historical linguistics

A Grammar of Whalesong: The Humpback’s Dialect

Beyond the familiar sounds of the ocean lies a complex world of communication, where humpback whales sing in distinct, evolving…

1 week ago

The Color That Didn’t Exist

Did you know that for most of human history, the color orange didn't have a name? Ancient languages often described…

1 week ago

The Vowel That Saved a Kingdom

In the chaos of medieval Bruges, how could you tell friend from foe? For Flemish rebels in 1302, the answer…

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The Sadesan Hoax: A Language That Never Was

In the early days of the internet, a mysterious language called Sadesan appeared, promising a lost branch of the Indo-European…

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The Great Tea Divide: Cha vs. Te

Ever wonder why it's 'chai' in Moscow but 'tea' in London? The answer lies not in a dictionary, but on…

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The Forger’s Bane: What is Stylometry?

Did you know your writing style is as unique as a fingerprint? Stylometry is the fascinating science of statistically analyzing…

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The Word-Eating Glitch: What is Haplology?

Ever wonder why so many people say 'probly' instead of 'probably' or 'libry' instead of 'library'? This common linguistic shortcut…

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Japan’s ‘Hentaigana’: The Lost Characters

Before Japanese script was standardized in 1900, writers used a vast and beautiful array of variant cursive characters known as…

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Re-voicing the Past: The AT-ST Project

We can read the words of Charlemagne's era, but what did they actually sound like? A groundbreaking initiative called the…

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The Boontling Lingo of Boonville

Deep in a remote California valley, a community invented its own secret lingo called Boontling to gossip and joke in…

1 week ago

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