Language Contact & Creoles

Euro-English: The New Dialect of Brussels

English is the undisputed lingua franca of the European Union, but without the UK to police the grammar, it is…

2 days ago

Germanic Sound, Semitic Look: The Unique Yiddish Writing System

Yiddish presents a rare linguistic paradox: a Germanic language, close kin to English and German, written entirely in the ancient…

3 days ago

English Words Borrowed From Tamil: More Than Just Curry

While most people know the word "curry" hails from India, few realize that everyday English words like "mango", "catamaran", and…

3 days ago

From Army Camps to Poetry: The Surprising Origins of Urdu

Discover the fascinating linguistic evolution of Urdu, a language that began as a practical means of communication in Mughal army…

3 days ago

From Chutzpah to Glitch: The Yiddish Words You Already Speak

While everyone knows "bagel", few realize that technical terms like "glitch" and emotive words like "schlep" are Yiddish loanwords that…

3 days ago

The Slavic Oddity: Why Bulgarian Has No Cases

While most Slavic languages are infamous for their complex systems of noun cases, Bulgarian stands out as a unique linguistic…

3 days ago

Running Amok: Surprising English Words of Malay Origin

Did you know that "ketchup" isn't an American invention, but a word borrowed from the Spice Islands? In this deep…

3 days ago

One Language, 17,000 Islands: The Rise of Indonesian

Discover the fascinating linguistic history behind the world's fourth most populous nation. We explore how the 1928 "Youth Pledge" united…

3 days ago

Maltese: The Sole Survivor of Siculo-Arabic

Explore the fascinating history of Maltese, the only Semitic language in the European Union and the sole survivor of the…

3 days ago

Why Maltese Catholics Pray to ‘Alla’: A Linguistic History

While Malta is a devoutly Roman Catholic nation, its congregants pray to "Alla"—a direct cognate of the Arabic word for…

3 days ago

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