Unlocking the Universe of Languages
Yiddish presents a rare linguistic paradox: a Germanic language, close kin to English and German, written entirely in the ancient Hebrew script. This post explores the ingenious linguistics behind Yiddish,…
How do you reconstruct the vowels of an ancient language when its descendants, like Hebrew and Arabic, were written without them? This linguistic detective story reveals how the chance survival…
Move beyond memorizing endless vocabulary lists and discover the secret logic of Hebrew: the *shoresh* or three-letter root system. This post reveals how a single root can spawn an entire…
Journey back in time to uncover Siyakat, the secret script of the Ottoman Empire. This deliberately complex and stylized writing system was used to guard the Sultan's most sensitive financial…
Discover Gematria, the ancient Hebrew practice of finding hidden meaning by assigning numerical values to letters. More than a simple cipher, this fascinating system reveals a world where language and…
Ever wondered how languages like Hebrew and Arabic are read by millions without written vowels? It's not magic, but an ingenious system based on consonantal "roots" that carry a word's…
Explore how the Arabic script transcends mere communication to become one of the world's most revered and intricate art forms. This post delves into the visual soul of the language,…
We learn the alphabet as children, but have you ever wondered why the letters are in that specific order? The familiar A-B-C sequence isn't random; it's a 3,000-year-old puzzle with…
Ever wondered why English is written left-to-right while Arabic is written right-to-left? This post explores the fascinating history behind the world's writing directions, from ancient chisels on stone to modern-day…
How do you type a language with thousands of characters on a keyboard with only a few dozen keys? The ubiquitous QWERTY layout presents a fascinating challenge for non-Latin scripts,…
Ever dreamed of creating your own alphabet? This guide delves into the art and science of script creation, exploring the cognitive principles that make a writing system successful. Learn the…
Arabizi is the internetβs hybrid Arabic script, an ingenious solution to typing Arabic sounds on Latin keyboards using numbers like '3' for 'ο»' and '7' for 'οΊ‘'. What began as…
Does the direction you read in change how you perceive the world? This article delves into the surprising science of how writing systems like English, Arabic, and Hebrew physically shape…
In Islamic art, the graceful curves of calligraphy are not a matter of artistic whim, but of sacred mathematics. This article explores the rule-governed system of *khatt*, where the width…
Long before a language falls silent, its unique writing system can fade into obscurity. This post explores ten beautiful and endangered scripts, from the vertical Mongolian alphabet to the Philippines'…
Discover the secret behind Arabic's vast vocabulary: the triliteral root system. This elegant 'word skeleton' method allows a single 3-letter root, like K-T-B for 'writing,' to be transformed into dozens…
Go beyond the iconic "S" shield and discover Kryptonian, Superman's surprisingly detailed constructed language. This deep dive explores how Kryptonian evolved from random squiggles into a linguistically-sound abugida, complete with…
Explore one of history's most radical linguistic reforms: Turkey's 1928 Alphabet Revolution. At the direction of AtatΓΌrk, the nation abandoned the centuries-old Arabic script for a new Latin-based alphabet in…
Most of us learn the ABCs and assume all writing works this way, but that's just one piece of the linguistic puzzle. From Arabic's consonant-only script to Hindi's consonant-vowel units,…