language and thought

The Two ‘To Be’s of Irish Gaelic

Like Spanish, Irish Gaelic has two verbs for 'to be', but the logic is entirely different. Instead of temporary vs.…

5 months ago

The Amharic ‘And’: A Verb’s Best Friend

In English, we connect actions with a simple 'and.' But in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, this conjunction is…

5 months ago

How Dogs Bark Around the World

Why does an English-speaking dog say "woof" while a Japanese dog says "wan wan"? The answer isn't in the dog,…

5 months ago

Can AI Understand a Poem?

An AI can write a surprisingly convincing poem, but can it truly understand one? We explore the immense linguistic and…

5 months ago

Reading Without Inner Speech

Do you hear a voice in your head when you read? While many of us have a constant inner narrator,…

5 months ago

What Are Semantic Primes?

Have you ever tried to define a simple word like 'want' without using a synonym? The theory of Semantic Primes…

5 months ago

Is Cursive Better for Your Brain?

As schools increasingly drop cursive, we must ask: are we just losing an old-fashioned script, or are we sacrificing a…

5 months ago

What Are Grammatical ‘Moods’?

When we talk about 'mood' in grammar, we're not talking about being happy or sad; we're referring to a verb's…

5 months ago

Why Can’t We Remember a New Name?

Ever met someone new, only for their name to vanish from your memory seconds later? This common frustration isn't a…

5 months ago

The Cognitive Boost of Reading Aloud

Reading is often seen as a silent act, but what if giving voice to the words on the page could…

5 months ago

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