> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://linguisticdiscovery.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Language genes may be much older than previously thought - URL: https://linguisticdiscovery.com/posts/2026-37/ - Published: 2026-09-19T09:00:28.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-19T09:00:28.000Z - Description: Also this week: ConlangCrafter: The AI that invents languages + What linguists think everyone should know about language - Author: Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D. - Tags: Current Linguistics, Pre-Greek, Ancient Greek, conlangs, language evolution, Project Hail Mary, language endangerment, African American English Welcome to this week’s edition of the *Linguistic Discovery* digest, a weekly roundup of the latest language-related news, research in linguistics, interesting reads from the week, and newest books and media on language and linguistics! You're reading **Linguistic Discovery*, a weekly newsletter about the science and diversity of language—a field known as ****linguistics**. I'm Danny Hieber, a Ph.D. in linguistics who works with indigenous communities to help them document and revitalize their languages. Topics covered in this newsletter include: ⚙️ how language works (cognitive/historical linguistics) 🌍 grammatical diversity in the world’s languages (typology) ℹ️ explainers of terms and concepts in linguistics 🗣️ language profiles 🗞️ the latest news and research in language and linguistics ⭐ linguistic reviews of books and other media Some posts are for paying subscribers only, but most are free. Paying subscribers get ****bonus articles** and ****early access** to my in-progress book projects! Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. **You can also subscribe on* [**Substack*](https://linguisticdiscovery.substack.com/) *if you prefer that platform instead. You’ll get all the same content and extras.* ## 🆕 New from Linguistic Discovery *This week’s content from Linguistic Discovery.* ### 🔓 Unlocked: *The Ass Camouflage Construction: What this African American English expression teaches us about the world’s languages* *This article is now available to all subscribers, free or paid. So if you weren’t able to read it when it came out, have a read now!* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2026/09/image-22.png) African American English (AAE) has a cool expression called the **Ass Camouflage Construction**: - They done arrested **her stupid ass**. - I’m gonna sue **her ass**. - Get **your triflin’ ass** out of here. - I saw **his ass** yesterday. - **His ass** is gonna get fried. It turns out this fun expression can teach us a lot about how the world’s languages work! Learn more in this issue of the newsletter: [The Ass Camouflage ConstructionWhat this African American English expression teaches us about the world’s languages![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/languages-bordered-792c0537-1620-4409-ab8d-ea820ae0119a.png)Linguistic DiscoveryDaniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/banner-1-c0a164df-63f9-475b-8ffe-824d39cd9127.png)](https://linguisticdiscovery.com/posts/ass-camouflage-construction/) ### Shortform Video: Pre-Greek As part of my collaboration with St. John’s College, I created a 3-minute video about the Pre-Greek language that influenced Ancient Greek. So if you want a condensed version of my longer article on the topic, have a watch! And if you haven’t read (or haven’t finished) the article itself, I definitely recommend doing so! I’m very pleased to report that this is my best-performing article yet, so readers seem to be really enjoying it. [Pre-Greek: The lost language hidden within Ancient GreekAround 1,000 Greek words can’t be traced to any Indo-European language. Where do they come from?![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/languages-bordered-4d8d13a4-e2fb-4210-b048-dafccb8fe950.png)Linguistic DiscoveryDaniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/map--3840x2160---1--87312923-03e9-4299-a139-fd44fa115aff.png)](https://linguisticdiscovery.com/posts/pre-greek/) ## 📰 In the News *Language and linguistics in the news.* ### California’s indigenous communities reclaim their languages ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2026/09/image-23.png) Neshuun Carmelo, her sister Paahavet Carmelo and their mother Citlali Arvizu, all Gabrielino/Tongva, Kumeyaay speakers, attend the Breath of Life Conference held on the UC Berkeley campus on Friday, June 5, 2026 in Berkeley, Calif. (Allison Herrera via Bay City News) The Breath of Life institute brings California tribal members to California Language Archive at UC Berkeley for a week each summer to train them how to access and read archival materials about their languages. - [Berkeley: California’s indigenous communities reclaim their own language—and pieces of their history](https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/berkeley-californias-indigenous-communities-22322332.php?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) (*SFGate*) ### ConlangCrafter: The AI model that invents languages ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2026/09/image-24.png) A new AI model called ConlangCrafter is capable of generating new languages, including ones with unconventional communication systems such as a language for cephalopod species that uses colors and gestures instead of sounds. - [ConlangCrafter turns AI to imagining languages](https://spectrum.ieee.org/conlangs-ai-model-contructed-languages?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) (*IEEE Spectrum*) A recent article in *Science* also looks at whether ConlangCrafter is truly creative—does it produce genuinely novel tongues, or does it simply spit out a remix of existing languages? - [An AI can invent entirely new languages—but is it creative?](https://www.science.org/content/article/ai-can-invent-entirely-new-languages-it-creative?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) (*Science*) The model was published in a research paper: - Alper et al. 2026\. ConlangCrafter: Constructing languages with a multi-hop LLM pipeline. *Proceedings of the 64th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, Vol. 1: Long Papers*, pp. 9318–9349\. DOI: [https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2026.acl-long.422](https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2026.acl-long.422?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com). ## 🗞️ Current Linguistics *Recently published research in linguistics.* ### What linguists think everyone should know about language ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2026/09/image-25.png) A recent study asked linguists around the world what they thought everyone should know about language. Here’s a write-up of the findings: [What linguists think everyone should know about language157 questions. 538 linguists from 49 countries.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/icon-51dd57ca-037b-49f5-ad97-18e690e50b25.png)Connect’s SubstackConnect Linguistics![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/https-3A-2F-2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com-2Fpublic-2Fimages-2F451c6c91-516f-4c24-82ca-8fc532ecb125_1053x1041-32d01837-3f37-4411-ab0e-395c181d333d.jpg)](https://connectlinguistics.substack.com/p/what-linguists-think-everyone-should) Here are the most common macro-questions among the responses, ordered by frequency: | **#** | **Macro-question** | **n** | | ----- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----- | | 1 | How and why do languages change? | 61 | | 2 | How do children acquire language? | 58 | | 3 | How many languages are there in the world? | 51 | | 4 | What are the benefits of learning foreign languages? | 45 | | 5 | What is language? | 45 | | 6 | What are the functions of language? | 44 | | 7 | What is the difference between spoken and written language? | 43 | | 8 | Does language influence thought? | 42 | | 9 | What is the difference between a language and a dialect? | 41 | | 10 | What differentiates human language from animal communication? | 36 | | 11 | What is linguistics? | 34 | | 12 | Are some languages better than others? | 32 | | 13 | Are sign languages real languages? | 30 | | 14 | How common is multilingualism in the world? | 29 | | 15 | What are the different parts of speech? | 28 | | 16 | What are the basic components of language? | 28 | | 17 | What is the relation between language and culture? | 26 | | 18 | What other languages are related to your first language(s)? | 26 | | 19 | What does it mean to know a language? | 23 | | 20 | What is the difference between learning first and subsequent languages? | 21 | | 21 | Is language change equal to language decay? | 21 | | 22 | In what ways do languages differ? | 21 | | 23 | What features are shared by (almost) all human languages? | 21 | | 24 | What does it mean to speak “correctly”? | 20 | | 25 | What is syntax? | 20 | - Lehecka & Östman. 2025\. What linguists think everyone should know about language—on extracting salience from open-ended responses. *Folia Linguistica* 60(1): 497–530\. DOI: [https://doi.org/10.1515/flin-2025-2020](https://doi.org/10.1515/flin-2025-2020?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com). ### Genes controlling language may be much older than previously thought ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2026/09/image-26.png) Veronika Oliinyk | Getty Images A new study links language to genes that predate the divergence of modern humans and Neanderthals, suggesting that Neanderthals too had some form of early communication. [How did humans evolve language? It may be far more ancient than scientists realizedA new study links genetic regions that predate the divergence of modern humans and Neanderthals to language![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/favicon-3e60ef4a-067b-4832-9566-3e59d414c0a8.ico)Scientific AmericanJackie Flynn Mogensen![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/dna-language-114f3adf-a287-40d1-9c06-5f9f754aaa13.jpg)](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/genetic-origins-of-language-may-predate-modern-humans-splitting-from-neanderthals-a-new-study-suggests/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) - Casten et al. 2026\. Ancient regulatory evolution shapes individual language abilities in present-day humans. *Science Advances* 12(17). DOI: [https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aed5260](https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aed5260?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com). ## 📃 This Week’s Reads *Interesting articles I’ve come across this week.* Inside the creation of *Project Hail Mary*’s musical alien language: [Inside the creation of Project Hail Mary’s musical alien languageLinguists explain how a language built from musical notes could convey complex meaning and even support conversation![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/favicon-ba055e8d-bc8f-4572-b07c-69e465c213f9.ico)Scientific AmericanRachel Feltman and Allison Parshall and Fonda Mwangi and Alex Sugiura![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/2608_SQ_WED_MUSIC_LANGUAGE-af889089-0361-4997-b5e1-776cb1d68bd1.png)](https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/could-rockys-musical-language-in-project-hail-mary-actually-work/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) For my own take on the linguistics of *Project Hail Mary*, take a look at this issue of the newsletter: [Project Hail Mary - Linguistic Discovery![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/languages-bordered-aab9bc13-98b1-474f-95c4-f6d82c6f98c7.png)Linguistic Discovery![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/Ghost-Publication-Cover-9a82c57a-9c38-4417-9418-e917cc2a118a.png)](https://linguisticdiscovery.com/tags/project-hail-mary/) --- Here’s a review of Sophia Smith Galer’s forthcoming book, *How to kill a language: Power, resistance, and the race to save our words* ([Amazon](https://amzn.to/3K3VrF0?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) | [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/110785/9798217086979?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)): [What happens when we lose a language?A staggering 44% of human languages are endangered – with culture, tradition and whole ways of understanding the world at stake![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/favicon-32x32-3c40447f-b999-4c72-ba18-b7cab972ba8c.ico)The GuardianSophia Smith Galer![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/2373-8053dde1-66a0-47ea-b906-9b2f40afcf47.jpg)](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/may/10/what-happens-when-we-lose-a-language?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2026/09/image-27.png) [Amazon](https://amzn.to/3K3VrF0?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) | [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/110785/9798217086979?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) --- [Sramcbled wrods: the real reason you can still read jumbled text‘Typoglycemia’ is often shared online as a quirky insight into how our brains work. But this viral claim is only part of the story.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/web-app-logo-192x192-2d05bdd6de6328146de80245d4685946-4347e33d-2aff-4f5b-99ec-e741232f60ae.png)The ConversationKaren Stollznow![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/file-20260414-91-f9c469-85d77733-590e-4ded-be89-89e0ea0fb9d9.jpg)](https://theconversation.com/sramcbled-wrods-the-real-reason-you-can-still-read-jumbled-text-280457?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) [The Fates of the DualThe status and story of Indo-European’s (mostly) lost alternative to singular and plural words.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/https-3A-2F-2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com-2Fpublic-2Fimages-2F1f1fc5e2-6f7e-4fd2-abc4-fe78ebd59cc2-2Ffavicon-48x48-3dd0a4cf-5369-47b3-bc0d-b3b0ab0278ee.png)Danny Bate, Wanderer in Language HistoryDanny Bate![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/https-3A-2F-2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com-2Fpublic-2Fimages-2Fa982d67c-9745-49ed-b1df-d4e428c5e248_553x523-a45a1220-ae04-49ef-927c-5875ca29e048.jpg)](https://open.substack.com/pub/dannylbate/p/the-fates-of-the-dual) [Speaking of Words: How City People Insult Country People - InDepthNH.orgFor hundreds of years we English speakers have come up with countless terms of abuse for each other—one of the more fertile sectors of the language—and a surprising number of them are based on urban scorn for rural folk.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/cropped-icon-idnh-270x270-92b37871-1df7-4778-9e67-df1b1937ba4c.png)InDepthNH.orgMichael Ferber![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/ferber-1170x823-32bd61b5-2e00-456e-aa2a-6690c79b556d.jpg)](https://indepthnh.org/2026/05/13/speaking-of-words-how-city-people-insult-country-people/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) ## 📚 Books & Media *New (and old) books and media touching on language and linguistics.* ### *The Book: A cover-to-cover exploration of the most powerful object of our time* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2026/09/IMG_0913-1.JPEG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2026/09/IMG_0912-1.JPEG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2026/09/IMG_0914-1.JPEG) [Amazon](https://amzn.to/4sRS1WZ?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) | [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/110785/9781324086352?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) This was such a neat book! It’s a history of not just the book but writing technologies in general, from papyrus to parchment to paper to the printing press and much more. It got me thinking a lot about how the mediums used to write affected the writing systems themselves. I also highly recommend getting the hardcover version pictured here, which is gorgeously bound and illustrated. - [Amazon](https://amzn.to/4sRS1WZ?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) - [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/110785/9781324086352?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) ### Why is a tiger a tiger? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2026/09/image-28.png) [Amazon](https://amzn.to/3UNP9OM?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) | [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/110785/9781984336767?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) I recently learned about this fun etymology book for kids from Lauren Gawne’s blog [*Superlinguo*](https://www.superlinguo.com/post/826411319828922368/linguistics-books-for-kids-why-is-a-tiger-a?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com). I’ll quote from her post: > There are many books with etymological stories for adults, but why should adults have all the fun? [Dave Buchen](https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/5391926.Dave%5FBuchen?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) has been created illustrated books for children with short, accessible etymology stories. > > *Why is a Tiger a Tiger?* is full of animal etymologies with playful black and white illustrations. I counted around eighty pages of illustrations. Buchen is a self-published author, and the print on demand copy I received has the perfect paper to make this a fabulous linguistically-informative colouring book. Get your own copy here: - [Amazon](https://amzn.to/3UNP9OM?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) - [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/110785/9781984336767?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) ## 👋🏼 Till next week! In my article on [the Pre-Greek substrate that influenced Ancient Greek](https://linguisticdiscovery.com/posts/pre-greek/), I likened contact between languages to geographical strata, i.e. layers of linguistic history. Ryan Starkey of Starkey Comics illustrates this nicely with a map of toponyms (place names) of Old Irish, Norse, Brittonic, and Old English origins across Britain and Ireland. Read his full description here: - [Major placename regions of Britain & Ireland](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1193514295464153&set=pb.100044167822697.-2207520000&type=3) (*Starkey Comics*) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2026/09/image-29.png) 📚 The Amazon and Bookshop links on this site are affiliate links, which means that I earn a small commission from those companies for purchases made through them (at no extra cost to you). If you’d like to support Linguistic Discovery, purchasing through these links is a great way to do so! I greatly appreciate your support! [Check out my Amazon storefront here.](https://www.amazon.com/shop/linguisticdiscovery?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) [Check out my Bookshop storefront here.](https://bookshop.org/shop/linguisticdiscovery?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)