| əz ju ər ˈriːdɪŋ ðɪs | ju ər parˈtɪsəˌpetɪŋ ɪn wʌn əv ˈneɪtʃərz ˈɡreɪtəst ˈwʌndərz | ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ | ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ ɪz ə ˈmɪrəkl̩ |ˈɪt ɪz ˈbaɪ ˈfɑːr ðə moʊst ˈpaʊərfəl ˈtuːl ðæt hjuː ˈmænəti hæz | ˈæftər ɔːl wɒt ˌdɪˈstɪŋɡwɪʃəz əz frəm ˈænəml̩z ɪz ðɪs ˈswi:t ˈlɪtl̩ ˈθɪŋ wi kɔ:l ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ | ˈbaɪ dʒəst məˈnɪpjəˌletɪŋ ði ˈeər …
You haven’t probably noticed, but the United States HAS slightly changed its name, so to speak. Some countries change their names over the course of time, but the way the US has done it is very different. We say different because the change is so subtle that is barely noticeable. Before the Lincoln administration, they …
The grammatical change that took The United States from ‘are’ to ‘is’. Read More »
Languages have different phonetic inventories. Some languages use more sounds than others. A perceptually distinct sound unit is technically called a phoneme. Two sounds are different if they are perceived to constitute two distinct phonemes by native speakers. The following list ranks the most common languages by the number of sounds they use. It is …
These Are The Languages That Have The Most Sounds. Read More »
Not everything you know about language is true. When you study languages objectively, you start to realize that you’ve been wrong about almost everything you believed about them. Here is a list of some of the most common misconceptions about language that people have to reconsider:
There are approximately 7000 languages spoken in the world today, the majority of which are spoken by very tiny populations. About 60% of the world’s population, approximately 4 billion people, speak one of the few languages listed below. In fact, only 40 languages are spoken by more than 30 million native speakers. These languages are listed below …
The languages with more than 30 million native speakers. Read More »
As native speakers, we all have assumptions about the particular speed of languages other than our own. And most of the time, our assumptions are correct. Empirically speaking, linguists measure the speed of languages by how many syllables are articulated per second or per minute. Of course, we don’t have data from all the languages of …
List of The 7 Fastest Spoken Languages in The World. Read More »
Our languages are incredibly diverse and it is highly unlikely to find a word or a handful of words that sound the same in all languages. Except that there is a word that is shared by all human languages, according to research. Surprise, surprise..the word is ‘huh’. Weird, huh! Well, it turns out that this is …
This is the word that exists in all human languages, according to research. Read More »
Every language has a list of rarely used words that very few people know. They are not commonly known because they are rarely needed. Why bother learning something that you will not use..right? But for us, language nerds, that’s what gives meaning to our lives. Tracking down words and what they mean satisfies a curiosity …
30 English Words That Are Rarely Known To Most People. Read More »
What language do deaf people think in? This is a tough question to answer. Aside from the science behind what language deaf people think in and whether this question can be answered or not, there is a better way we can gain a clear insight into this. Why not ask deaf people themselves? Michele Westfall is our best candidate. …
What deaf people say about the language they think in. Read More »
The following facts were gathered from the input that was provided by our followers at The Language Nerds. Enjoy!