Journey to this Mediterranean island to discover how it preserves ancient sounds and words from Latin…
Romanian: A Latin Island in a Slavic Sea
While its heart beats with the rhythm of Latin, the Romanian language wears a coat woven from Slavic threads. Geographically separated from its Romance cousins, it developed unique features, from…
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 the ultimate linguistic black box, a complete mystery to science.…
Linguistic Fossils: Spain’s History in Idioms
Ever wondered why Spaniards say "there are no Moors on the coast" to mean the coast is clear? Many Spanish idioms are time capsules, preserving pivotal moments like the Reconquista…