language and thought

Nature’s Encryption: Animal Deceit

Animal communication isn't always honest. By viewing the natural world through the lens of cryptography, we can see how species…

3 weeks ago

Linguistic Watermarks: A Hidden ID

An author's unique patterns of word choice, punctuation, and sentence length create a "linguistic watermark" that can serve as an…

3 weeks ago

The Cognitive Cost of a Character

Is it harder for the brain to read Chinese characters than the English alphabet? This article explores the cognitive load…

3 weeks ago

The Mountain of Tongues: The Caucasus Sprachbund

The Caucasus region, a "Mountain of Tongues", is home to a dizzying array of unrelated languages. Yet, through centuries of…

3 weeks ago

The Forest’s ‘Web’: Fungal Communication

Beneath the quiet solitude of the forest floor lies a bustling network of communication, a 'wood wide web' of fungi…

3 weeks ago

The Tongue’s Thousand-Word Marathon

Speaking feels effortless, but it's a high-speed athletic event happening right in your mouth. Discover the incredible biomechanics of articulation,…

3 weeks ago

The Power of ‘-ito’: Romance Diminutives

Discover how a simple suffix like -ito or -ino can transform a word's meaning in Romance languages. This deep dive…

3 weeks ago

The Subjunctive’s Shadow World

For many language learners, the subjunctive is a grammatical nightmare. But what if it's not just about rules? This post…

3 weeks ago

How to Invent an Alphabet

Ever dreamed of creating your own alphabet? This guide delves into the art and science of script creation, exploring the…

3 weeks ago

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.…

3 weeks ago

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