Shakespeare invented over 1,700 words still in use today, including 'bedroom', 'lonely', and 'generous'.

Sanskrit has the most perfect grammatical structure ever analyzed by linguists.

The alphabet is a Greek invention — the Greeks added vowels to the Phoenician consonant alphabet around 800 BC.

Emoji are increasingly studied as a form of paralanguage — they provide emotional context to text.

Loanwords are borrowed from other languages — 'kindergarten,' 'safari,' 'pajama,' and 'robot' are all loanwords in English.

The word 'trivia' comes from the Latin trivium — the three subjects taught at medieval crossroads schools.

The word 'freelance' comes from medieval mercenaries who offered their lances ('free lances') for hire.

The word 'nice' once meant 'foolish' in English — its meaning gradually softened over centuries.

There are approximately 7,000 languages spoken in the world — about half are expected to disappear by the end of the century.