Verbal communication brings out a lot of colour in a language, way beyond the confines of the materials upon which the language is recorded in. Everyday expressions, slang terms, and other kinds of word variants can be picked up through speaking and listening in a conversational context. Very often, when listening to Japanese conversations, or … Continue reading Speaking Japanese — Understanding Aidzuchi
Author: Zui
Speaking Japanese — What Exactly is Rendaku?
When learning Japanese, you would have encountered several patterns in speech. For example, while a person in Japanese is 人 (ひと, hito), the plural may be 人々 (ひとびと, hitobito). In a rather similar fashion, time is 時 (とき, toki), while sometimes is 時々 (ときどき, tokidoki). You may be asking, what is the pattern here? Notice … Continue reading Speaking Japanese — What Exactly is Rendaku?
Word Bites — Dord?
In 1934, a curious word entry appeared in the D-section of the second edition of the New International Dictionary, published by G. and C. Merriam Company, what is now part of Merriam-Webster. The word was defined as a synonym for density, used in the contexts of physics and chemistry. However, this word was completely removed … Continue reading Word Bites — Dord?
Obscure languages — Wymysorys
Today, we will explore a rather obscure language, but at a rather precarious predicament. This language has less than 20 native speakers as of 2017, most of whom are elderly, prompting several revitalisation efforts to try to revive the language. Spoken in the region of Wilamowice, Poland (Wymysoü), this language is also quite an interesting … Continue reading Obscure languages — Wymysorys
What happened to Bulgarian’s grammatical cases?
Down by the Black Sea, lies the country of Bulgaria, the primary home of the Bulgarian language. Rather closely related to Macedonian, this Slavic language is part of what is known as the Balkan sprachbund, an ensemble of generally common features shared by languages spoken in the Balkans, like grammar, vocabulary, and phonology. What sets … Continue reading What happened to Bulgarian’s grammatical cases?
The mystery of our alphabetical order
I am pretty sure you know how the alphabet song goes, from any language that uses some form of the Latin alphabet. Something that always intrigues me is why the alphabet, the English one at least, is ordered this way, and not any other sequence. Was it because the ABC song only sounds appropriate when … Continue reading The mystery of our alphabetical order
Messing around to learn about Zipf’s Law
In quantitative linguistics, you may have encountered word frequency tables, listing out how abundant one word is relative to another, and the sort. Scrolling through these lists, there seems to be a trend. In English, the most commonly used words include "the", "of", and "and", while in Spanish, they are "de", "la", and "que". These … Continue reading Messing around to learn about Zipf’s Law
Japanese Speech Contest 2020/21 (日本語スピーチコンテスト 2020/21) — The translation
As scheduled, here is my translation of what I wrote, under the guidance of my Japanese language tutor, for the script used in the Japanese Speech Contest submission entry! I included the original Japanese text at the top, followed by the English translation, to make referrals to the original script a bit easier. シンガポールの消滅危機言語の復興ークリスタン語 Language … Continue reading Japanese Speech Contest 2020/21 (日本語スピーチコンテスト 2020/21) — The translation
Japanese Speech Contest 2020/21 (日本語スピーチコンテスト 2020/21) — The script
今週の投稿は少し異なる。去年の12月に英国日本語教育学会の日本語スピーチコンテストに参加することに決めた。決勝大会に選考されなかったが、この経験で書き方や話し方など色々なを身につけたと思う。それでは、書いた台本をこのサイトでシェアしたい。自己紹介や形式的な表現などの切ったところがあるが、内容としてたいてい保たれる。英語の翻訳は水曜日に出せる。 This week's post will be a little different. Last December, I decided to take part in the Japanese Speech Contest held by the British Association for Teaching Japanese. While I was not shortlisted for the finals day, I think that through this experience, I learnt a lot of stuff, from writing to speaking and … Continue reading Japanese Speech Contest 2020/21 (日本語スピーチコンテスト 2020/21) — The script
Word Bites — The Mystery of Soton
Sometimes, place names can often make little to no sense. Take Southampton and Northampton, in the United Kingdom, for example. One might think that they are bordering each other, but no. While Southampton is a city in the county of Hampshire, curiously deriving its name from Southampton itself, Northampton is located in Northamptonshire, somewhere in … Continue reading Word Bites — The Mystery of Soton
Word Bites — Divergences in Korean words
The demarcation of the border between the Republic of Korea (ROK), or South Korea, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), or North Korea, marked the separation of not only a people separated by ideology, but also how new words entered the Korean language. Over time, different policies towards the Korean languages in the … Continue reading Word Bites — Divergences in Korean words
Word Bites — Awful vs Awesome
The English language is weird, yet interesting. Words that form from similar roots can take different, or opposite meanings. Sometimes, word pairs that sound like they have opposite meanings have rather similar, or identical meanings. Plus, there are also contronyms, where words can have opposite meanings based on the context in which they are used. … Continue reading Word Bites — Awful vs Awesome
The language of the Orchid Island — Tao (Cizicizing No Tao, Ciriciring No Tao, Ireriak No Tao)
Some 46 kilometres southeast of Taiwan, lies a small volcanic island governed as Lanyu Township of Taitung County, Taiwan / Republic of China. Separated from the Batanes islands of northern parts of the Philippines by the Bashi Channel of the Luzon Strait, this island is inhabited speakers of a language more similar to languages spoken … Continue reading The language of the Orchid Island — Tao (Cizicizing No Tao, Ciriciring No Tao, Ireriak No Tao)
Icelandic is not as difficult as you think. Here’s why
Icelandic has often been touted as one of the most difficult languages, if not, the most difficult language to pick up. Some believe that it is impossible to learn Icelandic, and that being fluent in that language is a rather formidable achievement. Its early divergence from the other languages of Scandinavia, coupled with its preference … Continue reading Icelandic is not as difficult as you think. Here’s why
Languages of Taiwan — Kanakanabu (Kanakanavu)
Our next language of Taiwan is also found in the southern end of the island, spoken by an indigenous people numbering in the hundreds today. Even so, this language, Kanakanabu (also known as Kanakanavu, or in Mandarin, 卡那卡那富語, Hanyu Pinyin: kǎ nà kǎ nà fù), is now classified as moribund, teetering on the brink of … Continue reading Languages of Taiwan — Kanakanabu (Kanakanavu)
Languages of Taiwan — Tsou
This next language of Taiwan is of rather unknown status. With 2 100 native speakers estimated in 2002, and 4 100 speakers in 2015, Taiwanese linguists think this language is endangered or threatened. Located in the west-central mountains, in the southeast of Chiayi or Alishan area in Taiwan, the Tsou language, another member of the … Continue reading Languages of Taiwan — Tsou
Black History Month — Gullah Loanwords, and Conclusion
We have seen the various influences of West African languages, and varieties of English, on the development of Gullah spoken in the Sea Islands of the United States. Here, to conclude the post series on Black History Month 2021, we will explore the influences on Gullah by loanwords introduced from West African languages. As we … Continue reading Black History Month — Gullah Loanwords, and Conclusion
Black History Month — How Gullah Works, Summarised
In the past couple of posts, we have looked at the history, development and sounds of Gullah, drawing some influences from West and Central African languages, some of them noted by the father of Gullah studies, Lorenzo Dow Turner. Today, we will explore how Gullah grammar works, in brief, and try to draw similarities between … Continue reading Black History Month — How Gullah Works, Summarised
Black History Month — The Sounds of Gullah
Previously, we introduced the brief history, and current status of the lesser-known English creole spoken in the United States, Gullah. In this post, we will explore the sound system of Gullah, and how it blends in both influences of the English variants, and of the West African languages. The study of Gullah and its features … Continue reading Black History Month — The Sounds of Gullah
Black History Month — Introduction to Gullah (Sea Island Creole English)
Disclaimer: This post discusses the role of slavery in the origin and development of Gullah creole, we want to make this communication the least offensive possible. We welcome any feedback or comments on how further refine this communication, but still reflects the history of the creole in the most accurate way possible. Nestled in the … Continue reading Black History Month — Introduction to Gullah (Sea Island Creole English)
Writing in Africa — Neo-Nsibidi’s “kana”
Disclaimer: This post describes an ongoing project to modernise the Nsibidi script, which as of writing, is not the finalised form. The accuracy of information is true as of 29 July 2020, so several things would have changed in the project by the time of this post. We will update this post when more information … Continue reading Writing in Africa — Neo-Nsibidi’s “kana”
Writing in Africa — Modernising Nsibidi
Disclaimer: This post describes an ongoing project to modernise the Nsibidi script, which as of writing, is not the finalised form. The accuracy of information is true as of 29 July 2020, so several things would have changed in the project by the time of this post. We will update this post when more information … Continue reading Writing in Africa — Modernising Nsibidi
👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — The Language Learning Challenges
If you have used social media as part of your language learning processes, or you are in language learning interest groups, you might have encountered various challenges that try to push you to speak or write in your target language. This includes the Lingua Franca Challenge, the 30-Day Record Yourself Challenge, and the 30 Day … Continue reading 👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — The Language Learning Challenges
👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — HiNative
So, you have started learning a language, setting out the goals of being able to converse with native speakers across some topics, or write short essays in that target language. You have your textbooks ready, perhaps coupled with flashcards and beginner texts, all set to start off on the rather subjective "right path". Textbook audio … Continue reading 👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — HiNative
👏🏻Method 👏🏻 Review — Teach Yourself Enjoy Language Series
Teach Yourself has a diverse set of language courses for various learners of various proficiencies, from the Get Started series for absolute beginners to the Enjoy series for learners who want to perfect their various skills in their target language. Last year, we covered the main series of Teach Yourself language coursebooks, the Complete series, … Continue reading 👏🏻Method 👏🏻 Review — Teach Yourself Enjoy Language Series
Saying It Like It Sounds — Onomatopoeia
Language is actually quite a neat little concept, how it can be simplified to the expression of ideas, concepts, experiences and memories by the utterance of sounds that make sense to people who speak the same tongue. Sociology, human interactions with other humans and the environment, and the time-attested evolution could all impact a language's … Continue reading Saying It Like It Sounds — Onomatopoeia
Languages of Taiwan — Paiwan (Vinuculjan, Pinayuanan)
This language is so diverse, the dozens of dialects linguists seem to pick up are organised into geographical zones or other classification methods, making it a dialect cluster of rather immense proportions compared to the languages covered previously. Spoken by the Paiwan people, also known as Paywan, Kacalisian, or 排灣 (Hanyu Pinyin: pái wān), this … Continue reading Languages of Taiwan — Paiwan (Vinuculjan, Pinayuanan)
Languages of Taiwan — Seediq (Kari Sediq, Kari Seediq, Kari Seejiq)
Moving down the list of Formosan languages in Taiwan, we have the other member of the Atayalic branch, Seediq. Spoken in the mountains of Central and Eastern Taiwan by the Seediq and Taroko, this language is predominantly found in the counties of Hualien and Nantou. However, the number of native speakers prove concerning, although we … Continue reading Languages of Taiwan — Seediq (Kari Sediq, Kari Seediq, Kari Seejiq)
👏🏻Method 👏🏻 Review — Routledge’s Colloquial Series
Like Teach Yourself, Routledge is also another powerhouse of language coursebooks, primarily through the Colloquial Series of Multimedia Language Courses, containing courses for at least 40-50 languages. Audio is available through CDs, or through external downloads. Alongside these courses, Routledge also has several Grammar series, and courses focused on the grammar side of things compared … Continue reading 👏🏻Method 👏🏻 Review — Routledge’s Colloquial Series
When Japanese Met Atayal — Yilan Creole Japanese
In 1895, Qing China ceded Taiwan to Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the first Sino-Japanese War. This began the five decades of Japanese rule of Taiwan. Although the administrative rule ended 75 years ago, the influence of Japanese culture on Taiwan still survives today. In Taiwanese Mandarin, Japanese loanwords are found, such as … Continue reading When Japanese Met Atayal — Yilan Creole Japanese
Languages of Taiwan — Atayal (Tayal)
Our next language to look at takes us to the Hsuehshan mountains, in the central-north region of Taiwan. The Atayal language, Tayal, or 泰雅語 (Hanyu Pinyin: tài yă yŭ), yet another member of the Formosan languages, is spoken by some 10 000 people, a very tiny proportion of the ethnic Atayal people. Despite the small … Continue reading Languages of Taiwan — Atayal (Tayal)
Languages of Taiwan — Amis (Pangcah)
Our first dive into the indigenous languages of Taiwan takes us to the Amis language, referred to as Sowal no Pangcah by the Amis people, and 阿美語 (Bopomofo: ㄚ ㄇㄟˇ ㄩˇ, Hanyu Pinyin: ā měi yǔ) by the Mandarin speaking majority of Taiwan. The largest of the Formosan languages, it is spoken as far north … Continue reading Languages of Taiwan — Amis (Pangcah)
What I Got Wrong — Revisiting Latin
In this post, I want to try something different. About five years ago, I posted a reflection post about my learning experiences in Latin, on Facebook, read only by my friends. As The Language Closet developed and became the main repository of my personal reflections, I want to revisit this post, and to dissect what … Continue reading What I Got Wrong — Revisiting Latin
Languages of Australia – Arrernte (Upper Arrernte)
Our first dive into the indigenous languages of Australia takes us into the Northern Territory, home of the Arrernte, Alyawarre, Anmatyerre, Ayerrereng and Yuruwinga peoples. Although these people groups are indeed diverse, they speak various dialects of a language, or dialect cluster, of a language known as Arrernte. With a total of 4 537 native … Continue reading Languages of Australia – Arrernte (Upper Arrernte)
Languages of Australia — An Introduction to Australian Aboriginal Languages
The Commonwealth of Australia is vast. Not only does it encompass the mainland of the Australian continent, it also includes the islands of Tasmania and the Torres Strait. A country of more than 25 million, it is quite surprising that many people know little of the languages spoken in Australia beyond the English language. It … Continue reading Languages of Australia — An Introduction to Australian Aboriginal Languages
👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — The Short-lived Tinycards (2016 – 2020)
In 2016, Duolingo made a new application which functioned quite a bit like Memrise. Using aesthetics and assets similar or inspired by the main Duolingo project, the flashcard app, Tinycards, was unveiled. It tried to be like its cousin Memrise, using a similar flashcard method, but with their own user-created or Duolingo-style art attached to … Continue reading 👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — The Short-lived Tinycards (2016 – 2020)
A Journey in Arabic (MSA)
It has been 10 years since I started learning Arabic, but never quite got to writing a full-length reflection on this journey thus far. I feel that it is time to share my experiences on the learning process, and the various challenges I encountered along the way. December 2009. I had only just completed my … Continue reading A Journey in Arabic (MSA)
👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — Memrise
The next review is yet another giant in the language learning industry. Like Duolingo, there is a focus on so-called games to teach languages to users. Since its release in 2013 onto the mobile market, Memrise has garnered more than 20 million users, learners of various languages to various subjects. Using flashcards as the main … Continue reading 👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — Memrise
Languages of Taiwan — Introduction to the Formosan Languages
Taiwan, the Republic of China (ROC), or Formosa, is often linguistically associated with Mandarin Chinese, Hokkien and Hakka today. It is understandable, given that about 95% of Taiwan's population is Han Chinese. However, Taiwan is also known for something quite different; it is arguably the origin of the Austronesian languages, a language family widely spoken … Continue reading Languages of Taiwan — Introduction to the Formosan Languages
👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — Teach Yourself Complete Series
In this review, we will take a look at the various publications in the language learning industry, particularly the self-instruction book giant Teach Yourself. From languages to quantum mechanics, Teach Yourself has an extremely wide spread of subjects, but this being a language learning site, we will be reviewing the Complete, Get Talking, Get Started, … Continue reading 👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — Teach Yourself Complete Series
Te Reo Māori o Aotearoa — The Māori Language
Aotearoa, or New Zealand, is amazing. Uninhabited before the 13th century, the Eastern Polynesians settled here after a long series of voyages through the islands of the South Pacific. These early settlers would later be the Māori people, calling Aotearoa their home. Now numbering about 775 000 in New Zealand (as of the 2018 census), … Continue reading Te Reo Māori o Aotearoa — The Māori Language
Mathematics in language — Transcendental algebra
Does mathematics transcend all languages? Mathematical equations seem to be able to communicate quantities, derivations, theorems and proofs across a large number of people, which may make it seem that mathematics is generally universally intelligible. The logic it contains is sort of homologous to what we see in language. The concepts of negation, comparison and … Continue reading Mathematics in language — Transcendental algebra
Writing in Africa — Ńdébé
Using the Latin alphabet to write some languages brings a lot of challenges, since 26 letters may not always be enough to capture all the sounds in a language. Tones, nasal vowels, some consonants may be omitted, or have to adopt clunky digraphs like "gb", "ngg", and "ndl". This is true for many languages in … Continue reading Writing in Africa — Ńdébé
Writing in Africa — Nwagụ Aneke Script
Igbo, a language spoken by at least 45 million people mainly in Nigeria, has tried adopting several writing systems throughout its linguistic history. From Nsibidi to Ndebe, Igbo has experimented, or is currently experimenting with these systems, but what we know is that Igbo is now predominantly written in the Latin alphabet. A couple of … Continue reading Writing in Africa — Nwagụ Aneke Script
👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — Duolingo
"No, you are an apple" "I am a horse" Most people who use Duolingo in their language learning journeys probably have encountered sentences like this, and wondered, how does this even make sense, or how does this even help me? Duolingo is one of the most widely-used applications that aid in learning foreign languages, released … Continue reading 👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — Duolingo
Controlled Languages — Newspeak
George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is a remarkable novel in many ways, from setting the scene of perpetual war, illustrations of a totalitarian state with extensive government over-reach and surveillance, to the extreme restrictions on freedom of thought. Many real-world parallels have been drawn from this novel, and its relevance persists to this day. Personally, this … Continue reading Controlled Languages — Newspeak
Writing in Africa — Mende Kikakui
Sierra Leone, like many places in West Africa, is diverse. It contains at least 15 spoken languages, plus English, but more commonly spoken as a form of creole known as Krio. While Krio is spoken by the vast majority of Sierra Leoneans, in the southern region of the country, exists a regional lingua franca, spoken … Continue reading Writing in Africa — Mende Kikakui
The Language Closet Turns 4!
When I started out writing my experiences on this site back in 2016, I did not expect it to grow over time to have the reach it has today. Readers from all over the world, from Armenia to Zambia, and many places I wish to visit over time. Firstly, I would like to thank you … Continue reading The Language Closet Turns 4!
Lingua Ignota — The Earliest Known Constructed Language?
23 letters. 1011-word glossary. Some short manuscripts. This is among what remains of the legacy of St. Hildegard of Bingen OSB, one of the best-known composers of sacred monophony, and the creation of this language she called Lingua Ignota. If confirmed, it could mean that Lingua Ignota is the oldest constructed language in human history, … Continue reading Lingua Ignota — The Earliest Known Constructed Language?
Language and Ecology — Distribution of Tonal Languages
Previously, we looked at the ecological drivers behind global patterns and distribution of language diversity. On a global scale, language diversity increases towards the equator, and the tropics are found to be more language dense. To explain these patterns from an ecological perspective, it was proposed that ecological risk played a more significant role than … Continue reading Language and Ecology — Distribution of Tonal Languages
Language and Ecology — The Latitudinal Gradient
In ecology, there is a widely-recognised global pattern in distribution of species. Studying terrestrial vertebrates, ecologists found that species richness increases from poles to tropics. This pattern is also seen in marine organisms as well. Birds, on the other hand, have the highest species richness in regions corresponding to the tropics and mountain ranges. The … Continue reading Language and Ecology — The Latitudinal Gradient
The languages they don’t want you to know — Secret languages
High in the Andes live a group of itinerant herbalist healers. They are known for herb-based treatments in Bolivia, stretching towards Peru, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Panama. Walking through ancient trails, which can date back to the Incan period, they search for plants said to contain medicinal properties. Some contained quinine, a compound used to … Continue reading The languages they don’t want you to know — Secret languages
Writing in North America — Great Lakes Algonquian Syllabics (GLAS)
In the 1880s, syllabic blocks of text recorded the languages of Ho-Chunk, Fox and several more languages. Derived from the Latin alphabet, this writing system strongly resembled Latin texts. But yet, no digitisation of this writing system was ever made, and what is revealed online is only an approximation, usually using a cursive Latin script. … Continue reading Writing in North America — Great Lakes Algonquian Syllabics (GLAS)
Language and my Personal Experiences
I remember being asked about why I had this passion for learning languages, and I kinda regretted not giving a complete answer, or a well-thought response, and having watched this enthusiast’s story, I think it’s about time I write about it. Having spent a considerable portion of my early childhood in the French province of … Continue reading Language and my Personal Experiences
Writing in North America — Osage Script
This writing system is unlike those discussed previously. It did not arise in the 19th century, under the legacy of Sequoyah on the writing systems of North America. In fact, its writing system arose after the language was officially declared extinct in 2005, following the passing of Lucille Roubedeaux, the last native speaker of the … Continue reading Writing in North America — Osage Script
Writing in North America — Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics
In 1827, an English-Canadian missionary and linguist set foot onto Rice Lake, Ontario. By the turn of the 20th century, virtually all Cree speakers were literate in a new writing system. From the Nunavut Inuktitut languages in the north to Ojibwe and Cree in eastern Canada, this writing system certainly has made its mark, and … Continue reading Writing in North America — Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics
Writing in North America
Previously, we have covered the various writing systems in Africa, to much interest, as not many are aware about the scripts used in the continent. From Ge'ez to Nsibidi, we have discussed the features and successes of these writing systems. This series of posts have certainly shown that writing systems in Africa are not just … Continue reading Writing in North America
Korea’s other language — Jejueo / Jejumal (제주어 / 제주말)
The Korean peninsula is one of the most linguistically homogenous regions in the world, with around 75 million people, almost all of whom speak Korean. Korean's status as a language isolate, unrelated to almost any other language currently spoken in the world, depends on who you ask. Korean is part of its own language family, … Continue reading Korea’s other language — Jejueo / Jejumal (제주어 / 제주말)
The language with four-cornered letters — Bugis (ᨅᨔ ᨕᨘᨁᨗ) and the Lontara (ᨒᨚᨈᨑ) script
Indonesia is amazingly diverse. Hundreds of languages and cultures span the archipelago from Sumatra to the western half of New Guinea, encompassing more than 17 thousand islands. While Bahasa Indonesia is the most widely spoken language, by 80% of the entire country's population, many other Austronesian languages are spoken too, and more than 270 languages … Continue reading The language with four-cornered letters — Bugis (ᨅᨔ ᨕᨘᨁᨗ) and the Lontara (ᨒᨚᨈᨑ) script
On Returning
In November 2017, I announced a hiatus, amidst working on my series about Japanese kanji. Two and a half years later, I have decided to return. What happened during this time? A radio silence lasting a couple of years broken by a sudden post, a profile update, a growing urge to return to writing, and … Continue reading On Returning
Talking to our future selves — Long-term nuclear waste warning messages
What if everyone could understand what is written, no matter what language, dialect, creole or patois they speak? We do have street signs, where colour and shape tell us the rules of the road but minor bits vary according to country driving regulations. We have those hazard symbols representing radiation, biohazards, corrosives and irritants but … Continue reading Talking to our future selves — Long-term nuclear waste warning messages
Hiatus, and a Travel Blog?
So, as you may have noticed, I missed out last week's post about how Japanese kanji work. The reason is that I have been quite busy preparing for my travels and will be on hiatus for a month or so. It is not all doom and gloom, however. I would be announcing a travel blog … Continue reading Hiatus, and a Travel Blog?
Exploring Deeper into Japanese
Having studied Japanese for three years as of the time of writing, I decided to delve deeper into the depths of the Japanese kanji. This little exploration would take up a few posts due to the extensive system behind this script, but anyway, some time in the first century CE, the Japanese people had encountered Chinese … Continue reading Exploring Deeper into Japanese
Rääkimine eesti keelt — A Journey in Estonian
When people talk about Estonia or Estonian, the first thing which usually comes to mind is, what is Estonia? Let me try to enlighten you in the most unbiased way possible. Estonia, or Eesti, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe (not eastern), just south of Finland and west of Russia. It … Continue reading Rääkimine eesti keelt — A Journey in Estonian
Puhuminen Suomen — A Journey in Finnish
Before starting on my reflections when learning Finnish, I would like to highlight the first impression other learners get from the language. Many memes have circulated here and there talking about the sheer difficulty in learning Finnish. Even I have rated it as among the most difficult foreign languages to learn as a [monolingual] native … Continue reading Puhuminen Suomen — A Journey in Finnish
A Non-Anglocentric Language Tier System?
1. How many languages do you know ? Okay, lemme define this question. To “know” a language, usually means to have the knowledge to speak, read, write, understand and communicate in a language. So yeah, as of now, I do know quite a bunch of languages to varying standards, like English, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, French, Japanese, […]
5 of the Most Interesting Languages I have Learnt so far
During my language learning journeys and escapades, I have encountered special sounds, special words and special ways to express ideas and concepts. These languages are mostly unique in this regard, but I will be showing you five of the most interesting languages I have learnt so far in this journey. 5. Mongolian Mongolian is the … Continue reading 5 of the Most Interesting Languages I have Learnt so far
Hypothetical Representation of a Language — Ithkuil
Previously, you have read on the simplest yet most ambiguous conlang you have come across so far. Now, we bring you what could be the most difficult but least ambiguous conlang to have ever existed. This is Ithkuil, a language constructed by John Quijada, designed to express deeper levels of human cognition briefly yet overtly and … Continue reading Hypothetical Representation of a Language — Ithkuil
The Language of Good — Toki Pona
Disclaimer: This post does not discuss a natural language, instead this post is about a constructed language, commonly contracted to conlang. You may have heard of Tolkien's Quenya, Star Trek's Klingon, and George R. R. Martin's Dothraki and High Valyrian, and these are all examples of a conlang. The question begs: What is the minimum … Continue reading The Language of Good — Toki Pona
Back in Time — Old Languages
We read and speak the languages we know as they are today, but undoubtedly, some of us have wondered how the same languages were spoken in the past. No, not during our grandparents' generation, nor Shakespeare's era, but way back, at least a thousand years into the past, the time of the legendary sagas of … Continue reading Back in Time — Old Languages
On Learning Korean
The languages of north-east Asia are mainly split into a few families -- the Sino-Tibetan, Mongolic and Japonic. Of course there are language isolates scattered around the region, such as Ainu, but there is this language isolate which is heavily concentrated on the Korean Peninsula. Efforts to classify this language under a huge Altaic language … Continue reading On Learning Korean
Language Islands — On Language Isolates
Imagine a map showing the languages of the world, not in a 'where they are spoken' sense, but more rather, based on how closely is one related to another. We would see the vast continents of Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan and Niger-Congo, some large islands like the Eskimo-Aleut and Finno-Ugric, and then we have the remotest of … Continue reading Language Islands — On Language Isolates
Actions Speak Louder than Words — A First Impression on Sign Language
In recent days, I decided to take a short break from learning words and sounds and stuff of our spoken languages and tried learning something different, signing, specifically American Sign Language, because that is the sign language where resources are very abundant (I know Singapore Sign Language exists as well but I don't quite have … Continue reading Actions Speak Louder than Words — A First Impression on Sign Language
Writing in Africa – A Korean-like Script?
When people talk about featural writing systems, almost all the time, the Hangeul writing system pops up. Its simple 40 letters (19 consonant and 21 vowel sounds) organised into syllable blocks form what is now the simplest writing system so far. Promulgated by Sejong the Great in the mid 15th-century, Hangeul has since been ingrained … Continue reading Writing in Africa – A Korean-like Script?
Writing in Africa – Mandombe
Now that we're back to introducing writing systems of Africa, this one takes us to the southern region of the African continent, intended to represent kiSwahili, Kikongo, Tshiluba, and to a limited extent, Lingala. Invented in 1978, this script appears to be a robotic mess of lines, an alphabet which is organised into syllabic blocks. … Continue reading Writing in Africa – Mandombe
Speaking “Indian”–My First Impression of Tamil
So it's been about a couple weeks since I started learning Tamil, and I thought that it would be nice to share my first steps in language learning. My focus here would thus be the sounds and script used in Tamil. Tamil is among the longest-surviving classical languages in the world, with literature dating back … Continue reading Speaking “Indian”–My First Impression of Tamil
Speaking “Indian”- A Reflection on Learning Experience in Hindi
India- A huge country with a massive population, and home to a whole bunch of languages. In fact, India recognises 23 official languages, including Hindi, English, Urdu, Panjabi, Gujarati, Tamil and Malayalam, just to name a few. Yet, some people refer to these diverse group of languages as just Indian, like "Do you speak Indian?" … Continue reading Speaking “Indian”- A Reflection on Learning Experience in Hindi
Writing in Africa – I say N’ko (ߒߞߏ)
Solomana Kante, a Guinean writer and an inventor of a writing system, but most importantly, a man who was determined to change the beliefs that Africans were a cultureless people. The Manding languages lacked an indigenous writing system at that time. And so, after a night of deep meditation, Kante went on to create an … Continue reading Writing in Africa – I say N’ko (ߒߞߏ)
Writing in Africa – The Vai Syllabary (ꕙꔤ)
Our next writing system takes us to the West African country of Liberia and Sierra Leone, in which lie some 120,000 native speakers of this Mande language called Vai. A tonal language of 12 vowels (of which 5 are nasal) and 31 consonants, using a syllabary to represent the sounds of this language surely is … Continue reading Writing in Africa – The Vai Syllabary (ꕙꔤ)
Singaporean Portuguese – A Brief Post on Kristang
While surfing the web looking through various creoles spoken in the world, one of them caught my eye. A creole spoken in Singapore and Malaysia, but not Singlish nor Manglish. Instead, it was a Portuguese creole, spoken by only a handful of people in the Malayan Peninsula. This is Kristang, known as Portugis to the … Continue reading Singaporean Portuguese – A Brief Post on Kristang
Writing in Africa – The Adlam Alphabet
In the late 1980s, two Guinean teenage brothers, Ibrahima and Abdoulaye Barry, devised a new alphabet to represent their Fulani language, spoken by about 24 million people in the Sahel Region in Western Africa. Using the first four letters of this new alphabet, they named it Adlam. Producing handwritten copies of books using the Adlam … Continue reading Writing in Africa – The Adlam Alphabet
Writing in Africa – the Nsibidi script
Tucked away in the region of southeast Nigeria lies the birthplace of a writing system used to document the Igbo, Ekoid and Efik languages. This is the Nsibidi script, in which thousands of symbols are found across various items like pottery, wall designs and leaves. A mess of lines, dots, circles and arcs unreadable to … Continue reading Writing in Africa – the Nsibidi script
Writing in Africa
Africa, a continent of thousands of ethnic groups, the most among all continents. Alongside these ethnic groups lie the linguistic diversity, rivaled only by the language diversity of Papua New Guinea. Many of these languages are still vulnerable to endangerment and extinction, and many of these also lack a written form to document their language. … Continue reading Writing in Africa
Adventures in Colloquial Singaporean English (Singlish) – Singlish in Society
Our final part of Adventures in Colloquial Singaporean English covers the controversy surrounding this creole of English. In Singapore, you may notice newspaper articles and educational materials are written (or more rather, typed) in grammatically correct English, but the English you hear on the streets tend to be rather ungrammatical (with respect to Standard English). … Continue reading Adventures in Colloquial Singaporean English (Singlish) – Singlish in Society
Adventures in Colloquial Singaporean English (Singlish) – More Particles
We're finally back after the brief intermission where we talked about one of the most well-known indigenous languages, Inuktitut. Now, we will be discussing the hallmark features of Singlish particles, the use of particles like lah, leh, loh etc. We hear it quite often, they're normally used at the end of sentences, and they can … Continue reading Adventures in Colloquial Singaporean English (Singlish) – More Particles
Intermission – The Beauty of Nunavut Inuktitut
So last year I did a little segment on learning the lesser known languages and I did cover a bit on Nunavut Inuktitut. And now, here is a post dedicated to the wonders of this poly-synthetic language. Many people have heard of this language because of its alleged diversity of words to mean snow and … Continue reading Intermission – The Beauty of Nunavut Inuktitut
Adventures in Colloquial Singaporean English (Singlish) – The curious case of “already”
Singlish particles truly define this creole, giving it its identity, making it stand out as much as Bislama and Tok Pisin, both of which are other creoles of English spoken in Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea respectively. Singlish particles draw influence mainly from Chinese (and its dialects) and Malay (and one from Tamil). This post … Continue reading Adventures in Colloquial Singaporean English (Singlish) – The curious case of “already”
Adventures in Colloquial Singaporean English (Singlish) – Verbs
Verbs. You know, those action words that bring life to sentences. Some languages conjugate by number, some by tense, some by aspect, mood, gender... yeah you get the point. Some don't even conjugate it at all. This post brings you verbs in Singlish, and how they differ from Standard English. One of the most prominent … Continue reading Adventures in Colloquial Singaporean English (Singlish) – Verbs
Adventures in Colloquial Singaporean English (Singlish) – Topicalisation
Singlish, or more formally known as Colloquial Singaporean English, is an English creole which closely resembles that of Colloquial Malaysian English, drawing influences from the languages represented by the ethnic groups that make up the speakers' population. It's something I encounter almost every day, and I thought it would be good to make some observations … Continue reading Adventures in Colloquial Singaporean English (Singlish) – Topicalisation
Languages With Consonant Clusters You Didn’t Know Are Possible
In the English language, consonant clusters aren't so much of a rare thing, like we have words like "strengthens", in which "str", "ngth" and "ns" are consonant clusters. In most of the Austronesian languages, however, consonant clusters are all but present. So let's explore the languages which have some of the really insane consonant clusters … Continue reading Languages With Consonant Clusters You Didn’t Know Are Possible
5 of the Most Interesting Writing Systems
Writing has existed for millennia, recording human history, heritage and knowledge over time. Many scripts have been invented, some stayed, some continued to be used, and some have yet to be deciphered. Now let's see some of the most fascinating scripts humans have come up with! 1. Ersu Shaba Ersu Shaba is a script used … Continue reading 5 of the Most Interesting Writing Systems
Interesting Things to Note in Austronesian Languages
At the start of this year I started to have a certain craving to learn some Austronesian Languages. We're not only talking about Malay and Indonesian, but also languages of the Polynesian and Micronesian Islands like Gagana Samoa, Niuean and the like. There were some nice observations I made when studying some of these (I'm … Continue reading Interesting Things to Note in Austronesian Languages
5 Most Unusual Consonants
It's time to cover the most unusual sounds you can make in the languages you speak 🙂 1. Voiceless dental fricative You know the "th" sound you pronounce in "thing", "theta" etc? This is actually a rare consonant you're making there, my friends. English, Modern Standard Arabic, Burmese, Greek and Standard European Spanish are among … Continue reading 5 Most Unusual Consonants
Learning the Lesser-known Languages
I believe some of us have always wanted to learn some cool languages like Nunavut Inuktitut, Nahuatl or Gagana Samoa, but where are the resources? Anyway, this post is about my journey in learning the rather lesser-known languages, where resources may be few and far out of reach (like books which I can't buy anywhere … Continue reading Learning the Lesser-known Languages
Introduction
Welcome to The Language Closet, where we bring you anything and everything language-related. Stay tuned for more posts and have fun browsing through!
The Language Closet 