linguistic diversity

A Guide to Sino-Tibetan Languages

Journey into the Sino-Tibetan language family, a vast linguistic world of over 400 languages spoken by 1.4 billion people. From…

2 weeks ago

5 Languages You’ve Never Heard Of

Journey beyond the familiar and discover languages that defy expectations, from a whistled language that echoes through Canary Island valleys…

2 weeks ago

AI’s Linguistic Blind Spots

AI language models can write poetry and translate languages, but their impressive abilities mask significant linguistic blind spots. Inheriting biases…

3 weeks ago

How the Deaf See Music

Music is often considered an auditory experience, but for the Deaf community, it's a world felt through powerful vibrations and…

3 weeks ago

The World’s Simplest Alphabet?

Imagine a language that can express every human thought with only 12 letters. Discover the world of Rotokas, a language…

3 weeks ago

Go Buy Bring Come: The Logic of Serial Verbs

In languages from Thailand to Ghana, you can say "go buy bring the book" and be perfectly grammatical. This fascinating…

3 weeks ago

Lost in the Supermarket: Brand Name Linguistics

Why did the Chevy Nova supposedly fail in Spanish-speaking markets? This cautionary tale, though likely a myth, highlights the high-stakes…

3 weeks ago

The Language of Sensation: Exploring Ideophones

We all know onomatopoeia, but many languages have something far richer: ideophones. These "adverbs of the senses" don't just mimic…

3 weeks ago

North of My Foot: Languages Without ‘Left’ and ‘Right’

Imagine a world without 'left' or 'right,' where you'd say "there's a bug on your south leg." This post explores…

3 weeks ago

Mapping the Land with Language

Imagine a world without 'left' or 'right,' where every instruction and description is given in cardinal directions. For speakers of…

3 weeks ago

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