By Sarah-Claire Jordan Even before the French language committee had announced that there will be spelling changes implemented for around 2,400 French words, Portugal led the way in 1990 with a proposal to make Portuguese spelling more uniform across the different countries that speak it. This meant essentially favoring the Brazilian pronunciation and spelling of […]
By Sarah-Claire Jordan Germanic languages are spoken in Europe, North America, and Oceania, which includes Australia, New Zealand, and many other Pacific island nations. They can be further divided into three branches: North Germanic, West Germanic, and East Germanic. East Germanic languages no longer exist, but the other two branches show no signs of […]
By Sarah-Claire jordan When dealing with problems that can determine the outcome of something as serious as a war, communicating exactly what you mean to say is crucial. If a group of soldiers can’t understand what their commanding officer is trying to tell them over the radio, they could get killed, reveal their position to […]
Phonological systems and the sounds of the world’s languages show a large diversity. The simplest, such as Hawaiian or Rotokas, only have 12 sounds in their phonemic inventory (Maddieson 1984), while more complex systems such as Changana or !xun have 121 and 141 contrastive segments (Janson & Engstrand 2001, Koenig 2006). Why are the sound systems […]
In the Pontic mountains facing the Black Sea a flurry of white tents and wooden stands take shape in the lush and narrow valley. Kusköy, a remote Turkish village, is poised to become a center of attraction for the duration of its annual festival. Hazelnuts, tea, and other local products bellow out their aromas into […]
Slovak (Slovenčina) is the official language of Slovakia. It is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic Languages. More than 5 million people speak Slovak in Slovakia. This language is also spoken in the United States (1, 200 000), the Czech Republic (320 000), Serbia (60 000), Ireland (30 000), Romania (22 000), […]
Philippine languages, which belong to the family of Austronesian languages, are as diverse as the islands that make up this archipelago. Among the major languages is Ilocano, sometimes spelled Ilokano and also referred to as Iloko/Iluko. It is the third most spoken language in the country, claimed by close to 8 million Filipinos as their […]
