North American English has largely done away with length distinctions—but not entirely:

weeping willow
[ˈwipʰːɪŋ ˈwɪləw]

We ping Willow.
[wi ˈpʰɪŋ ˈwɪləw]

*We* ping Willow.
[ˈwiː ˈpʰɪŋ ˈwɪləw]

ː lengthens the preceding sound
ˈ indicates stress on the following syllable

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Some languages seem more complex than others. They’re harder to pronounce, their grammar seems more complicated, etc. But what exactly makes them complex, and what benefit does complexity bring?

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Around 1000-1600 AD, the tones in many languages in China and Southeast Asia split into two: syllables with voiced initial consonants (onsets, eg the b in ba) took on a lower tone.

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It’s commonly believed that kids are better than adults at learning additional languages , but I don’t see the evidence for that.

What I do see is that kids are just as good as adults, but also have a much better opportunity and stronger motivation to learn them.

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English may not have lexical tone, but it still has intonation. Intonation receives relatively little attention, probably because it’s not reflected in our writing system.

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There’s no consensus yet on how the letter r was pronounced in Old and Middle English. But I think the evidence suggests that it was not [ɹ̠], the one used in most English dialects today, but either the alveolar trill, [r], the alveolar flap, [ɾ], or possibly both together.

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It’s fascinating that languages often help listeners identify less common words by associating them with more common ones, and putting them next to each other.

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