By Nancy Battick American Ancestors’ weekly e-zine recently posed a survey question regarding ancestral languages. They asked ...

AS WITH spoken languages, there is no “universal” sign language. Different countries have their own versions, which are related to local cultural and religious backgrounds. For example, American Sign ...

When speakers of different languages meet, their words, sounds and even grammatical structures mingle in surprising ways. Ketchup, for example, may be an American staple today, but its name entered ...

Turkey tops the list with Wikipedia entries in 332 different languages, while the US is second with 327 and Japan is third with 324. Other common words make their appearance as one looks down the list ...

Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global. By Laura Spinney. Bloomsbury; 352 pages; $29.99. William Collins; £22 Dante did like a category. Famously, he split sinners into different circles in Hell.