Sociolinguistics

Cyrillic Persian: Why Tajik Scripts Changed 3 Times

Tajik is the only variety of the Persian language officially written in Cyrillic, a result of turbulent 20th-century Soviet policies…

6 days ago

Retro-Engineering: How Sanskrit Shaped Modern Hindi

Unlike languages that evolve naturally, Modern Standard Hindi was deliberately "retro-engineered" in the 19th century to establish a distinct identity…

6 days ago

Surpassing Tagalog: The Massive Reach of Cebuano

For most of the 20th century, Cebuano, not Tagalog, held the title for the most native speakers in the Philippines,…

6 days ago

The Two Arabics: Understanding Diglossia

Arabic speakers live in a state of linguistic duality known as diglossia, navigating between the formal "Modern Standard Arabic" used…

6 days ago

The Bride of Scripts: Why Urdu Uses Nastaʿlīq

Explore the visual and linguistic allure of Urdu's "hanging" script, Nastaʿlīq. This article delves into why Urdu defies the flat…

6 days ago

Hindi vs. Urdu: Sister Languages or the Same Entity?

While Hindi and Urdu rely on completely different writing systems and divergent formal vocabularies—drawing from Sanskrit and Persian respectively—they share…

6 days ago

When Scots Was King: A Royal History

Trace the rise and fall of the Scots language, from its golden age as the official tongue of kings and…

6 days ago

Kalmyk: The Only Native Mongolic Language in Europe

Nestled near the Caspian Sea, the Republic of Kalmykia is home to the only native Mongolic language spoken in Europe.…

6 days ago

From Maykop to Kfar Kama: The Global Journey of Adyghe

Discover the fascinating linguistic journey of Adyghe, a complex Northwest Caucasian language that traveled from the Russian city of Maykop…

6 days ago

Terms of Venery: A Murder of Crows

Discover the fascinating history behind terms like a "murder of crows" or a "parliament of owls." We explore how the…

6 days ago

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