language and thought

Jaguar & Tapioca: Everyday English Words from Guarani

Did you know that when you order tapioca or talk about jaguars, you are speaking a bit of Tupi-Guarani? Explore…

6 days ago

Speaking Pharaonic: Coptic as the Final Stage of Egyptian

Coptic is often mistaken for a dead language, but it serves as the final, living link to the Ancient Egyptian…

6 days ago

The Specificity Key: Hungarian’s Definite Conjugation

In English, "I see a dog" and "I see the dog" use the same verb form, but in Hungarian, the…

6 days ago

Why “Mama” Means Father: The Georgian Baby Talk Reversal

In almost every language on Earth, the sound /m/ is universally associated with "mother" due to the biological mechanics of…

6 days ago

Baby Sign Language: Accelerating Communication?

Does teaching infants manual signs before they can speak boost IQ or delay speech? We review the linguistic research behind…

1 week ago

Ithkuil: The World’s Most Complex Grammar

Explore Ithkuil, a constructed language designed for maximum precision and conciseness, featuring 96 grammatical cases and logic so dense that…

1 week ago

Roman Wax Tablets: The Ancient iPad

Long before the iPad, the Romans mastered mobile communication with the "tabula"—a reusable wax tablet that functioned as the ancient…

1 week ago

Subitizing: Counting Without Words

Humans possess an innate ability called "subitizing", which allows us to instantly recognize quantities up to four without counting. This…

1 week ago

The Capital “I”: Ego or Typography?

English is the only major language that capitalizes the first-person singular pronoun "I", a quirk that many assume stems from…

1 week ago

Translanguaging: Breaking the “English Only” Rule

Old-school educational models insisted that students leave their native languages at the door, but modern linguistics offers a different approach:…

1 week ago

This website uses cookies.