Conlangs — or constructed languages — bring a feeling of reality to the worlds of science fiction.
For some people, learning Dothraki or Klingon shows their true dedication. But what are conlangs like? What can they tell us about natural …
Category: minority languages (page 6 of 7)
Why do languages have the grammar they do?
For some Australian languages, grammar is shaped by the stuff you’re not supposed to say. Linguist Joe Blythe is finding out about the evolution of language, and challenging one of the biggest …
Will the Internet save minority languages, or kill them?
Many small languages lack an online presence, as only a handful of languages dominate the Web. On the other hand, we’ve never had so many tools to include other languages in …
Humanity, we may have a problem.
Computers are getting good at imitating us. How good? Good enough to fool us into accepting their scientific papers and their robocalls. Might they have already passed the Turing Test? And what are bots …
Everywhere in the world, it seems, people fret about language.
Some people worry about too much English. Some people are concerned because their language is being ignored or banned. And sometimes government and the law get involved. How will it …
With so many dying languages in the world, it’s good to see new languages being born.
A brand new language has been discovered in the Northern Territory. It’s Light Warlpiri, and while it seems to combine English with the Australian …
Star Wars is getting a new translation into the Navajo language of the Western USA.
But it’s not just for the Navajo nerds out there; it may help people keep using it. And that’s a good thing because it’s one …
The Brahmin of Kerala in Southern India are renowned for their ritual of chanting.
Parts of their chants are not in any human language, and yet they still appear to show patterns. But it’s also been claimed that these chants …
Why is language the way it is? Is it in our genes? Or does culture play a role?
Linguists have supposed that we have a language instinct that sets the boundaries on what a possible language is. But the language …
Linguist Daniel Everett has worked with the Pirahã people of the Amazon for decades.
They have an unusual language with no words for numbers or colours. And this language is finding itself at the centre of some explosive claims about …
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