What was the first language, and what was it like?
Does it still exist? And out of all the languages on earth today, which one is the oldest?
These are tricky questions, and linguists have tricky answers. Linguist Daniel Midgley…
Category: syntax (page 2 of 2)
Why did the computer cross the road?
Linguists are trying to get computers to do very human things: detect humour, recognise irony, and even write jokes. But can computers do funny? What makes something funny, anyway?
Linguist Daniel Midgley hacks …
Do apes have accents?
A recent news story claims that chimps learn a “new language” when they move in with other chimps. What’s behind the story? And what exactly are our fellow primates capable of, language wise?
Linguist Daniel Midgley…
How do children learn language so quickly?
For decades, the prevailing view has been that they’re born with it. But a new breed of linguists is overturning this view with evidence from human evolution, cognition, and actual children.
Among these …
Conlangs — or constructed languages — give a feeling of reality to science fiction.
But constructing or learning a language means you have to know something about the structure of language. What choices are there, and what do you need …
Why do languages have the grammar they do?
For some Australian languages, grammar is shaped by the stuff you’re not supposed to say. Linguist Joe Blythe is finding out about the evolution of language, and challenging one of the biggest …
On every frazzled parent’s reading list is a new children’s book: Go the Fuck to Sleep by Adam Mansbach.
Perhaps you wouldn’t read it to a child, but you might wonder where the f-word comes from, and why we can …
Do bird songs have grammar?
Linguists have supposed that syntactic structure was only found in human language, but now a team of researchers is finding that finches use it in their songs. Does that mean they speak a kind of …
Chaser, a border collie, can recognise the names of over 1,000 objects, and her owner claims she can carry out commands involving verbs and nouns combined.
Is this evidence that animals can use language-like skills?
Linguist Daniel Midgley investigates on …
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