Linguistic Discovery

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June 2025

Hawaiian only has 8 consonants—What happens when it borrows words with other sounds?
The Hawaiian language only has 8 consonants. So how does it deal with sounds in words borrowed from other languages?
 • 
Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.
You probably missed this in Song of Achilles
Also, here’s what Patroclus and Cleopatra have in common
 • 
Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.
Where do writing systems come from?
Writing was invented three different times in world history—in Mesopotamia, China, and Mesoamerica. But not all writing systems derive from those three…
 • 
Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.
Are “fruit” and “fruition” related?
Does something “come to fruition” because it bears fruit?
 • 
Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.
3 things people get wrong about language
Do you think you don’t have an accent?
 • 
Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.

May 2025

Why are dogs called ‘little horses’ in some Native American languages?
Shouldn’t it be the other way around, with horses called ‘big dogs’?
 • 
Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.
The etymology of “love”
“love” and all its related words in English
 • 
Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.
What are language isolates?
A language isolate is a language that is unrelated to any other known language.
 • 
Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.
From counting to cuneiform: How writing was invented
The earliest version of cuneiform wasn’t used to write language at all—it was used to count! And that Sumerian system of counting still influences our…
 • 
Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.
Speaking American: How y’all, youse, and you guys talk
A beautiful and engaging coffee table book of 122 dialect maps showing how different regions of the U.S. say different things.
 • 
Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.
© 2025 Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.
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