Late Middle Chinese phonology as recorded in the Yunjing (韻鏡) — An introductionThe Yunjing (韻鏡) is a book of rime tables that grouped together Chinese characters that rhymed. It was published as early as 1161…Jul 16Jul 16
The lengths and frequencies of wordsThink of some of the most common words in English: a, an, the, of, one. They tend to be quite short. Meanwhile, less common words…Jun 23, 20201Jun 23, 20201
The Great Tone SplitWhen languages change, sometimes they get simpler, and sometimes more complex. And sometimes, they get simpler in one way, while more…Sep 1, 2018Sep 1, 2018
The languages of Southeast AsiaThe Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA) linguistic area is made up of languages spoken in Southeast Asia and China, including Burmese, Thai…Sep 1, 2018Sep 1, 2018
Did Japanese verbs ever end in consonants?One of the most distinctive features of the Japanese language is its relatively simple sound system. Ever since Japanese was first written…Sep 1, 2018Sep 1, 2018
The impact of Chinese on KoreanOver the last 1500–2000 years, Chinese has had a significant impact on Korean. And, because this impact has come more recently than the…Sep 1, 2018Sep 1, 2018
Korean and JapaneseOf the many similarities between Korean and Japanese, one particularly deep similarity involves the kinds of consonants they had. More…Sep 1, 2018Sep 1, 2018
The Korean languageKorean has nearly 80 million native speakers, and is the official language of two countries. Yet, surprisingly little is known about its…Sep 1, 2018Sep 1, 2018
Using the old to remember the newWhy is a new word in your language easier to remember than a new word in another language? After all, they’re both new! It seems that to…Oct 7, 2017Oct 7, 2017
