linguistics

Study finds tens of thousands of languages lost since ancient peak

The world's linguistic diversity peaked between 1,000 and 3,000 years ago, when tens of thousands of languages may have been spoken across the globe — far exceeding the roughly 7,500 languages in use today — according to a study published…

Merriam-Webster names ‘slop’ word of the year

Merriam-Webster announced Monday that "slop" has been selected as its Word of the Year for 2025, reflecting the surge of low-quality AI-generated content overwhelming the internet. The term, which originally described soft mud in the 1700s, now defines "digital content…

130-year-old Chaucer mystery was a medieval preacher’s meme

A medieval literary puzzle that has confounded scholars for 130 years has been solved by Cambridge researchers who discovered that the Song of Wade, referenced in Chaucer's writings, was a chivalric romance rather than a monster-filled epic, with the breakthrough…

Linguist deciphers mysterious 2,400-year-old Dhofari script

Linguist Ahmad Al-Jallad from Ohio State University has successfully deciphered the main subtype of the Dhofari script, a mysterious 2,400-year-old writing system found in Oman's caves and dried riverbeds, by identifying three abecedaries following the halḥam order characteristic of South…