language and thought

The Final Word: Verb Chaining in Papuan Languages

Imagine a sentence that lists a dozen actions before revealing the main verb at the very end. This is the…

1 week ago

One Verb, Many Actions: The Grammar of Plurality

Some languages don't just make nouns plural; they can make verbs plural to show repeated or distributed action. This fascinating…

1 week ago

The Telltale “I”: Unlocking the Mind

Ever notice how a simple shift from "You make me angry" to "I feel angry when..." can change a whole…

1 week ago

Ottoman Ciphers: Turkey’s Secret Script

Journey back in time to uncover Siyakat, the secret script of the Ottoman Empire. This deliberately complex and stylized writing…

2 weeks ago

The Comanche Code: A Linguistic Fortress

While the Navajo are rightly famous, the Comanche Code Talkers of WWII's European Theater created an equally unbreakable code. Based…

2 weeks ago

The Kasiski Method: From Ciphers to Authorship

Discover how a 19th-century code-breaking technique, the Kasiski examination, found a new life in the digital age. This method, originally…

2 weeks ago

AI as Cryptographer: The New Codebreakers

From ancient scrolls to encrypted data streams, codebreaking has always been a linguistic puzzle. Now, a new kind of cryptographer…

2 weeks ago

Cold Case Linguistics: The Somerton Man’s Code

In 1948, an unidentified man was found dead on an Australian beach with a scrap of paper bearing two Persian…

2 weeks ago

The Zodiac Killer’s Ciphers: A Mind in Code

The Zodiac Killer's ciphers were more than just puzzles; they were a chilling form of communication and psychological warfare. By…

2 weeks ago

The Uncrackable Language: The Pirahã Debate

The Pirahã language of the Amazon defies nearly every rule of "universal grammar", sparking one of modern linguistics' fiercest debates.…

2 weeks ago

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