orthography

Hmong’s Tonal Writing System

Discover the Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA), the ingenious writing system for the Hmong language. In this linguistic deep-dive, you'll learn…

7 days ago

The Great ‘Bet/Vet’ Split in Hebrew

Ever stumbled over whether to say 'bet' or 'vet' in Hebrew? This seemingly random choice is a window into a…

7 days ago

The Ghost Phonemes of Irish

Why does the "s" in the Irish word "sláinte" sound like an "sh"? The answer lies in slender and broad…

1 week ago

The World’s Quietest Shift: The Great Silence of French

Move beyond the Great Vowel Shift and explore French's "Great Silence"—the massive, historical loss of final consonants. This single change…

1 week ago

Silent Letters: English’s Most Annoying Feature

Ever wondered why there's a 'k' in 'knife' or a 'b' in 'doubt'? These aren't mistakes; they're echoes of linguistic…

1 week ago

Why Is English Spelling So Crazy?

Why do 'through', 'tough', and 'though' sound so different? The answer isn't random chaos but a journey through history, from…

1 week ago

The Kazakh Alphabet Switch: A Nation’s Identity

Kazakhstan is undertaking a monumental linguistic and cultural shift, transitioning its national script from Cyrillic to Latin. This deep dive…

1 week ago

The Pasilalinic-sympathetic Alphabet

What if the letter 'S' looked like a hiss or 'P' was shaped by the lips? We delve into the…

1 week ago

Why Is English Spelling So Weird?

Ever wonder why 'knight' has a 'k' or 'island' has an 's'? The answer isn't that English is illogical, but…

3 months ago

The Rebirth of Cornish

Once officially declared extinct after the death of its last native speaker in the 18th century, the Cornish language (Kernewek)…

3 months ago

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