language standardization

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…

1 week ago

The Secret Code of Scribes

Before the printing press, scribes used a secret code of symbols and shortcuts to write faster and save precious parchment.…

3 weeks ago

The Press That Froze Language

The invention of the printing press was a revolution not just for knowledge, but for language itself. Before Gutenberg, language…

3 weeks ago

The Fight for Purity: Inside the Académie Française and the Quest to Protect the French Language

For nearly 400 years, the forty "immortals" of the Académie Française have stood as the official guardians of the French…

3 weeks ago

The History of the French Circumflex

The French language, renowned for its fluidity and musicality, is adorned with a variety of diacritical marks that contribute to…

2 years ago

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