phonology

Tone Spreading in African Languages

Ever wonder how a single word can have multiple meanings based only on its melody? This post explores "tone spreading",…

6 days ago

Allomorphy: The Chameleon Word

What do the 's' in 'cats', the 'en' in 'oxen', and the vowel change in 'feet' have in common? They…

6 days ago

The Rounding Harmony of Turkic Languages

Have you ever mastered vowel harmony, only to find another layer of rules? Enter labial harmony, the fascinating system in…

1 month ago

The Ghost Phonemes of Irish

Why does the "s" in the Irish word "sláinte" sound like an "sh"? The answer lies in slender and broad…

1 month ago

The Glottal Stop’s Secret Life in English

Think the glottal stop is just for Cockney accents? Think again. This unwritten consonant is hiding in plain sight in…

1 month ago

East vs. West vs. South Slavic: What’s the Difference?

The Slavic languages are a sprawling family, divided into East, West, and South branches. But what does that split actually…

1 month ago

The Unseen Work of a Speech Pathologist

Go beyond the classroom stereotype and into the complex world of the Speech-Language Pathologist. This article uncovers the unseen science…

4 months ago

Why Portuguese Sounds Like Russian to Some

Ever listened to European Portuguese and felt a strange sense of déjà vu, thinking it sounds a bit like Russian?…

4 months ago

The Dravidian Language Family: A South Indian Enigma

Venture beyond the familiar Indo-European languages and discover the ancient Dravidian family of Southern India and Sri Lanka. From the…

4 months ago

The Case of the Stolen Letter: Compensatory Lengthening

In the history of language, sounds can vanish without a trace. Or can they? This post explores compensatory lengthening, the…

4 months ago

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