code-switching

Corvid Communication: Do Crows Have Dialects?

Recent studies into corvid behavior reveal that crows not only possess regional dialects similar to human accents but can also…

1 week ago

Macaronic Verse: Medieval Bilingual Humor

Long before Spanglish or modern code-switching, medieval monks and rebellious scholars created "Macaronic Verse"—a comedy genre that mixed high-status Latin…

1 week ago

Guaraní: The Indigenous Language That Won

Unlike almost everywhere else in the Americas, the indigenous language of Paraguay, Guaraní, is spoken by the vast majority of…

1 week ago

The Campaign to ‘Speak Good English’

Explore the sociopolitical story of Singlish, Singapore's vibrant creole, and its decades-long clash with the government's official "Speak Good English…

2 months ago

Mednyj Aleut: A Hybrid Tongue

Mednyj Aleut is a rare "mixed language" from the Commander Islands that defies typical linguistic classification. It was created by…

2 months ago

The Speech of Second Selves

When a shaman or ritualist speaks in a 'spirit language', it isn't random babbling but a fascinating sociolinguistic performance. Even…

3 months ago

The Grammar of a Menu: How Wording Whets the Appetite

Ever wonder why "Grandma's slow-cooked apple pie" sounds more appealing than just "apple pie"? The secret lies in menu engineering,…

3 months ago

Kitchen-Table Creole: A Child’s Private Language

Ever heard a bilingual child say something that isn't quite one language or the other? This isn't a mistake, but…

3 months ago

5 Tips to Beat Writer’s Block

Stuck staring at a blank screen? Writer's block isn't a failure of imagination—it's a linguistic puzzle waiting to be solved.…

3 months ago

How to Use ‘Desu’ and ‘Masu’ (And When to Drop Them)

The polite endings '-desu' and '-masu' are keystones of beginner Japanese, but true fluency comes from knowing when to drop…

3 months ago

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