It’s relatively easy to trace a written linguistic history—there’s generally a lot of written documentation and records to study. Things get trickier, however, when attempting to examine a sign language’s evolution. Most transformations within the currently over 300 known sign languages (or SLs) around the world occurred sans text over generations of learners. Add in […]
Over 2,000 languages originate in Africa, but natural language processing programs support very few of them. Advocates hope to change that.
It might sound daunting but even as adults, we’re perfectly capable of learning two languages simultaneously. This is how to go about it.
Researchers studied brain activity in two bilingual groups: those who learned English and Chinese and those who learned English and French.
Learning a language is hard. If you’re studying Spanish, English, French, Japanese, or German, use these pronunciation tips to sound a bit more local.
In a study using human-language AIs like Google LaMDA, people confused fluency with deeper thought, exposing shallow listening across our species.
European linguists collected 900 hours of chimpanzee calls in Côte d’Ivoire and found 400 distinct phrases or “words.”
Duolingo will offer lessons for learning Haitian Creole, adding to a library of languages including French, Japanese, Navajo, and Yiddish.
Baby seals have an innate ability to play with pitch, especially when there’s a lot of noise around them, without being taught by others.
The high-pitched gibberish that constitutes baby talk plays an important role in language development for kids—and other young animals.
