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Contents contributed and discussions participated by seanuyeno19

seanuyeno19

Language shapes how the brain perceives time -- ScienceDaily - 2 views

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    Some languages, like Swedish and English, describe time as length. Other languages, like Spanish and Greek, describe time as size. These differences in language lead to differences in how people perceive time. Spanish-Swedish bilinguals' perception of time changes depending on the language they are thinking in.
seanuyeno19

What happens to language as populations grow? It simplifies, say researchers -- Science... - 1 views

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    This article is about the differences between the languages spoken in communities with small populations and in communities with large populations. Scientists from Cornell University found out that in larger populations, the vocabulary is more complex, but the grammar rules are simpler than in languages in small populations. The reason might be that words are much easier to learn than grammar rules. In small populations, each person interacts with a larger proportion of the community, and this makes it easier for new grammar conventions to spread. In larger populations, each person only interacts with a small proportion of the population, but since individual words are easy to learn, the vocabulary can still be complex.
seanuyeno19

Haitch or aitch? How a Humble Letter Was Held Hostage by Historical Haughtiness - 0 views

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    The letter H used to be pronounced "haitch" instead of "aitch". There are words in Old English that start with H, and dropping the H was popular until the 1700s. The name of the letter H itself was one of these words that dropped the beginning H. This article says that the original letter name, "haitch" is a better name because letters with names that begin with the sound they make are much easier for kids to learn that letters with names that end with their sound or letters with names that have no connection to their sound.
seanuyeno19

Greece's Disappearing Whistled Language - 0 views

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    In the village of Antia in Greece, there is a whistled language called Sfyria. Sfyria is a whistled version of the Greek language, with different whistled tones representing Greek letters and sounds. The main benefit of Sfyria is communication over long distances. Sound from whistling travels ten times farther than from shouting. Sfyria is one of the most endangered languages in the world. Only six people can still speak and understand it.
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