Koko the Gorilla has passed away.
Koko was claimed to have learned words through modified sign language, and even spoken English. But how do these claims stack up? What was she able to do, and what does this teach us …
Category: animal communication (page 2 of 4)
Just how feasible is a pet translator?
A report from a futurologist is claiming that we’re only ten years away from having deep and meaningfuls with our puppers and kittehs. But there might be some technical hurdles — including the …
Why don’t monkeys talk to us?
New research tells us that if our primate cousins don’t do language, it’s not because of their vocal tracts. Those appear to be speech-ready. So if the voice is good to go, what’s the …
The biggest idea in linguistics is back on the table.
Is there such a thing as the Universal Grammar? Do you have to have a human brain to learn language, or is learning a language just like learning anything else? …
Can our furry friends understand what we’re saying?
Before the Talk the Talk team can say no (like every other time), a very special listener wants us to consider the case for animals and language.
Listener Monica speaks with Daniel…
Where’s the language in your brain? Researchers have constructed a kind of brain atlas, showing the patterns of neural activation when we hear words.
And Klingon is at the centre of a legal battle. Can a language be under copyright — …
Other animals don’t have language like we do, but some of them might be getting awfully close.
A recent experiment claims that some birds use a form of syntax — that they combine their signals in a way that’s always …
Hinglish. It’s not Hindi. It’s not English. So what is it?
It’s a hybrid language spoken by about 350 million Indian people. And it’s getting bigger all the time. But what’s it like, and what function does it have for …
226: Shakespeare in Translation 2 (featuring Celeste Rodriguez Louro, Migdalia Cruz, and Taylor Mac)
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival has commissioned all Shakespeare’s plays to be translated into contemporary English.
But how does one go about updating the words of the Bard? Does this task belong to playwrights, or to linguists?
Linguist Daniel Midgley speaks …
Is there anything that all human languages have in common?
With all the diversity in the world’s languages, a true universal is hard to find. But new research has unearthed a principle involving the distances between words, and this discovery …
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Awards
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- CBAA Awards 2018: Best Radio Program — Talk
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- Talkley Award 2018
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