Linguistics

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 month 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 month ago

The A-Not-A Question Structure

Many languages, like Mandarin Chinese, form yes-no questions without words for "yes" or "no." Instead, they use the ingenious "A-not-A"…

1 month ago

The Great Manx Comeback

In 1974, UNESCO declared the Manx language extinct with the death of its last native speaker, Ned Maddrell. Yet, this…

1 month ago

Linguistic Taphonomy: Word Decay

Just as paleontologists study fossils to understand ancient life, we can explore the fossils in our own language. Linguistic taphonomy…

1 month ago

The Tangut Script: A Lost Empire’s Code

Uncover the story of the Tangut script, a complex writing system that looks like Chinese but is entirely different. Created…

1 month ago

Digitizing the Dead Sea Scrolls: An OCR Puzzle

Teaching a computer to read is simple, but what if the text is a 2,000-year-old, fragmented manuscript written in an…

1 month ago

The Alphabet of the Hills: The Fraser Script

Discover the Fraser alphabet, a remarkable script for the Lisu language where letters are ingeniously rotated to represent different sounds.…

1 month ago

Counting on Your Body: Papuan Numerals

What if '27' wasn't an abstract number, but a specific place on your body like 'the other-side little finger'? Journey…

1 month ago

Two Tongues, One Soul: The Hindi-Urdu Divide

While speakers from Delhi and Lahore can converse with ease, their national languages, Hindi and Urdu, are officially distinct. This…

4 months ago

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