The Two ‘Haves’ of Irish: Possession as a State
Unlike English, the Irish language doesn't have a single verb for "to have." Instead, to say "I have a book", you say `Tá leabhar agam`, which literally means "A book…
Unlocking the Universe of Languages
Unlike English, the Irish language doesn't have a single verb for "to have." Instead, to say "I have a book", you say `Tá leabhar agam`, which literally means "A book…
Ever get confused when a sentence has too many "he"s or "they"s? Some languages have a brilliant built-in solution for this narrative headache. Discover obviation, the "fourth person" pronoun system…
Did you know the way you structure a sentence can reveal your deepest cognitive patterns? Our language isn't just for communicating with others; it’s a living blueprint of our inner…
Stuck staring at a blank screen? Writer's block isn't a failure of imagination—it's a linguistic puzzle waiting to be solved. This post moves beyond generic advice, offering five actionable techniques…
Ever heard of a language that groups women, fire, and dangerous things into a single grammatical category? Dive into the fascinating world of Dyirbal, an Australian Aboriginal language whose unique…
Most languages count one and many, but what about a number for precisely two? Discover the "grammatical dual", a lost feature of Old English that survives in languages like Slovene…
Imagine a language where "I don't hear very well" isn't a sentence, but a single, perfectly grammatical word. Welcome to the fascinating world of Inuktitut, a polysynthetic language that challenges…
In Quechua, it’s grammatically impossible to state a fact without also specifying how you know it. This fascinating system of "evidentiality" uses suffixes like -mi (for direct experience), -si (for…
Every time we speak, we make a choice about how we relate to reality. This fundamental distinction is captured in many languages through a grammatical concept known as mood, specifically…
The QWERTY keyboard is more than just a layout; it's a 150-year-old ghost haunting our digital communication. From common typos dictated by key proximity to the very rhythm of our…
You've heard that Slavic languages are impossible, but is that the whole story? We break down the truth behind the notoriously difficult grammar, from noun cases to verb aspect, and…
In his famous essay 'Politics and the English Language', George Orwell laid out six rules for powerful, clear prose. This post explores his timeless advice on avoiding clichés, cutting needless…
Explore the dramatic schism that split the world of logical languages in two. This post uncovers the story of Dr. James Cooke Brown's Loglan, its 'civil war', and the subsequent…
What if '27' wasn't an abstract number, but a specific place on your body like 'the other-side little finger'? Journey to New Guinea to explore the fascinating logic of body-part…
Did you know that for most of human history, the color orange didn't have a name? Ancient languages often described sunsets and autumn leaves as "yellow-red" or simply a shade…
Some languages don't just make nouns plural; they can make verbs plural to show repeated or distributed action. This fascinating grammatical feature, known as "pluractionality", allows speakers to distinguish between…
Ever notice how a simple shift from "You make me angry" to "I feel angry when..." can change a whole conversation? That’s not just a communication trick; it's a profound…
The Pirahã language of the Amazon defies nearly every rule of "universal grammar", sparking one of modern linguistics' fiercest debates. But could its radical simplicity and lack of features like…
Could the language you speak fundamentally change how you think about codes and ciphers? This thought experiment delves into the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, exploring whether linguistic structures could lead a speaker…
Does your language dictate how you perceive time itself? The famous and controversial claim that the Hopi language has no words for time sparked a decades-long debate about this very…