A team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University has developed an automated method for making communications more polite, using a large dataset of labeled sentences. The system can restructure nonpolite directives or add words to make them more well-mannered, while maintaining the original meaning.
New research reveals that indigenous Tsimane' people, American adults, preschoolers, and macaque monkeys exhibit similar recursion skills, indicating a shared cognitive process for conveying complex commands and ideas.
A new study by University of Warwick researchers shows that UK patients are keen to receive discharge letters when they leave hospital, which could improve patient outcomes and reduce prescribing errors. The study found that most patients want clear, labelled sections and less technical jargon in their discharge letters.
Research at Goethe University Frankfurt reveals that both hemispheres of the brain contribute to speech control, with the left hemisphere handling fast processes and the right hemisphere controlling slower processes. This discovery challenges the long-held assumption that the right hemisphere only analyzes spoken words.
A study by Michigan State University found that language learning apps, such as Babbel, can improve oral communication skills and not just grammar and vocabulary acquisition. Students who used the app for longer periods showed greater improvement in their Spanish language knowledge.
A new study by Katie Welch and Marco Shappeck investigates the prevalence of 'LOL' in students' text messages, highlighting its potential applications in classroom learning. The research demonstrates how linguistic concepts can be effectively incorporated into courses that satisfy basic educational requirements.
Researchers have identified two scenarios in which minority languages can survive: linguistic diversity and mixed speaker populations. By applying mathematical modeling, the authors propose a new framework for understanding language coexistence, shedding light on the complexities of minority language preservation.
Distributional semantics provides radically empirical representations of words' meanings by processing thousands of texts. Research by Gemma Boleda highlights its potential to advance knowledge on how language works, including detecting changes in meaning over time.
Researchers used cognitive science experiments to investigate the potential symbolic function of 40,000-year-old engravings found in South Africa. The findings suggest that these engravings evolved over time to serve an aesthetic purpose and marked group identity.
Researchers question the idea that human language arose instantaneously through a single gene mutation, proposing instead a gradual evolution through accumulation of smaller biological changes. They argue that the cognitive operation Merge, key to human language, evolved gradually over time.
A study by LMU linguists reveals that language learners believe their own pronunciation is better than others', even when they make the same mistakes. This overestimation hinders progress in learning foreign languages, highlighting the importance of external feedback to improve skills.
A new study by UW's Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences found that bilingual teaching led to sustained English-language comprehension and vocabulary-building in infants, regardless of socioeconomic background. Online training enabled the replication of the research-based method globally.
Researchers found that Western sign languages have DNA traces from 5 European locations, including Austrian, British, French, Spanish, and Swedish. The study used genetic techniques to analyze data from dozens of sign languages, revealing a clearer picture of their evolution and historical development.
Researchers mapped emotion words across 2,474 languages to find significant variation in emotional expression across cultures. The human experience of emotions is shaped by both biological evolution and the words used to describe those feelings.
Researchers used a database of 2474 languages to study emotion concepts, revealing wide variation in emotional states but also universal structure constraining these concepts. This study provides evidence for the role of both cultural and biological evolution in shaping human emotions.
The mind composes meanings from separate words through a dynamic interaction between brain regions, using multi-modal cues. Humans and artificial intelligence systems differ in representing meaning, with humans using contextual knowledge and emotional cues.
New research reveals that knowing more about a partner's actions accelerates joint physical task collaboration. Game theory insights inform the development of robots that can interact with humans in a natural, human-like fashion.
A researcher analyzed the frequency and acoustics of belching while speaking in 'Rick and Morty' to uncover latent linguistic meaning. The study found that burps tend to rumble at a low 300 hertz, jitter 4% more than normal speech, and shimmer 15% more.
Researchers discovered that a genetic mutation affecting neural crest cell behavior is linked to docility and facial features in modern humans. This study provides the first empirical validation of the self-domestication hypothesis, suggesting that human evolution led to changes in neural crest cells.
A study by Lobachevsky University researchers found that Russian-speaking students took longer to read sentences with fewer fixations and shorter gaze duration compared to English-speaking students. The results suggest that eye movements are influenced by language-specific features beyond just information density.
Researchers from CNRS disprove theory that Corneille wrote Molière's plays using authorship attribution techniques. Their study finds significant differences in writing habits and speech mannerism between Molière and other authors of the time.
Researchers developed a 'metaphor menu' to help patients describe cancer, avoiding disempowering language. The tool offers quotes and expressions for different stages of illness, targeting patients, carers, and doctors.
A UB researcher's study using 26,000 books suggests that the learning environment plays a significant role in shaping language behavior. The researchers analyzed data from 10 different studies involving over 1,000 participants and found that culture-specific books explained much of the variance in the data.
Research reveals Deaf infants exposed to American Sign Language exhibit advanced eye-gaze behavior, including 'checking-back' cues. This finding suggests social-cognitive development can be shaped by early-life experiences and visual learning ecologies.
A recent survey reveals rich patterns in anthropologists' views on sensitive controversies, with disciplinary subfield, gender, and politics identified as key predictors. The study draws on social intuitionism to interpret the results, suggesting that shared moral intuitions may aid scholars in coming to consensus.
Researchers analyzed Toronto resident Vivian White's diary entries from 1985 to 2016, finding a significant relationship between language changes and cognitive decline. After being diagnosed with Alzheimer's at age 84, White included the first-person pronoun 'I' consistently in her writing.
A recent study led by the University of Hong Kong found that all 17 languages analysed convey information at similar rates, with an average rate of 39 bits per second. This challenges traditional notions of language efficiency and suggests that all human beings share universal cognitive capacities in their language abilities.
A new study found that UK universities highlighting employability in their TEF submissions receive higher grades. Successful submissions mirror the approved language of the guidelines and demonstrate quantitative evidence of improved learning and teaching outcomes.
Researchers identified four patterns of stylistic variation in Trump's tweets: conversational, campaigning, engaging, and advisory. The style shifted systematically depending on communication goals, revealing a systematic campaign ahead of the 2016 US Presidential elections.
Two University of Konstanz researchers, Dr. Damien Farine and Professor George Walkden, have been awarded European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grants to conduct pioneering research on group-living birds and the impact of language contact on grammar. The grants will fund their innovative projects over a five-year period.
A new study by MIT linguist Shigeru Miyagawa and Esther Clarke reveals that Old World monkeys can combine two items in language sequences, but this ability stops at two. Unlike humans, who can recombine terms to create an infinite variety of sequences, the monkeys' language lacks the capacity for greater complexity.
Researchers from the University of Maryland developed a novel approach to generate questions that challenge AI language models. By collaborating with humans and computers, they created a dataset of over 1,200 computer-stumping questions that revealed six different language phenomena consistently stumping computers. This work provides i...
Researchers developed an AI-based system, SpoilerNet, to flag spoilers in online book and TV show reviews. The tool achieved 89-92% accuracy in detecting spoilers, with most errors caused by distracting words.
Researchers found that Republicans tend to focus on breaking news reports and event-specific facts, while Democrats discuss potential policy changes. The study also reveals a stark contrast in emotions expressed by each group, with Republicans showing more fear and disgust, while Democrats express sadness and calls for action.
Researchers from computer science, psychology, mathematics and linguistics work together to develop new methods for processing and representing image information. The project aims to improve the detection of movement in video recordings and explore applications of augmented and virtual reality technologies.
A new software library CGRtools has been developed to improve chemical reaction processing by predicting reaction characteristics, finding optimal conditions, and detecting errors. The library is rich in functionality, supporting molecules and reactions as objects and offering transparent class inheritance.
Researchers discovered that the right hemisphere plays a crucial role in processing foreign speech sounds at the beginning of language learning. Successful learners showed increased activity in the right hemisphere during sound recognition tasks. The study's findings have the potential to improve instructional methods for adult learners.
A professor at Binghamton University analyzed Quebec's criticism of Justin Trudeau's French, finding it stems from linguistic purism and a bias towards monolingual French speakers. Bosworth argues that language is used to position Trudeau as an outsider in Quebec, despite his strong identification with French.
Studies in linguistics and experimental psychology demonstrate that our minds can assign linguistic structure to non-linguistic content on the fly. Gestures and visual animations help researchers understand how inferences are generated, suggesting that all inferential types result from general, productive processes.
A team of scientists at MIT developed a neural network that can read scientific papers and generate a plain-English summary. The system, called RUM, uses vectors rotating in multidimensional space to represent words and improve memory and recall capabilities.
Researchers analyzed 2,400 languages to understand how human diets impact consonant prevalence. A biomechanical model revealed that a shift from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies led to changes in bite configuration and labiodental sound distribution.
A large-scale ancient DNA study reveals that local Y chromosomes were almost completely replaced during the Bronze Age in the Iberian Peninsula. Genetic variation among hunter-gatherers and intermingling with people from North Africa and the Mediterranean provide new insights into the region's history.
Research from the University of Kent reveals that walking simulations are blurring art forms, creating a new genre with stories akin to reading a book. Games like Dear Esther engage players more than traditional video games, making it a fantastic way to tell a story.
Africanists conduct research in Germany, focusing on spontaneous language learning strategies. A joint Bachelor's degree program in African Studies will also be established, combining linguistic expertise with other research branches.
A study examining Twitter language reveals Canadians tend to be polite, using positive words like 'great' and emoticons, while Americans are negative with words like 'hate' and emojis. The findings suggest that national stereotypes are reflected on Twitter despite the lack of accuracy in real-life personality traits.
Researchers used French Sign Language and American Sign Language to analyze the logical structure of spoken language. Sign languages reveal a hidden logical structure that must be inferred indirectly in spoken language, like the sentence 'Sarkozy told Obama that he would be elected'. This study highlights both strengths and limitations...
The Cross-Linguistic Data Formats Initiative sets out proposed guidelines for a standardized format for linguistic databases, providing a software package, basic ontology, and usage examples. This initiative aims to standardize data formats to facilitate sharing and re-use of data in comparative linguistics.
Carnegie Mellon University researchers identified a molecule called BriC that plays a key role in bacterial communication and infection. BriC helps pneumococcus produce biofilms, making infections more robust, but may also be a target to render bacteria more sensitive to antibiotic treatment.
The University of Konstanz has been awarded Excellence funding for two of its three cluster initiatives, including the Politics of Inequality: Perceptions, Participation and Policies and the Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour. This success will enable the university to compete with top universities in Germany and sha...
Researchers analyzed 8.9 billion tweets to track the origin and spread of new words in American English, revealing 5 key regions: West Coast, Northeast, Mid Atlantic, Deep South, and Gulf Coast. African American English was a major source of lexical innovation.
Bilingual individuals exhibit unique brain activity when switching between languages, with increased cognitive control activity during disengagement. In contrast, engaging in a new language comes relatively cost-free from a neurobiological standpoint, suggesting that the burden of language-switching lies in disengagement.
Researchers have created a comprehensive eye-tracking database for reading in Russian, providing insights into how native speakers process texts. The study sheds light on the characteristics of individual languages and has significant implications for diagnosing and correcting speech disorders, as well as determining language proficiency.
Scientists found that the brain re-evaluates speech sound interpretations at the moment subsequent sounds are heard, using surrounding context to narrow possibilities. The brain makes commitments to its best guess after about half a second, demonstrating how context can alter perception even if disambiguating information arrives later.
A new study found that paternal lineages are correlated to vocabulary usage, while maternal lineages are associated with pronunciations in Indo-European languages. Researchers used genetic-linguistic analysis to explore the relationship between Y-chromosome and mtDNA haplogroups and language characteristics.
Volunteers in the Galaxy Zoo project develop extensive expertise about galaxy images and instruments, surprising researchers with their knowledge. Through online discussions, participants learn about artefacts and how to identify them, creating a culture of shared learning.
Researchers have found that demographics and Latino populations shifting in southwest Kansas are leading to linguistic changes in English. Young people, even those who don't speak Spanish, are adopting staccato syllables and vowel pronunciations characteristic of Spanish-speaking communities.
A new study by UC San Francisco scientists reveals how complex articulatory movements are coordinated in the brain during fluent speech. The research found that brain regions responsible for producing speech are organized according to physical needs of the vocal tract, not just linguistic features like phonemes.
A study by MIT researchers found that patterns of eye movement correlate strongly with performance on standardized tests of English as a second language. The study tracked eye movement to determine comprehension, revealing potential for use as a testing tool.
The study found that horses were first domesticated by hunter-gatherer groups in Kazakhstan, leading to the spread of Indo-European languages across Eurasia. The researchers also showed that language spread was not limited to population migration, but also occurred through cultural contact and absorption.
New research reveals that infants have a strong preference for vocal sounds from their peers, even before they can babble. This discovery sheds light on how infants develop their understanding of spoken language, suggesting that access to infant speech plays a significant role in shaping their speech development.