linguistic relativity

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

Wampum Belts: Diplomacy Woven in Beads

Long before the invention of the computer, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy utilized a binary system of white and purple shells to…

1 week ago

Dyslexia in Logograms: Reading Differences in Chinese

While Western dyslexia is primarily a phonological challenge involving sound-letter mapping, research shows that dyslexia in Chinese functions differently, impacting…

1 week ago

The Hierarchy of Color: Why ‘Red’ Always Beats ‘Blue’

Why do almost all languages develop a word for "Red" before they create a word for "Blue"? This post explores…

1 week ago

The Treaty That Had Two Meanings

New Zealand's founding document, the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, exists in two languages—but it tells two different stories. A crucial…

2 months ago

The Fairy Tale Behind ‘Serendipity’

The delightful word 'serendipity' wasn't a happy accident itself, but a deliberate creation by 18th-century writer Horace Walpole. Inspired by…

2 months ago

The Keyboard That Looked Like a Piano

Before QWERTY conquered the world, the first typewriter prototype had keys arranged in two simple rows like a piano. This…

2 months ago

Lexical Gaps Across Languages

Ever wonder why German has a word for taking pleasure in someone else's misfortune (*Schadenfreude*), but English doesn't? This post…

2 months ago

Language and Spatial Cognition

Your native language does more than just give you words for "left" and "right"; its very grammar shapes how you…

2 months ago

The Mass-Count Distinction

Why can you count 'chairs' but not 'furniture'? This linguistic puzzle is explained by the mass-count distinction, a fundamental rule…

2 months ago

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