Categories
Linguistics Phonetics Linguistic Typology Geography

The Pressure-Cooker Consonants: An Introduction to Ejectives

Estimated read time 6 min read

Ejectives are a fascinating category of consonants found in languages from the Caucasus to the Americas. Made by building up air pressure in the mouth before releasing it in a sharp burst, these sounds give languages like Georgian and Quechua a distinct, percussive quality. This article explores the phonetic mechanics behind these “pressure-cooker” sounds and where you can hear them around the world.

Categories
Turkish Morphology Linguistic Typology Linguistics

The World’s Lego Languages: How Agglutination Builds Meaning Brick by Brick

Estimated read time 6 min read

This article explores the world of agglutinative languages like Turkish, Finnish, and Swahili, where long, complex words are built by snapping together morphemes like Lego bricks. We deconstruct a few “megawords” to show how this elegant and highly logical system works. Discover how some languages build meaning one transparent piece at a time, in stark contrast to languages like English or Spanish.