Research

What Language Does Pain Speak?

A new study suggests that the language a bilingual person speaks may affect their physical sensations, including pain. Researchers at the University of Miami tried to discover if the ways we express feelings, such as...

Speak ‘Parentese’—not Baby Talk—to Boost Language Skills

While having full-on conversations with babies can seem bizarre, it actually boost language skills, according to a new study. Unlike traditional ‘baby talk’, which typically includes talking with a different cadence at a higher tone using incorrect...

Baby Talk Translates Best

In the largest study to date looking at how infants from across the world respond to the different ways adults speak, psychologists found that babies respond best when adults use baby talk (infant-directed speech...

U.S. Guide to Exemplary Language Programs Wins $500K Grant

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a $500,000 grant to support the efforts of the America’s Languages Working Group in building the Guide to Exemplary Programs and Practices in U.S. Language Education—a means...

‘Iconic’ Sounds May Be Missing Link to Language

The missing link that helped our ancestors to begin communicating with each other through language may have been iconic...

Where Do Students Store New Vocabulary?

A study on word learning recently published in Neuropsychologia is shedding light on the age-old question of how language learners’ minds store the target language. Researchers at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile found that...

Potential Genetic Factor in Specific Language Impairment

A team of researchers at the University of Kansas has identified a possible genetic factor underlying specific language impairment (SLI), a communication disorder whose cause has long stumped researchers. SLI typically entails delayed language...

Chimpanzee Lip-Smacks help Trace Evolution of Language

Chimpanzees produce lip-smacks at a speech-like rhythm of open-close mouth cycles, suggesting that speech-rhythm was built upon existing primate signal systems In the paper ‘Chimpanzee lip-smacks confirm primate continuity for speech-rhythm evolution’, published in Biology...
Two young kids sitting on a bright yellow platform reading a big storybook together

No Downside for Bilingual Kids

A first-of-its kind study in U.S.-born children from Spanish-speaking families has found that minority language exposure does not threaten the acquisition of English by children in the U.S. and that there is no trade-off...

Naked Mole Rats Communicate Complexly

Birds, dolphins, and bees are all well-known within the scientific community for their ability to communicate in ways that resemble human language in one manner or another. Now, scientists can add another species to...
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