World of Words

You probably missed this in Song of Achilles

Also, here’s what Patroclus and Cleopatra have in common

Discovery Dispatch

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.

Discovery Dispatch

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.

Discovery Dispatch

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.

World of Words

Why English needs “y’all”

Why doesn’t English just have a plural “you” like other languages?

World of Words

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.

Discovery Dispatch

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.

Discovery Dispatch

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.

Discovery Dispatch

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.

Discovery Dispatch

The writing on a recently-discovered tablet has linguists baffled, and GPT passes the Turing Test

Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.

Discovery Dispatch

When did humans develop language? + How whistle languages work

When language evolved, how whistled languages work, and what alien languages might be like. Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.

Discovery Dispatch

Bonobos combine their vocalizations the way humans combine words—a trait once thought unique to humans

Bonobos challenge the uniqueness of human language, penguins learn etymology, and China adopts a new gender-neutral pronoun. Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.