Key expert of Lakota language passed away

Teacher and author Albert White Hat was the man who kept the Native American Lakota language alive. This endangered language is only spoken by some 6000 people, yet it has a rich, varied and fascinating vocabulary with many words that have complex and nearly untranslatable meaning that can only be explained by whole sentences. Here is a short list of the most outstanding phrases.

In computer programming, one way to make the program code of a software more efficient is to make it more compact yet preserve its transparency. Natural languages work pretty much the same way. If the vocabulary of a language contains words with complex and nuanced meanings, users of that language are able to express their thoughts and feelings in a more intelligible and sophisticated fashion. This can have an impact on many aspects of life including relationships, professional life, arts and scientific progress as well. Based on this assumption, is it possible that the late success story of India can partly be attributed to the complexity and profusion of its ancient language, Sanskrit?

Read more fascinating words from all around the world here and practice Wabi-Sabi whenever you can.

Rock art reveals prehistoric American cosmology

Researchers from the University of Tennessee examined 94 rock art sites in the Cumberland Plateau, a section of the Appalachian Mountains. Carvings and paintings of these sites were created by different tribes of prehistoric Native Americans some 6000 years ago. Researchers came to the conclusion that these tribes had a unified three-layered cosmological view, similar to the "heaven-earth-hell" concept of European and Asian cults and religions.

It is interesting to see that ancient societies, although spatially isolated, came up with similar theories in cosmology. Is it possible that these belief systems are the results of natural human intuition?

Read more here.