Unlocking the Universe of Languages
Joseph Greenberg shocked the linguistics world in 1987 by claiming all Native American languages belonged to just three families, sparking the fierce "Lumpers vs. Splitters" debate. We explore why his…
The Welsh 'll' is more than just a tricky sound for language learners; it's a voiceless fricative with a deep history, represented by the IPA symbol /ɬ/. This legendary phoneme…
Does your language dictate how you perceive time itself? The famous and controversial claim that the Hopi language has no words for time sparked a decades-long debate about this very…
Think 'coche' is just a car? Or that ordering a 'torta' in Mexico City will get you a slice of cake? We break down 10 everyday Spanish words with wildly…
Colonial-era dictionaries and grammars, once crafted as tools of control to convert and assimilate Indigenous peoples, carry a profound irony. Today, these same historical documents are being reclaimed by Indigenous…
Long before 1492, the Americas were a kaleidoscope of linguistic diversity. The controversial "three-wave" migration theory attempts to explain this by classifying hundreds of Indigenous languages into three major families—Eskimo-Aleut,…
One of the most captivating stories tied to the world of languages revolves around a pre-Columbian Aztec document, known as the “Códice Borbónico” or the...
In the annals of language history, few figures emerge as enigmatic, transformative, and divisive as La Malinche, also known as Malintzin, Doña Marina, or simply,...
Our linguistic odyssey continues as we venture further into the intriguing world of English loan words. We are constantly reminded of the fluidity of language...
The English language is a kaleidoscope of cultural influence, where words from different corners of the world have found a home. With its global reach,...
When the Spanish conquest began in the 15th century, the Latin American landscape was a vast mosaic of diverse indigenous communities, each with their unique...
The American continent, before European contact, was home to hundreds of tribes speaking over a thousand languages, each reflecting a unique blend of culture, worldview,...