endangered languages

The One-Word Sentence: A Deep Dive into Polysynthetic Languages

In languages like Inuktitut or Mohawk, a single, complex word can convey a thought that requires a full sentence in…

3 weeks ago

Island Sign: The Spontaneous Birth of a Language in Martha’s Vineyard

Long before Nicaraguan Sign Language became famous, another sign language emerged organically on Martha's Vineyard. Due to a high rate…

3 weeks ago

The Emperor’s Fading Echo: The Precarious Survival of the Manchu Language

Once the official language of China's last imperial dynasty, Manchu is now on the verge of extinction with only a…

3 weeks ago

When a Language Won’t Awaken: The Hard Truths of Linguistic Revitalization

While the revival of Hebrew is a celebrated success, the path of language revitalization is often fraught with failure. The…

3 weeks ago

The World’s Smallest Languages: When a Language Has Fewer Than 10 Speakers

What happens when a language's entire world can fit into a single room? We explore the most extreme cases of…

3 weeks ago

The Whispering Road: How Sogdian Became the Lingua Franca of the Silk Road

Long before English dominated global trade, the language of the Sogdians, an Iranian people from Central Asia, connected the great…

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

The Ainu Language: A Linguistic Island in Japan

On the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, a language isolate with no known relatives is fighting for survival. The Ainu…

3 weeks ago

The Language Catchers: Racing Against Time to Document Endangered Tongues

Every two weeks, a language dies, taking with it a unique way of seeing the world. Meet the "Language Catchers,"…

3 weeks ago

The Revival of Hebrew: The Tale of a Slumbering Language

Many stories surrounding language involve the mystery of deciphering ancient codes, the valor of wartime cryptography, or the mystical origins…

2 years ago

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