Endangered Languages

The Day a Volcano Silenced a Language

In 1815, the catastrophic eruption of Mount Tambora didn't just cause a "year without a summer" across the globe; it…

6 days ago

Mednyj Aleut: A Hybrid Tongue

Mednyj Aleut is a rare "mixed language" from the Commander Islands that defies typical linguistic classification. It was created by…

6 days ago

Tech for Documenting Language

Forget the weathered notebook and tape recorder. Modern linguists are deploying a high-tech toolkit to document endangered languages, using portable…

6 days ago

The One-Word Language Myth: Yaghan

The viral myth claims *mamihlapinatapai* is an untranslatable Yaghan word for a romantic, unspoken look. The truth, however, is far…

1 month ago

Endangered Slavic Languages You Can Help Save

Beyond the major Slavic languages like Russian and Polish lie hidden linguistic gems on the brink of extinction. Discover the…

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

The Unheard: Our Noise vs Animal Talk

Beyond the familiar chirps and calls, a complex world of animal language is under threat. Our modern world's constant noise…

4 months ago

The Last Ubykh Speaker’s Final Words

Ubykh, a language with an astonishing 82 consonants and only two vowels, went extinct on October 7, 1992, with the…

4 months ago

An Autopsy of a Lost Language

We dissect the fascinating failures of constructed languages, focusing on Volapük, a language that attracted a million followers before its…

4 months ago

The Data Drought: Why Some Languages Are Invisible to AI

Why can AI translate French perfectly but struggles with Navajo or Swahili? The answer lies in the "data drought", a…

4 months ago

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