phonology

The Birth of a Vowel: Epenthesis Explained

Ever wonder why 'athlete' sometimes sounds like 'ath-a-lete', or 'film' like 'fi-lum'? This isn't a speech error, but a fascinating…

5 months ago

The Death of the Latin Passive

Latin once expressed complex passive ideas with a single word, like amor for "I am loved". This post explores how…

5 months ago

The Language of Avoidance: In-Law Tongues

Imagine having to learn a completely separate vocabulary just to be in the same room as your mother-in-law. For speakers…

5 months ago

The Code-Switcher’s Tightrope

Beyond the familiar concept of switching between languages lies a more subtle, yet equally demanding, linguistic performance: bi-dialectalism. For millions,…

5 months ago

Spain’s Secret Lexicon: The Influence of Caló

Ever wondered where cool Spanish slang words like 'currar' (to work) or 'molar' (to be cool) come from? The answer…

5 months ago

The Word on the Tip of Your Tongue

We all know the maddening feeling of a word stuck on the tip of our tongue. This universal frustration isn't…

5 months ago

The Siberian-American Language Bridge

Could a nearly extinct language from Siberia be related to Navajo and other Native American languages? The fascinating Dené-Yeniseian hypothesis…

5 months ago

The Hidden Logic of Baby Babble

Is a baby's babbling just adorable, random noise? Far from it. Linguists have discovered that babbling is a highly structured…

5 months ago

The Final Boss: Untranslatable Puns

You can conjugate verbs and debate politics, but can you understand a pun in your target language? This article breaks…

5 months ago

Cracking Connected Speech

Ever feel like you know thousands of words but still can't understand native speakers? The culprit is often connected speech,…

5 months ago

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