Arts & Humanities

While we’re rapidly approaching the third decade of the 21st century, the world seems weirdly out of whack. A postmodern plurality of everything – lifestyles, identities, interpretations of the world we live in – has led to an unprecedented degree of both personal freedom and a general uneasy feeling of uncertainty. This is the tightrope between boon and bane that members of modern Western society have to walk. Our uncertainty pertains to all aspects of life: Whom should I love? How do I raise my children? What makes me a good person? What should I do with my life?

Why is lingustic archeology so fascinating? What is special about your forthcoming Atlas project? How do polygons and network diagrams help us understand how language works? We talked to Gerd Carling, the editor of “The Mouton Atlas of Languages and Cultures” about her fascination with languages, both modern and ancient.