October 2008

Thumbnail image for Native Arapaho Speakers

Native Arapaho Speakers

by Richard Brooks October 31, 2008 In Danger of Extinction

On Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, the Northern Arapaho tribe is struggling to preserve its language.

1 comment Read the full article →

Proto-Indo-European

by Richard Brooks October 21, 2008 Languages

Anyone who has studied languages knows that different languages can be surprisingly similar. For example, Spanish and Italian look very much alike on paper-if you know one of the languages, you can almost intuit the meaning of a sentence written in the other language. It’s not surprising to be able to see relationships between the [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

The Cherokee language

by Richard Brooks October 21, 2008 Languages

In parts of the United States today, including Tennessee, North Carolina, and Oklahoma, road signs are marked with unfamiliar symbols that don’t correspond to English letters. Passing through these areas, you may wonder what the symbols mean. In all likelihood, you are looking at signs written in the Cherokee language, a remarkable example of linguistic [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

820 languages in one country

by Richard Brooks October 17, 2008 Languages

Which country has the highest number of different languages within its borders? Surprisingly, the answer is not China, India or any other large country. Tiny Papua New Guinea is all of 462,840 square kilometres in size, about as big as the state of California. Despite its small size, it is the most linguistically diverse country [...]

0 comments Read the full article →