Linguists are discovering signed languages in unexpected places.
Created where there are high rates of congenital deafness, these village sign languages are challenging traditional ideas about how humans do language. What can they teach us about language and the mind?…
Children seem to soak up language, even the things we’d rather they not say.
What do you do about your child’s swearing? And does using sign language help babies talk earlier?
Linguist Daniel Midgley is down with the kids on …
How did language begin? What was it like long ago?
Did we come up with meaningful utterances first and then break them down, or did we build language from the words up? Did other pre-humans have language?
Researchers are working …
Emotions are fleeting. But when they’re captured in language, we can study how they spread from person to person, and even through time.
What impact does the emotional language of others have on you? And how many emotions are there …
Pointing at stuff is something every human understands.
A new study shows that for babies, pointing bridges the gap between communication and language. Could pointing have kickstarted language? And do any other animals do it?
Linguist Daniel Midgley gets to …
Last week saw two political exchanges on the world scene — Julia Gillard’s denunciation of misogyny in Australia, and Joe Biden’s performance in the US Vice Presidential debate.
The two exchanges were notable for their words, but also for their …
How did language start?
It’s a difficult question, since language doesn’t leave fossils. But by getting experimental volunteers to act out concepts, Dr Nicolas Fay is building evidence for one of the major views on language origins. What can we …
Apes don’t have language, but they do gesture.
They’ve even been observed using a special form of gesture with their young. Could it be primate baby-talk? What can we learn from our nearest relatives about how our language started?
Linguist …
The middle finger was in the news this week as M.I.A. flipped the bird during a US Super Bowl halftime performance.
What is it about this gesture that makes it obscene? How long has it been around? And what else …
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