Morphology

The Reduplication Spectrum: From ‘Bye-Bye’ to ‘Chit-Chat’

Reduplication isn't just baby talk like 'bye-bye' or 'choo-choo'. This surprisingly common linguistic tool is used across the world's languages…

1 month ago

Decoding Slavic Cases: A Guide for the Desperate

Tired of staring at endless declension charts? Slavic cases don't have to be a nightmare. This guide ditches the old…

1 month ago

Are Slavic Languages Gendered? Yes, and It’s Wild

Forget everything you thought you knew about 'he' and 'she'. In Slavic languages, a table is a 'he', a book…

1 month ago

The ‘Defective’ Verb: When Grammar Has Gaps

Ever wondered why you can say 'I am running' but not 'I am musting'? These grammatical black holes are the…

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 Final Word: Verb Chaining in Papuan Languages

Imagine a sentence that lists a dozen actions before revealing the main verb at the very end. This is the…

4 months ago

One Verb, Many Actions: The Grammar of Plurality

Some languages don't just make nouns plural; they can make verbs plural to show repeated or distributed action. This fascinating…

4 months ago

Indo-European vs. Sino-Tibetan Compared

A deep dive into the world's two largest language families, revealing their core architectural differences. We explore how Indo-European languages…

4 months ago

The Root System: Hebrew’s Word DNA

Move beyond memorizing endless vocabulary lists and discover the secret logic of Hebrew: the *shoresh* or three-letter root system. This…

4 months ago

Words Born From Blunders

Discover the secret history of everyday words like 'nickname' and 'apron', which were born from simple mistakes. This post explores…

4 months ago

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