Are we hard-wired for language?
New studies have found that infants (and even adults) seem predisposed to certain combinations of sounds and words. But is this evidence for innateness, or is there another explanation?
Linguist Daniel Midgley takes us into …
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 …
Is it octopuses or octopi? What about mongooses? Are they mongeese?
Sure, you can use plural –s, but do you know your way around the unusual plurals of English?
Have no fear — linguist Daniel …
Will the Internet save minority languages, or kill them?
Many small languages lack an online presence, as only a handful of languages dominate the Web. On the other hand, we’ve never had so many tools to include other languages in …
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 …
How do you convince others of your views when the facts are overwhelmingly against you?
If you’re one of the many hoaxers, cranks, and denialists out there, you use language. What rhetorical tactics do they rely on, and how can …
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 …
Humanity, we may have a problem.
Computers are getting good at imitating us. How good? Good enough to fool us into accepting their scientific papers and their robocalls. Might they have already passed the Turing Test? And what are bots …
Humanity, we may have a problem.
Computers are getting good at imitating us. How good? Good enough to fool us into accepting their scientific papers and their robocalls. Might they have already passed the Turing Test? And what are bots …
Search engines help us find what we’re looking for. So when governments put pressure on search companies, the results can be sinister.
A cyber-monitoring group says Microsoft’s Bing is squelching politically sensitive topics. What are their responsibilities, and what can …
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