{"id":20978,"date":"2021-05-12T16:48:05","date_gmt":"2021-05-12T16:48:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=20978"},"modified":"2021-05-12T16:48:06","modified_gmt":"2021-05-12T16:48:06","slug":"other-worlds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=20978","title":{"rendered":"Other Worlds"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I put together a page about a language on Omniglot<\/a>, I discover small parts of other worlds, as each language is a kind of world unto itself. As well as learning a little about the languages , I also learn about the people who speak them, the places they live and bits and pieces of history, politics, and other topics.<\/p>\n

Today, for example, I put together a new page about Bassari<\/a> (o-niyan), a Senegambian language spoken in parts of Senegal, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. While doing this I found out about the language, how it’s written, the people who speak it, and the geography of these countries. I sort of knew where Senegal was, but couldn’t have reliably pointed to Guinea or Guinea-Bissau on a map, and didn’t know anything about them.<\/p>\n

It may not be much, but I find these glimpses into other linguistic worlds very interesting, and this is one of the reasons why I enjoy working on Omniglot. Although I’ll probably never meet people who speak many of the languages I write about, or visit places where they’re spoken, at least I can know something about them and visit them virtually.<\/p>\n

In other news, I have been thinking about making several different programmes under the umbrella of Radio Omniglot<\/a>. So far I’ve been making one longish podcast more or less every month. Then a few months ago I started a new series – Adventures in Etymology<\/a> – a weekly dive into the wonderful world of word origins.<\/p>\n