There are various patterns languages use to form new words to express either related concepts, or more complex ones. These patterns can include compounding words, such as Handschuhe (hand+shoes) to mean 'gloves', and the use of prefixes and suffixes to mark things like causatives or an agent of something. Such affixes may also occur together … Continue reading Perhaps my most favourite morphological feature
Afro-Asiatic
Are there languages with fewer than 2 phonemic vowels?
Amongst the languages of the world, some are known for having an unusually large number of phonemic vowels in their phonological inventories, with one of the most popular examples being the Danish language, if we are discounting additional phonation types like breathiness. Today, I want to take a look in the other extreme, and try … Continue reading Are there languages with fewer than 2 phonemic vowels?
Writing in Africa — The Tifinagh Alphabets
In the very first introduction to the writing systems used in the African continent, I mentioned two indigenous systems. The first was the Ge'ez script, used to write languages such as Amharic and Tigrinya, and the second was Tifinagh, used to write the Berber languages. There was only a couple of paragraphs dedicated to each … Continue reading Writing in Africa — The Tifinagh Alphabets
Writing in Africa — The Somalian Alphabets (Pt 1)
In the Horn of Africa, several languages are widely spoken. From Amharic and Tigrinya in Ethiopia to Afar in Djibouti, many languages of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family are spoken here. In Somalia, Somaliland and Djibouti, Somali has official language status in the former two, and national language status in the latter. … Continue reading Writing in Africa — The Somalian Alphabets (Pt 1)
The Language Closet 