- Isolated for six months, scientists in Antarctica began to develop their own accent -- BBC Future (23 February 2024)
- US cancer patient developed ‘uncontrollable’ Irish accent, doctors say -- The Guardian (16 February 2023)
- Naur, yeah: Australia, you’re performing linguistic magic when you pronounce the two-letter word ‘no’. Here’s why -- Guardian (13 December 2022)
- How our brains cope with speaking more than one language -- BBCFuture (19 July 2022)
- How extroverts super-sized the English language -- The Guardian (13 May 2021)
- The harmful ableist language you unknowingly use -- BBCworklife (05 April 2021)
- Which Language for Local Food in Wallonie? -- FoodAnthropology (03 February 2020)
- Do we think differently in different languages? -- BBCideas (24 October 2019)
- Could language be the key to detecting fake news? -- The Guardian (02 September 2019)
- 10 types of people English can’t name The character traits that are missing from the English language -- BBCNews (15 November 2018)
- What is the best age to learn a language? -- BBCfuture (25 October 2018)
- Switzerland's Invisible Linguistic Boarders -- BBCtravel (26 March 2018)
- How sausage flavors the German Language -- BBCtravel (03 January 2018)
- New Study Examines the Vocabulary Networks of Six-Month-Old Babies -- The Scout Report, November 24, 2017, Volume 23, Number 47
"A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday suggests that six-month-old babies have already formed vocabulary networks, recognizing that certain words have similar meanings. In this study, conducted by Duke University psychologist Elika Bergelson and University of Rochester psychologist Richard Aslin, 51 six-month-old babies were shown a series of two images next to each other. Each image depicted a simple noun that would be recognizable to the baby. As babies were shown each pair, their parents said a sentence that included one of the two nouns, and researchers watched to see how the baby would respond. The team found that when given two images with distinct meanings (such as a bottle and a nose) babies focused on the image that correlated with the word they heard. However, when given the image of two objects with related meanings (such as a mouth and a nose), babies were more likely to look at the wrong image. Earlier studies have illustrated that toddlers and older children (as well as adults) have vocabulary networks, and this study suggests that babies may start to form such networks very early in life. [MMB]
The first three links take readers to summaries of this new research, authored by Rachel Gutman of The Atlantic, Nicola Davis of The Guardian and Laura Sanders of Science News's Growth Curve Blog. The other three links offer readers a glimpse into other research efforts regarding children's language acquisition. In a short video for Big Think, psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker explains the concept of "universal grammar" in young children. The next link is a 2010 TED Talk by Patricia Kuhl, Professor of Speech and Hearing Sciences at the University of Washington, which explores how babies under one develop the "statistics of language" by distinguishing between different sounds. As her talk explains, the statistics of language help explain why babies and young children can absorb multiple languages with greater ease than adults. Finally, the last link takes readers to a 2011 lecture by Barbara Lust about her research into children's language acquisition. Lust is a professor at Cornell University's College of Human Ecology, and her talk is made available courtesy of the university's CornellCast." -- The Scout Report, November 24, 2017, Volume 23, Number 47
- Um, uh, huh? Are these words clues to understanding human language? -- MPRnews (23 November 2017)
- What the German language reveals about attitudes to work -- BBCcapital (23 October 2017)
- Having a beer does help you speak a foreign language on holiday, study shows -- The Sun (19 October 2017)
- The Power of Categories, Invisibilia--NPR, The Scout Report, Volume 23, Number 25, 23 June 2017
- ‘Make America big again’? The headache of translating Trump into foreign languages -- The Washington Post (23 January 2017)
- 'Whatever' is the most annoying word for the 8th year in a row -- Maggie Penman, MPRNews (22 December 2016)
- Why bees could be the secret to superhuman intelligence -- BBCfuture (15 December 2016)
- Why 'nude', 'exotic', and 'tribal' are controversial -- BBCculture (14 November 2016)
- An ex-FBI interrogator's tips on handling debate lies -- BBCNews (06 October 2016)
- Semantics?—?What does data science reveal about Clinton and Trump ? -- Maixent Chenebaux, Reputation Squad (05 October 2016)
- Why Do We Love to Curse So Much? -- The New York Times (26 September 2016)
- Bonfire of the theories: Wolfe battles Chomsky over roots of language -- The Guardian (10 September 2016)
- Evidence Rebuts Chomsky's Theory of Language Learning -- Scientific American (07 September 2016)
- The Brain Assigns Symbolism to Inanimate Objects -- ScienceNordic (07 September 2016)
- Moist. Probe. Crevice: Why Do We Hate Certain Words? -- LiveScience (23 August 2016)
- Most adults know more than 42,000 words -- ScienceDaily (16 August 2016)
- This Is Your Brain on Sentences -- ScienceDaily (15 August 2016)
- 'Cultural Learners' in the Cradle -- ScienceDaily (10 August 2016)
- Why Being Bilingual Works Wonders for Your Brain -- Guardian (17 August 2016)
- Beyond “Mama” and “Dada”: Why Babies Learn Certain Words -- Scientific American (13 July 2016)
- The Magic of "Untranslatable" Words -- Scientific American (12 July 2016)
- A Language Where Space Has No Directions -- ScienceDaily (11 July 2016)
- The secret to stopping your ‘ummms’ -- BBCcapital (16 June 2016)
- Success in Second Language Learning Linked to Genetic and Brain Measures -- ScienceDaily (13 June 2016)
- Baby talk words with repeated sounds help infants learn language -- ScienceDaily (27 May 2016)
- Powerful Role of Experience in Linking Language and Cognition in Infants -- ScienceDaily (23 May 2016)
- Why Children Confuse Simple Words -- ScienceDaily (23 May 2016)
- Words, More Words ... and Statistics -- ScienceDaily (17 May 2016)
- Bilingual Babies Learn Languages Faster Than Monolingual Babies -- ScienceDaily (16 May 2016)
- This man had no idea his mind is ‘blind’ until last week -- BBCfuture (25 May 2016)
- Everyday Words That Make You Go ‘Ew’ -- New York Times (11 May 2016)
- The two word games that trick almost everyone -- BBCfuture (05 May 2016)
- Brain's 'atlas' of words revealed -- BBC News (27 April 2016)
- Do We Judge Distance Based on How a Word Sounds? -- EurekAlert (18 April 2016)
- Laughter’s Evolutionary Past -- Science 2.0 (15 April 2016)
- These People Have a Mind-Bending Way to Navigate -- National Geographic News (13 April 2016)
- Read My Lips: What Your Voice Reveals About You -- Guardian (13 April 2016)
- Speaking Two Languages for the Price of One -- ScienceDaily (07 April 2016)
- Bilingual Baby Brains Show Increased Activity in Executive Function Regions -- ScienceDaily (04 April 2016)
- Who’s ‘They’? -- New York Times (29 March 2016)
- New Book Explores Grand Riddles of Human Language -- EurekAlert (01 March 2016)
- Lethologica: When a word’s on the tip of your tongue -- BBCFutrue (09 February 2016)
- Speaking Just One Language May Improve Insight and Judgement -- Telegraph (29 February 2016)
- Do speakers of different languages hear music differently? -- ScienceDaily (24 February 2016)
- Language juggling rewires bilingual brain in a good way -- ScienceDaily (13 February 2016)
- Students should learn second language to prevent dementia in later life -- Telegraph (15 February 2016)
- Prelinguistic infants can categorize colors -- ScienceDaily (10 February 2016)
- Practice Makes Perfect: Switching Between Languages Pays Off -- ScienceDaily (03 February 2016)
- Difficult Grammar Affects Music Experience -- ScienceDaily (03 February 2016)
- Study Suggests Different Written Languages Are Equally Efficient at Conveying Meaning -- ScienceDaily (01 February 2016)
- Deciphering the Language of the Brain -- Scientific American (31 January 2016)
- Why Some People Find Learning a Language Harder Than Others -- Telegraph (19 January 2016)
- Human sounds convey emotions clearer and faster than words -- ScienceDaily (18 January 2016)
- Interaction During Reading Is Key to Language Development -- ScienceDaily (08 January 2016)
- Debate Rages over Whether Speaking a Second Language Improves Cognition -- Scientific American (30 December 2015)
- Turn-taking in communication may be more ancient than language -- ScienceDaily (18 Deember 2015)
- Chitchat, small talk could serve an evolutionary need to bond with others -- ScienceDaily (14 Deember 2015)
- Chomsky Was Right: We Do Have a 'Grammar' in Our Head -- ScienceDaily (07 December 2015)
- Do Bilingual People Have a Cognitive Advantage? -- Discover (04 December 2015)
- First Language Wires Brain for Later Language-Learning -- ScienceDaily (01 December 2015)
- Beyond 'he' and 'she': The rise of non-binary pronouns -- BBCNews (07 December 2015)
- From Whong to Quingel: The Science of Funny Words -- Guardian (26 November 2015)
- Bilingual people twice as likely to recover from a stroke -- The Telegraph (19 November 2015)
- Recognizing the basic structure of language is not unique to the human brain -- ScienceDaily (17 November 2015)
- The Roots of Language: What Makes Us Different From Other Animals? -- Guardian (05 November 2015)
- What the [beep]? Infants Link New Communicative Signals to Meaning -- ScienceDaily (02 November 2015)
- Chopin, Bach Used Human Speech ‘Cues’ to Express Emotion in Music -- ScienceDaily (02 November 2015)
- Singing Calms Baby Longer Than Talking -- ScienceDaily (28 October 2015)
- Babies' babbles reflect their own involvement in language development -- ScienceDaily (22 October 2015)
- Some Rules of Language are Wired in the Brain -- Scientific American (20 October 2015)
- Babies Move Tongue to Learn New Tongues -- Scientific American (15 October 2015)
- Languages less arbitrary than long assumed -- ScienceDaily (01 October 2015)
- Our Environment Shapes Our Language -- ScienceDaily (30 September 2015)
- The Art Behind the Perfect Pause -- ScienceNordic (25 September 2015)
- Not All Rhythmic Skills Are Related, Which May Have Implications for Language Ability -- ScienceDaily (16 September 2015)
- Language Acquisition: From Sounds to the Meaning -- ScienceDaily (02 September 2015)
- Reading Emotions in a Second Language -- ScienceDaily (01 September 2015)
- The Coddling of the American Mind -- Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, The Atlantic, September 2015
- Why do some people refer to themselves in the third person? -- BBCNews (28 August 2015)
- At the Origin of Language Structure -- ScienceDaily (27 August 2015)
- Bilingualism and the Brain: How Language Shapes Our Ability to Process Information -- ScienceDaily (24 August 2015)
- Whistled Turkish challenges notions about language and the brain -- ScienceDaily (17 August 2015)
- Grammar: Eventually the Brain Opts for the Easy Route -- ScienceDaily (13 August 2015)
- The Neurophysiology of Language Processing Shapes the Evolution of Grammar: Evidence from Case Marking -- PLoS ONE (12 August 2015)
- Is This How Language Evolved? -- LiveScience (05 August 2015)
- How language gives your brain a break -- ScienceDaily (03 August 2015)
- Babies' Brains Show That Social Skills Linked to Second Language Learning -- ScienceDaily (27 July 2015)
- Mum's the Word: Maternal Language Has Strong Effect on Children's Social Skills -- ScienceDaily (27 July 2015)
- Discovered: The Unique Feature That Makes Human Screams So Awful -- New Scientist (16 July 2015)
- Bilinguals of Two Spoken Languages Have More Gray Matter Than Monolinguals -- ScienceDaily (16 July 2015)
- Explore This Map of 13 Centuries Worth of English Metaphors -- Smithsonian (15 July 2015)
- How do babies learn to talk? -- MPRNews (07 July 2015)
- The writers who invented languages -- BBC News (06 July 2015)
- Redrawing the Language Map of the Brain -- ScienceDaily (25 June 2015)
- Phablets and Fauxhawks: The Linguistic Secrets of a Good Blended Word -- Guardian (29 May 2015)
- Babies Can Think Before They Can Speak -- ScienceDaily (27 May 2015)
- Baby Talk: Babies Prefer Listening to Their Own Kind -- ScienceDaily (12 May 2015)
- Say What? How the Brain Separates Our Ability to Talk and Write -- ScienceDaily (05 May 2015)
- The mind-bending effects of foreign accent syndrome -- BBCFuture (13 Mfay 2015)
- Mapping Language in the Brain -- Science Daily (16 April 2015)
- Why Can’t English Speakers Say What They Smell? -- Guardian (31 March 2015)
- English speakers, you stink at identifying smells -- New Scientist (30 March 2015)
- Speaking a Second Language May Change How You See the World -- Science (17 March 2015)
- Metaphor usage highlights social bonds and increases understanding of others' emotions -- ScienceDaily (12 March 2015)
- Now algorithms are deciding whom to hire, based on voice -- MPRNews (24 March 2015)
- Secrets to learning a language -- BBC (3 March 2015)
- F-bombs notwithstanding, all languages skew toward happiness: Universal human bias for positive words -- Science Daily (09 February 2015)
- Spanish is the Happiest Language; Chinese, Not So Much -- Science (09 February 2015)
- Why Cambodians Never Get 'Depressed' -- NPR (02 February 2015)
- Saying 'Ow' Really Can Ease Pain -- Telegraph (01 February 2015)
- Mothers Don't Speak So Clearly to Their Babies -- Science Daily (23 January 2015)
- Essentialism in Kids: Bilingualism Changes Beliefs -- Science 2.0 (13 January 2015)
- Research Studies Role Native Language Plays in Processing Words in New Languages -- EurekAlert (16 December 2014)
- 'Bilingual Advantage' in Cognition Isn't Based on Evidence -- Science 2.0 (07 December 2014)
- The Majority of Languages Do Not Have Gendered Pronouns -- Pacific Standard (17 October 2014)
- Word 'Edges' Are Important for Language Acquisition -- Science Daily (08 September 2014)
- French or Chinese? Whichever You Learn, It's Cultural Subtleties That Count -- Guardian (04 December 2013)
- What the Language You Speak Says About You -- Pacific Standard (03 December 2013)
- Researchers Map Brain Areas Vital to Understanding Language
- Sex of Speaker Affects Listener Language Processing
- Toddlers Can Learn Verbs Even in Non-Social Contexts -- ScienceDaily (14 November 2013)
- Universals of Conversation: Words Like 'Huh?' -- ScienceDaily (09 November 2013)
- Talking Directly to Toddlers Boosts Their Verbal Skills -- LiveScience (22 October 2013)
- Sexist Language: It's Every Man for Him or Herself -- Guardian (18 October 2013)
- Are Gender-Neutral Pronouns Actually Doomed? -- Pacific Standard (08 October 2013)
- Understanding How Infants Acquire New Words Across Cultures -- ScienceDaily (27 September 2013)
- Moving to the Rhythm 'Can Help Language Skills' -- BBC News (17 September 2013)
- Think Twice, Speak Once: Bilinguals Process Both Languages Simultaneously -- ScienceDaily (10 September 2013)
- Babies Perk Up to Sounds of Ancient Hazards -- Science News (09 September 2013)
- How We're Herded by Language -- Guardian (06 September 2013)
- Language and Tool-Making Skills Evolved at the Same Time -- ScienceDaily (03 September 2013)
- Shared Brain Lateralization Patterns in Language and Acheulean Stone Tool Production: A Functional Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound Study -- PLoS ONE (30 August 2013)
- Enough With Baby Talk — Infants Learn From Lemur Screeches, Too -- NPR (02 September 2013)
- Learning a New Language Alters Brain Development -- ScienceDaily (29 August 2013)
- Babies Learn Words Before Birth -- Science News (26 August 2013)
- Language Boosts Invisible Objects Into Visual Awareness -- Guardian (12 August 2013)
- Singing Can Help When Learning a Foreign Language -- Telegraph (18 July 2013)
- Inner Speech Speaks Volumes About the Brain -- ScienceDaily (16 July 2013)
- How Do Bilingual Babies Separate the Languages? -- Guardian (16 July 2013)
- Bilingual Children Have a Two-Tracked Mind -- ScienceDaily (15 July 2013)
- How Bilinguals Switch Between Languages -- ScienceDaily (20 May 2013)
- How Can We Stlil Raed Words Wehn Teh Lettres Are Jmbuled Up? -- ScienceDaily (15 March 2013)
- Bringing Up Bilingual, Bigoted Baby -- Pacific Standard (14 March 2013)
- Secrets of Human Speech Uncovered -- ScienceDaily (20 February 2013)
- Bilingual Children Have a Better 'Working Memory' Than Monolingual Children -- ScienceDaily (20 February 2013)
- How Bilingual Babies Keep Languages Separate -- LiveScience (15 February 2013)
- Roots of Language in Human and Bird Biology: Genes Activated for Human Speech Similar to Ones Used by Singing Songbirds -- ScienceDaily (14 February 2013)
- There Really are 50 Eskimo Words for ‘Snow’ -- Washington Post (14 January 2013)
- Early Bilingualism Improves Thinking in Old Age -- LiveScience (08 January 2013)
- Pronunciation of 'S' Sounds Impacts Perception of Gender, Researcher Finds -- ScienceDaily (14 January 2013)
- Language Learning Begins in Utero, Study Finds; Newborn Memories of Oohs and Ahs Heard in the Womb -- Science Daily (02 January 2013)
- New Study of How Gaelic Affects Brain Functions -- BBC News (20 December 2012)
- Emotion in Voices Helps Capture Listener's Attention, but in the Long Run the Words Are Not Remembered as Accurately -- ScienceDaily (11 December 2012)
- Mental Imagery Gives Language Meaning -- New Scientist (30 October 2012)
- Applying Information Theory to Linguistics -- EurekAlert (10 October 2012)
- Theory: Music Underlies Language Acquisition -- EurekAlert (18 September 2012)
- Capacity for language implied by right-handedness in Neanderthals -- Past Horizons (08 September 2012)
- Increases in Individualistic Words and Phrases in American Books, 1960–2008 -- PLoS ONE (10 July 2012)
- Books Increasingly Show It’s All About Me -- Pacific Standard (11 July 2012)
- Science Weekly podcast: Daniel Everett on language [Science Weekly podcast ]
-- Daniel Everett, The Guardian (08 April 2012)
- Speakers of a Tone Language Show Improved Pitch Perception -- EurekAlert (11 April 2012)
- Baboons recognise words on a screen -- BBC News (12 April 2012)
- Bilingual Children Switch Tasks Faster Than Speakers of a Single Language -- EurekAlert (03 April 2012)
- How Immersion Helps to Learn a Language -- New York Times (02 April 2012)
- Brain's Involvement in Processing Depends on Language's Graphic Symbols -- EurekAlert (21 March 2012)
- Are Some Brains Better at Learning Languages? -- Discovery News (19 March 2012)
- Why Bilinguals Are Smarter -- New York Times (17 March 2012)
- QWERTY effect: How typing may shape meaning of words -- NewScientist (08 March 2012)
- Through the Language Glass: Does the language you speak affect or reflect how you perceive and think about the world? [Book Review] -- Guardian (06 March 2012)
- Gendered Grammar Linked to Global Sexism -- LiveScience (21 February 2012)
- English Is an Optimistic Language, Study Suggests -- LiveScience (23 January 2012)
- The Advantage of Ambiguity in Language -- EurekAlert (19 January 2012)
- Gossip Can Have Social and Psychological Benefits-- EurekAlert (17 January 2012)
- We May Be Less Happy, But Our Language Isn't -- EurekAlert (12 January 2012)
- Can you really judge a culture on its metaphors? -- The Telegraph (11 June 2011)
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