Getting across the sea low-tech
2024-11-26 13:34 Today it is outright easy to get across the world.  In a time of motorised transports it is easy to not think about how hard it has been.  Getting there at all can’t be taken for granted.
Denying the past is denying the existence of data
2024-11-08 12:59 Many people are ignorant on earlier conditions.  Then people tend to take it for granted it was like when they grew up.  This includes both standard of living and how people treated each other.
On nationalistic archaeology denial
2024-11-02 19:53 One expression of misplaced nationalism is claiming all they can come up with would come from their own country.  Or at least the country which they see as precursor.
Language as indication of culture
2024-10-29 13:12 I see language as a practical way of classifying cultures.  Language is relatively easy to compare systematically.  One may compare phonotactics, vocabulary and grammar.  I think all three should be given equal weight.
The distribution of large and small languages
2024-10-24 17:39 I just want to make it clear what is meant by the size of languages...
How many languages are there?
2024-10-18 13:03 There are plenty of people thinking there are only a few dozen languages in the world.  Either they are the only languages one can come up with oneself.  Or people count how many countries there are.
How my mother tongue differs from English
2024-10-17 12:47 I want to point out that I am a non-native speaker of English.  My mother tongue is Swedish which is the other language of this website.  While these languages are clearly similar they are not mutually understandable.
What is linguistics?
2024-10-04 12:29 Linguistics is the science of languages.  This is about systematically describing and comparing different languages.  These can vary much more than most know about.
Famous prehistoric mammals
2024-09-09 13:04 After the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass-extinction it took 15 million years for the world to recover.  Mammals and birds then evolved to take over the role of the dinosaurs.  Towards the end whales arose too take over after the plesiosaurs.
On the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass-extinction
2024-09-02 12:16 The world looked a bit differently 66 million years ago.  Pangaea had splintered into Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Eurasia, North America and South America.  Antarctica was connected to Australia, and Eurasia to North America.