Jack of all Languages

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This week, we hear the fascinating story of how linguist Ferdinand de Saussure "predicted" the existence Proto-Indo-European's laryngeal consonants – a prediction that was later confirmed after the deciphering of Hittite!

Sources

- Lehmann, W. P., & Slocum, J. (n.d.). Hittite online. Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas at Austin.

- Laryngeal theory. (Updated September, 2026). In Wikipedia.- Indo-European ablaut. (Updated August, 2026). In Wikipedia.

Images

- F. Jullien Genève, "Ferdinand de Saussure," before 1913. [Public domain]

- Bill Williams, "Indo-European Language Family Branches in Eurasia," 2021. [CC BY-SA 3.0]

- Nissrpska, "Hittite kingdoms," 2026. [Public domain]

- Ikonact, "Map Hittite rule," 2013. [CC BY-SA 3.0]

-"Jerzy Kuryłowicz," Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. [SANU F-590/1]

In this third video in our Hittite series, we take a look at a very exciting topic... nominal morphology! I.e., how nouns change form when they are used as different parts of speech.

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Sources:

- Lehmann, W. P., & Slocum, J. (n.d.). Hittite online. Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas at Austin.

- van den Hout, T. (2011). The Elements of Hittite. Cambridge University Press.

- Luraghi, S., & Inglese, G. (n.d.). Morphology – Part 2: Nominal inflection [Lecture slides]. University of Göttingen.

- Hittite grammar. (Updated August, 2026). In Wikipedia.

- Latin grammar. (Updated September, 2026). In Wikipedia.

- Wiktionary. (n.d.). Appendix:Proto-Indo-European declension. In Wiktionary, the free dictionary.Images

- Mx. Granger. "Hittite Cuneiform Tablet." Wikimedia Commons. [Public domain]

-Koba-chan. "Indo-European migrations." Wikimedia Commons. [CC BY-SA 3.0]

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Sources:

- Lehmann, W. P., & Slocum, J. (n.d.). Hittite online: Series introduction. Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas at Austin.

- van den Hout, T. (2011). The Elements of Hittite. Cambridge University Press.

- Lauffenburger, O. (2008). Hittite grammar (Version 0.4.7).

- Hittite grammar. (Updated August, 2026). In Wikipedia.

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This week, we begin a mini-series on the ancient Hittite language -- beginning with its phonology and writing system.

Sources:

* Lehmann, W. P., & Slocum, J. (n.d.). Hittite online: Series introduction. Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas at Austin.

* Rydgren, E. (2022). Hittite language. EBSCO Research Starters.

* Hittite language. (Updated July, 2026). In Wikipedia.

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IPA chart with audio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet_chart

Sources:

William H. Bennett, An Introduction to the Gothic Language, 1980.

Joseph Wright, Grammar of the Gothic Language, 1954.

Lyle Campbell, Historical Linguistics: An Introduction, 1998.

“Grimm’s Law,” Wikipedia, updated May 2026.

“Verner’s Law,” Wikipedia, updated July 2026.

“Germanic umlaut,” Wikipedia, updated April 2026.

“Examples of Grimm’s Law,” University of Pennsylvania - Department of Linguistics (handout)

“Gothic verb paradigms,” The Online Chrestomathy of Gothic and Anglo-Saxon Written Records (Ivanè Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University).

Jackson Crawford, “Gothic: The ‘Aunt’ Language of English and Norse,” 2021.

All images from Wikimedia Commons.

#linguistics #language #gothic #germanic #medieval #history

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This week we take a look at a language that has been called the most conservative of the Indo-European languages.

Link to Baltic etymological dictionary: https://archive.org/details/derksen-etymological-dictionary-of-the-baltic-inherited-lexicon-2015/mode/2up

Sources:

“Lithuanian language,” Wikipedia, updated June 2026.

Yuriy Kushnir, “Structure of Lithuanian,” 2016.

Peter Arkadiev, Axel Holvoet, Björn Wiemer, Baltic linguistics: state of the art, July 2015.

Antanas Klimas, “Some unique features of Lithuanian,” Lituanas, Fall 1984.

Antanas Klimas, “The Lithuanian participles: Their system and functions,” Lituanas, September 1958.

Antanas Klimas, “Lithuanian and Latin,” Lituanas, Spring 1987.

Leonardas Dambriūnas, “A general characterization of the Lithuanian language,” Lituanas, Fall/Winter 1964.

Rick Derksen, Etymological Dictionary of the Baltic Inherited Lexicon, 2015.

Laura Spinney, Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global, Bloomsbury, 2025.

Ricky Germain, “The Morphosyntactic Origins of the Definite Adjectives in Old Lithuanian,” (Master’s Thesis at Concordia University), July 2018.

All images from Wikimedia Commons.

#language #linguistics #indoeuropean #lithuanian #philology #sanskrit #greek #latin

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Sources:

Antonio Ive, I dialetti ladino-veneti dell’Istria, 1900.

Domenico Cernесса, “Analisi fonematica del dialetto di Valle d'Istria,” 1967.

Domenico Cernесса, “Morfologia del dialetto di Valle d'Istria,” 1974.

Sandro Cergna, “Dai manoscritti di Giovanni Zaneto Obrovaz: La narrativa bucolico-boschereccia in dialetto istrioto di Valle d’Istria,” 2016.

“Istriot,” Wikipedia, updated March 2026.

“Bale, Croatia,” Wikipedia, updated April 2026.

All images from Wikimedia Commons.

#language #linguistics #romancelanguages #croatia #italian #italy #history

Who was the last ever native speaker of Latin? Is it possible to know?

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Sources:

Michel de Montaigne, Essais, 1580.

Michel de Montaigne, The Journal of Montaigne's Travels in Italy by Way of Switzerland and Germany in 1580 and 1581, published posthumously in 1774.

George Hoffman, “Montaigne’s Education,” Oxford Handbook of Montaigne, 2016.

“Michel de Montaigne,” Wikipedia, updated March 2026.

Karolis M. Lyvens, Living Latin (1880 – c. 2000): ideology and identity, University of Manchester, 2023.

“Arcadius Avellanus,” Wikipedia, updated February 2026.

Timothy J. Pulju, “History of Latin,” Rice University.

All images from Wikimedia Commons.

#latin #history #europe #montaigne #linguistics #language