linguistic relativity

The Two Pasts of Bulgarian: Witnessed vs. Unwitnessed

In most languages, the past is simply the past. But in Bulgarian, your grammar forces you to specify your source:…

5 months ago

The Dual Pronouns of Ancient Sanskrit

In our modern world, we count 'one' and 'many.' But Ancient Sanskrit had a third, forgotten category: the dual, a…

5 months ago

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

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

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

When Did English Lose Its Grammatical Gender?

Old English once had a complex system of masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns, much like modern German. This all changed…

5 months ago

Why Are There So Many Words for Snow in Sámi?

The old "Eskimo words for snow" trope is a well-known but misleading linguistic myth. A far more accurate and fascinating…

5 months ago

The Un-Diplomatic Turn

The coded language of traditional diplomacy, built on strategic ambiguity and nuance, is being replaced by a more direct and…

5 months ago

5 Languages You’ve Never Heard Of

Journey beyond the familiar and discover languages that defy expectations, from a whistled language that echoes through Canary Island valleys…

5 months ago

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