Tag Archives: languages

Computational Methods and the Papuan Language Problem: A Survey of What Could Be Done

Posted on May 5, 2026 by nathanalbright

Abstract The languages of New Guinea and its satellite archipelagos constitute the densest and least understood concentration of linguistic diversity on Earth. Roughly eight hundred and fifty languages — by some counts more, by others fewer, depending on how splitter-lumper … Continue reading →

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Fragments, Translation, and the Pew

Posted on April 26, 2026 by nathanalbright

Introduction The previous papers have moved from foundations to method, from method to specific corpora of evidence, and from those corpora to the special case of fragments at the canonical edges. The present paper turns to a question that has … Continue reading →

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Book Review: The Concise Dictionary Of Scottish Words And Phrases

Posted on August 27, 2024 by nathanalbright

The Concise Dictionary Of Scottish Words And Phrases, by Betty Kirkpatrick As a dear friend of mine who is moving to Scotland asked me to read and review this book, I have done so in order to help my friend … Continue reading →

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Book Review: From Elvish To Klingon

Posted on May 28, 2024 by nathanalbright

From Elvish To Klingon: Exploring Invented Languages, by Michael Adams Though the title of this book is probably the most obvious and inevitable title for such a material since the movie bomb “From Justin To Kelly,” the title is not … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Hebrew For Dummies

Posted on May 8, 2024 by nathanalbright

Hebrew For Dummies, by Jill Suzanne Jacobs This book is one that desperately wants to be hip and to show that a language that had been moribund for centuries, limited to liturgical use, had been resurrected like the Messiah as … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Wanderers, Kings, Merchants

Posted on April 19, 2024 by nathanalbright

Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story Of India Through Its Languages, by Peggy Mohan This book provides a textbook example of how a book can be almost great. Its subject matter is quite interesting to me and quite relevant to the … Continue reading →

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Book Review: All Strangers Are Kin

Posted on April 16, 2024 by nathanalbright

All Strangers Are Kin: Adventures In Arabic And The Arab World, by Zora O’Neill My generally positive review of this book that I give is dependent on my reading of the author’s self-presentation as being deliberately critical. To the extent … Continue reading →

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So Often, We See What We Are

Posted on October 12, 2021 by nathanalbright

One of my more esoteric interests is the decipherment of ancient and unknown scripts. As someone who has spent an excessive amount of my own life writing, giving a voice to an intellectual and emotional and spiritual life that is … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Babel: Around The World In Twenty Languages

Posted on September 10, 2020 by nathanalbright

Babel: Around The World In Twenty Languages, by Gaston Dorren This is a deeply interesting book, but it’s not really as diverse as one would think. The author explores the top twenty languages in terms of the number of speakers, … Continue reading →

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Book Review: A Proverb A Day In Biblical Hebrew

Posted on May 5, 2020 by nathanalbright

A Proverb A Day In Biblical Hebrew, by Jonathan G. Kline [Note:  This book was provided free of charge by Hendrickson Publishers.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.] As a reader I have greatly enjoyed Kline’s books on biblical … Continue reading →

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