Unlocking the Universe of Languages
In Mandarin Chinese, you cannot simply say "three books"—grammatical rules force speakers to categorize the world through specific classifiers based on shape, state, or function. This article explores how words…
Why can you count 'chairs' but not 'furniture'? This linguistic puzzle is explained by the mass-count distinction, a fundamental rule that shapes how we talk about everything from objects to…
Ever wondered why you can't say "one rice" in English or "one bread" in Chinese? This post dives into the fascinating world of measure words, or classifiers, exploring how these…
Ever heard of a language that groups women, fire, and dangerous things into a single grammatical category? Dive into the fascinating world of Dyirbal, an Australian Aboriginal language whose unique…
Ever tried to say "two dogs" in Thai and been corrected? That's because you can't just count nouns; you need a special "measure word" called a classifier. This post dives…