Category: language acquisition (page 5 of 5)

82: Fast Learners

7 August 2012 / / Comments Off on 82: Fast Learners

Babies are fast learners when it comes to language.

New research reveals that they can distinguish speech sounds and understand the intentions of other speakers, before they’ve even learned how to talk. But how do you test a baby’s skills? …

77: Robot Baby

3 July 2012 / / Comments Off on 77: Robot Baby

Computers are terrible at learning language. Would they be any better if they learned it like humans have to?

A team of computer scientists has built a ‘robot baby’ that is interacting with people and learning to speak. Ground-breaking, or …

75: Gorilla Baby-Talk

19 June 2012 / / Comments Off on 75: Gorilla Baby-Talk

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 …

43: Um

11 October 2011 / / Comments Off on 43: Um

You say it many times a day, whether you notice it or not. It’s “um”.

Far from being just a conversation-filler, it can make you a better speaker, and may even help children learn new words.

Linguist Daniel Midgley will …

23: Bilingualism in Schools

17 May 2011 / / Comments Off on 23: Bilingualism in Schools

Victorian schools are placing a new emphasis on bilingual education.

Premier Ted Baillieu wants to make second language learning compulsory for most students starting in 2015. But this is just another in a long line of language learning efforts. Why …

15: Baby Talk

15 March 2011 / / Comments Off on 15: Baby Talk

When MIT scientist Deb Roy’s first child was born, he did what any proud father would do: he rigged his house up with cameras and microphones to capture every phase of his child’s language development.

What are we learning about …

14: Bilingualism and Alzheimer’s

8 March 2011 / / Comments Off on 14: Bilingualism and Alzheimer’s

New research reveals that speaking a second language doesn’t just make you more interesting — it also holds off the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

How does it work? And which second language is right for you?

Linguist Daniel Midgley is …

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