Current Linguistics
Did technology drive the evolution of language? Or was it music?
Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.
Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.
Hi! I'm Danny! 👋🏼 I am a linguist. 🗣️ I work to document and revitalize endangered languages, while studying the crosslinguistic patterns we see across the world’s languages.
Current Linguistics
A Paleo-Hispanic alphabet is discovered in Spain, and researchers use AI to read 2,000-year-old scrolls burnt to a crisp by Mt. Vesuvius for the first time
Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.
Current Linguistics
Vocabulary undergoes natural selection just like species. Plus a new database on the languages of the Americas.
Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.
Newsletter
You probably missed this in Song of Achilles
Also, here’s what Patroclus and Cleopatra have in common
Current Linguistics
Islands are incubators of linguistic diversity, and people are more likely to cooperate with those who use similar linguistic constructions
Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.
Current Linguistics
Germans bemoan the “idiot’s apostrophe”, and research on using AI to communicate with dolphins wins the $100,000 Dolittle Prize
Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.
Current Linguistics
Why do people use double negatives? And what’s the difference between a pidgin vs. a creole?
Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.
Newsletter
Why English needs “y’all”
Why doesn’t English just have a plural “you” like other languages?
Newsletter
The etymology of ‘one’: From Proto-Indo-European to Modern English
There are over thirty English words that derive from the Proto-Indo-European word for ‘one’. This is the story of how they came to be, and what that story teaches us about how language works.
Current Linguistics
Inside the fiercest debate in linguistics—Universal Grammar. Plus, why your brain can process short text messages so quickly.
Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.
Current Linguistics
Linguists unlock the grammar of music in language, and runes show that Elfdalian is its own language
Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.
Current Linguistics
Critics hate the new French dictionary, and linguists discover the universal language of pain
We’re also making progress on talking to aliens, and a new book on Proto-Indo-European is on its way. Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.