The vowel trapezoid chart is a familiar sight to any linguistics student, but its simple shape hides a fascinating story…
Ever wonder why some people say ''ouse' instead of 'house'? In the 1970s, sociolinguist Peter Trudgill conducted a groundbreaking study…
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is the gold standard for writing down sounds, but its origins are surprisingly humble. Discover…
Ever wonder why German has a word for taking pleasure in someone else's misfortune (*Schadenfreude*), but English doesn't? This post…
Can a word be a specific type of itself? This article introduces autohyponymy, a fascinating linguistic quirk where words like…
Why does Italian have 'pala' (shovel) but also 'palla' (ball)? This phenomenon, known as gemination or consonant doubling, isn't just…
Why can you count 'chairs' but not 'furniture'? This linguistic puzzle is explained by the mass-count distinction, a fundamental rule…
Have you ever mastered vowel harmony, only to find another layer of rules? Enter labial harmony, the fascinating system in…
Your tongue performs incredible feats of precision for speech, all without a single bone. Discover the fascinating science of the…
Behold the German word Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän. Far from being a chaotic jumble of letters, this linguistic titan is a masterclass in…
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