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Topic Review
Ch’orti’ Language
The Ch'orti' language (sometimes also Chorti) is a Mayan language, spoken by the indigenous Maya people who are also known as the Ch'orti' or Ch'orti' Maya. Ch'orti' is a direct descendant of the Classic Maya language in which many of the pre-Columbian inscriptions using the Maya script were written. This Classic Maya language is also attested in a number of inscriptions made in regions whose inhabitants most likely spoke a different Mayan language variant, including the ancestor of Yukatek Maya. Ch'orti' is the modern version of the ancient Mayan language Ch'olan (which was actively used and most popular between the years of A.D 250 and 850).
  • 1.2K
  • 15 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Min Chinese
Min (simplified Chinese: 闽语; traditional Chinese: 閩語; pinyin: Mǐn yǔ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Bân gú; BUC: Mìng ngṳ̄) is a broad group of Sinitic languages spoken by about 30 million people in Fujian province as well as by the descendants of Min speaking colonists on Leizhou peninsula and Hainan, or assimilated natives of Chaoshan, parts of Zhongshan, three counties in southern Wenzhou, Zhoushan archipelago, and Taiwan. The name is derived from the Min River in Fujian, which is also the abbreviated name of Fujian Province. Min varieties are not mutually intelligible with each other or with any other variety of Chinese. There are many Min speakers among overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. The most widely spoken variety of Min outside Fujian is Southern Min (Min Nan), also known as Hokkien-Taiwanese (which includes Taiwanese and Amoy). Many Min languages have retained notable features of the Old Chinese language, and there is linguistic evidence that not all Min varieties are directly descended from Middle Chinese of the Sui–Tang dynasties. Min languages are believed to have a significant linguistic substrate from the languages of the inhabitants of the region prior to its sinicization.
  • 1.1K
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Middle Mongol Language
Middle Mongol or Middle Mongolian was a Mongolic koiné language spoken in the Mongol Empire. Originating from Genghis Khan's home region of northeastern Mongolia, it diversified into several Mongolic languages after the collapse of the empire. In comparison to Modern Mongolian, it is known to have had no long vowels, different vowel harmony and verbal systems and a slightly different case system.
  • 1.1K
  • 03 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Proto-Berber
Proto-Berber or Proto-Libyan is the reconstructed proto-language from which the modern Berber languages stem. Proto-Berber was an Afroasiatic language, and as such, its descendant Berber languages are cousins to the Egyptian language, Cushitic languages, Semitic languages, Chadic languages, and the Omotic languages.
  • 951
  • 07 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Linguistics in Science Fiction
Linguistics has an intrinsic connection to Science Fiction stories given the nature of science fiction. As mentioned in Aliens and Linguists: Language Study and Science Fiction by Walter E. Meyers, science fiction is almost always concerned with the idea of communication, such as communication with aliens and machines, or communication using dead languages and evolved languages of the future. Authors of science fiction at times use Linguistics and Linguistic theories as a tool for storytelling, although technical terms are rarely used with authors only going into as much detail as the reader will understand. While Linguistics can be found to be employed by writers of science fiction, it must be noted that not all uses are accurate to actual Linguistics and Linguistic Theories. Nevertheless, there still exists the lingering presence and use of Linguistics (even if inaccurate) in such cases. As mentioned by Walter E. Meyers, the ability to make a story seem more unfamiliar and exotic, and an alien seem less of a costumed human who merely differs in physical appearance, is only possible through the use of language. It is this ability that appears to draw the boundary between great works of science fiction and those lesser so. As such, Linguistics, the scientific study of language, comes to hold an important role in the genre of science fiction.
  • 940
  • 10 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Soyombo Alphabet
The Soyombo alphabet (Mongolian: Соёмбо бичиг, Soyombo biçig) is an abugida developed by the monk and scholar Zanabazar in 1686 to write Mongolian. It can also be used to write Tibetan and Sanskrit. A special character of the script, the Soyombo symbol, became a national symbol of Mongolia, and has appeared on the national flag since 1921, and on the Emblem of Mongolia since 1960, as well as money, stamps, etc.
  • 924
  • 08 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Buyeo Languages
The Buyeo languages, or Fuyu languages (Korean: 부여; Chinese: 扶餘, Fúyú), is a theoretical language family that consists of the Koreanic languages, the Japonic languages and of the ancient languages of the Korean Peninsula and Manchuria. According to ancient Chinese records, the languages of Buyeo, Goguryeo, Dongye, Okjeo, Baekje and Gojoseon were similar to one another but very different from Tungusic languages. The Ye-Maek language may have been ancestral.
  • 914
  • 08 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Dutch Expedition to Southern Chile (1643)
The following article analyzes how the Dutch expedition to southern Chile during the 17th century (1642–1643) was narrated, in Dutch and in its translations into German, English, and Spanish, considering the interests of empires and the discursive differences that translational variations reveal. This transdisciplinary analysis, combining historiography, translation studies, and historical geography, consists of a critical reading of the original narration and a comparative reading of the aforementioned translations, and within them ethnographic representations made about the Mapuche-Huilliche people and the city of Valdivia and changes introduced by different translations are identified.
  • 882
  • 04 Jan 2024
Topic Review Video Peer Reviewed
The Human Passion for Music
Music is a universal feature of human societies, which suggests that an evolutionary perspective should help people understand the appreciation. The reward (pleasure) system of the brain offers a suitable framework. The primary evolutionary advantage is probably related to the importance of language; features of sound, such as purity, harmony, complexity, and rhythmicity, are useful for facilitating oral communication. One would expect evolution to associate rewards with these qualities in order to stimulate the development of brain regions involved in interpreting and producing relevant sounds. There are additional adaptive aspects of music, such as relaxation, social coherence, and sexual selection. Music can be regarded as a superstimulus that accentuates and exploits rewards associated with hearing. As such, music is not necessarily adaptive in a biological sense, but serves the purpose of improving quality of life. 
  • 872
  • 09 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Forth and Bargy Dialect
The Forth and Bargy dialect, also known as Yola, is an extinct Anglic language once spoken in the baronies of Forth and Bargy in County Wexford, Ireland. It is thought to have evolved from Middle English, which was brought to Ireland during the Norman invasion, beginning in 1169. As such, it was similar to the Fingallian dialect of the Fingal area. Both became extinct in the 19th century, when they were replaced by modern Hiberno-English. The name "Yola" means "old" in the dialect.
  • 859
  • 21 Nov 2022
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