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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 1h

‘Huh?’ is near-universal. Across unrelated languages, people use almost the same little word to request a quick repeat. It isn’t innate though, likely convergent evolution under the pressure to get the conversation back on track.

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 2d

English has one 'blue.' Russian splits it into two basic colors: siniy (dark blue) and goluboy (light blue).

Experiments show Russian speakers are faster at telling apart blues that cross this boundary, a power that weakens when verbal rehearsal is blocked!

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 2d

They will probably be locked from commenting on sentence discussions or using the forums. We don't have an army of moderators so we'll have to err on the side of caution

Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 3d

If we give up then they win so we won’t, there’s no more to it

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 3d

TIL You can whistle a language!
On La Gomera (one of the Canary Islands), Silbo Gomero encodes Spanish into whistles that carry across valleys for kilometres!

It’s taught in schools since 1999 and considered a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 3d

100%!

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 5d

TIL: Sign languages aren’t universal!

American Sign Language is historically related to French Sign Language not British Sign Language.

That means ASL and BSL are not mutually intelligible, even though both countries use English.

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 6d

Some languages don’t use left/right. They default to cardinal directions!

In Guugu Yimithirr from Australia, people describe everyday locations with north/south/east/west e.g. ‘shift a bit to the east not ‘to your left.’

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 8d

Not every language counts by tens. Some count by twenties!
French 80 = quatre-vingts (4x20).
Danish 70 = halvfjerds (3 and a half x20).
Basque 60 = hirurogei (3x20).

Many base-20 systems likely came from counting on fingers and also toes (20 'digits'), and those habits stuck in the number words!

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 10d

We intend to get one out ASAP, with any luck by the end of the year

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 11d

Lingonaut Build 25 is out and it's our biggest update yet!
Read more about it here!:
lingonaut.app/build-25-is-...
We've also added 1000 new spots to the beta so get in while you still can! lingonaut.app/beta

This mission relies on your patronage!
patreon.com/lingonaut

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 11d

I bet the in forest living old man description came from someone who saw a bear for the first time, ran home but didn’t know how to describe what he saw!

‘It’s uhhh an old man but he lives in the forest!’

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 11d

Proto-Indo-European they were (probably) called *h₂ŕ̥tḱos. PIE wasn’t written so it’s a best guess

You can still see that old word in languages that kept it
Greek: ἄρκτος (árktos)
Sanskrit: ऋक्ष (ṛkṣa)
Latin : ursus
Celtic: artos (arth/art in Welsh/old Irish)
I think honeyeater is funnier though IMO

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 11d

Many Indo-European languages avoided the original word for 'bear.'
Germanic switched to a euphemism meaning 'the brown one' (Proto-Germanic berô).
Slavic uses 'honey-eater' (medvěd).
Naming dangerous animals was taboo so people renamed the bear!

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 15d

The word for tea in almost every language comes from just two roots: tea or cha.

If your country got tea by sea trade, you say some version of tea.
If it came overland, you say some version of cha.

English has both: tea and chai!

There's the portuguese though who say chá though they got it by sea

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 17d

English used to have a singular second-person: 'thou'.
'You' was either the plural or polite just like other languages like Czech, Hindi or German!
The polite form won and 'thou' faded that’s why we still say 'you are' not 'you is'.

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 17d

I wonder why these all share similar pronunciations?

Ewit @ewit.bsky.social · 17d

While Uralic languages;

Finnish - äiti
Hungarian - anya
(Northern) Mansi - ся̄нь / ома
(Kazym) Khanty - аӈки
Ingrian - emä
Inari Sami - enni
Kildin Samj - е̄ннҍ
Lule Sami - ieddne
Skolt Sami - jeä'nn
Southern Sami - tjidtjie
Erzya - ава
Estonian - ema
Komi-Zyrian - мам, ань
Livonian - jemа̄

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 18d

We are trying so incredibly hard to turn it into a learning machine that isn’t always trying to sell you something

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 18d

TIL that almost every language uses some variation of ‘mom/mom/ma’ for mother because babies naturally make “ma” sounds when they first start vocalising!

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 18d

We are sorely in need of ways to spread the word about what we’re trying to do! If you have any ideas or can just repost or share the message please do :)

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · 19d

We plan to be the proof that not everything has to be swallowed and taken apart by venture capitalists to succeed!

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · Aug 30

This allows us to offer the same features and quality of learning to everyone without having to resort to advertising or other tactics to separate people who can pay from people who can't.

If you haven't pledged yet and you want to support the mission - please do!

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · Aug 30

From now on, patrons will in addition to their existing perks:

* Get access to new language courses one month early
* Get access to each new beta build two weeks early from everyone else
* Get access to the web client and Android alpha a few (TBD) months early (when ready)

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · Aug 30

Patreon perk upgrades:

In an effort to raise more funding for the Android version and web client and also deal with project costs creeping up as we get more learners - we're going to add new perks and start enforcing older perks to make sure that patrons get something in return for their support

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Lingonaut @lingonaut.bsky.social · Aug 28

Android work begins, Build 25 and much, much more in the latest blog post at:
lingonaut.app/android-work...

Android work begins, Build 25 and 15K Members! – WNWL #4 – Lingonaut

lingonaut.app

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