Articles tagged with Linguistics
The ECNU Review of Education special issue examines the benefits and challenges of collaborative education, shedding light on issues like racism, neoliberalism's impact on education, and effective teaching strategies.
Researchers found that infants differentiate sounds based on neighboring sounds and vowel durations. Their study suggests that babies can learn the speech contrasts of their language through naturalistic speech data.
A study published in Early Education and Development journal found that preschoolers with stronger vocabulary skills at the start of the year display more positive engagement with teachers and peers. The researchers also discovered that inhibitory control is crucial for classroom engagement and learning.
Research by University of Cambridge academics found that children as old as five or six struggle to reconcile inference and perspective, leading to difficulties in conversations. Combining these skills is crucial for understanding 'implicatures' - inferences made in conversation when people mean more than they say.
The study found that the use of comics for humour, visual-verbal interplay, informality, simple narrative plots, and exaggerated personalities contributed to the campaign's enduring success. The researchers argue that humour is a powerful discursive strategy to educate the public, making content relatable while addressing taboo topics.
An interdisciplinary team has created a large public database of standardized wordlists for over 2000 language varieties, providing insights into the structure of human languages. The data reveals patterns of independent parallel evolution in linguistic diversity, with many languages using similar words for related concepts.
A new framework for classifying content and trigger warnings has been developed based on analysis of 32 countries and 10 different sectors. The framework categorizes warnings by theme (e.g. violence, language) and media type.
A study by Tokyo University of Science researchers used WCNs with increasing n values to find features of language that cannot be analyzed using existing WCNs. They found important features in networks with more than three co-occurrences, independent of text data.
Researchers observed that English accounted for 61% of time, while Spanish had 39%, indicating a greater proportion of corrections were made when speaking in English. This study highlights the need for balanced tasks that consider these differences to benefit both students learning English and Spanish.
A new study by researchers at New York University found that people tend to prioritize men when referring to individuals in general. The study analyzed over 630 billion words from internet web pages using artificial intelligence tools to measure word meanings.
The Volkswagen Foundation has awarded €1 million to support the development of Sorbian Studies, a small discipline. The project aims to strengthen this field through digitalization and interdisciplinary collaboration, resulting in enhanced language courses, study materials, and digital resources.
A new study by Thomas Pepinsky challenges the idea that language shapes thought and behavior, finding no evidence that linguistic differences affect social and economic outcomes. The study reveals that statistical methodologies used in previous research are prone to producing false positives.
Research suggests that using language to label innovations as 'new and different' is a key strategy for software companies. Category innovation was found to be associated with firms' likelihood of initial public offerings (IPO), suggesting it's part of successful firm strategies.
New research at MU shows that women's use of humor is perceived differently than men's, with factors like status and target influencing judgments. Women who use humor directed towards a man are seen as positive, but those targeting a lower-status woman are viewed negatively.
A new study found that people's pronunciation of certain words changes after hearing a southern-accented talker, even if they didn't hear the actual sound. Participants who had never lived in the U.S. south still converged on a southern-like pronunciation, suggesting that expectations about accents shape our speech.
A new MIT study found that lawyers' frequent use of long definitions in sentences makes legal texts difficult for non-lawyers to understand. Center-embedding, a common feature of legal writing, was the biggest contributor to comprehension difficulty. The researchers suggest reducing center-embedding and simplifying jargon to improve ac...
A study from MIT and UC Berkeley found a relationship between Tsimane' individuals' counting ability and their success in matching tasks up to 25. The researchers suggest that representing exact quantities larger than four requires words for those numbers.
Researchers compared preprints to their final publications and found that over 83% of COVID-19 and 93% of non-COVID related life sciences articles do not change from their preprint to final published versions. A machine learning tool also recommends potential journals for linguistically similar articles.
The HTRC will create a framework for researchers to build and implement their own tools to access the HathiTrust data more directly. The project aims to enable users to interact with the rich data extracted from the HathiTrust Digital Library's collection of over 17.5 million digitized volumes.
A new study found that nearly four times as many words describing rough surfaces contain the trilled /r/ sound compared to smooth ones. This pattern is prevalent across sensory words in 38 Indo-European languages and has likely existed for over six millennia.
Researchers studied evacuees from Finland during WWII and found that cultural similarities, such as language and social networks, were crucial for successful migrations. Being younger, male, educated, and linguistically similar to the host population also increased the likelihood of staying in a new home.
A recent study found that gender bias in linguistics textbooks has not changed since 1997, with male protagonists appearing twice as often as female ones and being associated with more prominent roles. The study suggests that implicit biases against women are perpetuated in language education.
A study of the Vai script found that it became visually simpler with each passing year, as letters were designed for efficient reading and writing. This pattern of simplification can be observed in other ancient writing systems, suggesting a predictable evolutionary process.
Researchers at University of Rochester Medical Center found that the brain processes attended and unattended speech differently, converting attended speech into linguistic units for understanding. This study contributes to developing better wearable devices, such as hearing aids.
Two studies published in Language reveal persistent gender bias in both peer-reviewed journal articles and course materials used in linguistics. Linguistics textbooks exhibit male-gendered protagonists more often, while research articles show stereotypes about men and women, with non-binary identities absent.
A new study from Pusan National University suggests that phonological awareness (PA) and phonics instruction can significantly improve the reading skills of English language learners. The meta-analysis of 46 studies found a moderate effect of PA and phonics on word reading, but a larger impact on pseudo-word reading.
A new UniSA study is helping protect children from online predators by investigating language and behaviors used to gain unacquainted children's trust. The research aims to deliver new linguistic indicators to monitor, identify, and apprehend suspects.
Researchers have identified a common genetic component among speakers of Transeurasian languages, tracing their origin to the beginning of millet cultivation. The 'Farming Hypothesis' suggests that early farmers spread these languages across Northeast Asia, with speakers later admixing with other populations.
Researchers at the University of California, Davis and the University of Texas at Dallas found that listeners can reliably identify the gender of individual children as young as 5. They also discovered that identification of gender must take place jointly with the identification of age and likely physical size.
Researchers discovered that the majority of people worldwide exhibit the 'bouba/kiki effect', matching sounds with shapes, regardless of language or writing system. This finding suggests that iconic vocalisations may form a global basis for creating new words.
Researchers from HSE School of Linguistics and Centre for Language and Brain conducted an experiment to understand how language speakers perceive polysemous words. The proximity of figurative senses to the literal sense affects perception as semantically different.
New study traces common ancestry of Japanese, Korean, and Tungusic languages to millet cultivation and early Amur gene pool in West Liao River region. The Farming Hypothesis is supported by linguistic, archaeological, and genetic evidence showing early farmers' spread across Northeast Asia.
Researchers found that people's pupils dilate more in response to metaphors than to literal or concrete statements. The study suggests that everyday metaphors, often considered clichés, play a significant role in engaging our brains and conveying richer meaning.
Researchers found that conservative tweets are more effective at reaching moderates than liberal tweets, thanks to their network connections and linguistic similarities. The study suggests that liberals need to consciously connect with moderates to compete on Twitter.
Researchers found that bilinguals are better at spotting grammatical illusions, a type of manipulative discourse. Bilingual participants detected 56% of the constructions, while monolinguals only succeeded 39%. However, bilinguals needed more time to respond.
Researchers found that newer formulas considering lexical sophistication, syntactic complexity, and cohesion predict ESL reading effort more accurately than traditional formulas. Eye-tracking data revealed that longer fixations, shorter movements, skipped words, and regressions indicate higher reading difficulty.
A study by Boston University researcher Jennifer Zuk found that the brain's organizational pathways, known as white matter, set a foundation for language learning abilities within the first year of life. This is reflected in children born with higher indications of white matter organization having better language skills five years later.
A team of researchers developed an algorithm that infers the communicative needs of different linguistic communities regarding colors. The study found that warm hues like reds and yellows have a higher demand for language, while less prominent colors are underrepresented.
A multidisciplinary team of scientists is using human whistled languages as a model to understand how dolphins encode complex information in their whistle communication. By studying the structure and attributes of human whistled speech, researchers aim to develop new techniques for analyzing dolphin whistles.
Researchers analyzed music diversity in South America, revealing exceptional aerophone diversity in the archaeological record and cultural connections between groups. The study also highlights the impact of European colonization on Indigenous musical traditions.
Researchers found that auditory and speech processing occur in parallel, with areas of the STG responding as fast as the primary auditory cortex when sentences were played. This challenges the traditional hierarchy model of speech processing and may offer new insights into conditions like dyslexia.
An international team reconstructed language families spanning over 10,000 years by combining genetics, linguistics, and musicology data. Grammar was found to reflect population history more closely than other cultural features, highlighting the importance of the grammatical factor in understanding human cultural evolution.
Researchers compared Fox News and MSNBC using natural language analysis, finding distinct linguistic styles in the two networks. The study analyzed over 283 million words in 52,000 transcripts, highlighting differences in pronoun use, analytic content, and noun use.
A recent study reveals that colleges struggle to provide adequate mental health support to Asian and Latino students due to interdependent cultural values and shame. The study suggests that culturally tailored treatment services addressing these issues can improve help-seeking behaviors.
A Tokyo University of Science researcher analyzed 8,000 infant names and found that common boys' name "大翔" has at least 18 readings, while girls' name "結愛" has at least 14. The study shows that parents use various readings, including non-existent ones, and abbreviate common readings.
A new study by UC Berkeley Haas School of Business researchers found that white participants who claim to be non-prejudiced often convey the opposite message through their language. The study suggests that explicit egalitarianism can blind people to underlying prejudice and perpetuate prejudicial attitudes.
A systematic review of 501 chatbot apps found that none performed well on all testing criteria, with linguistic biases and usability challenges. The apps' limited program content made it hard to have extended or varied conversations between users and chatbots.
Researchers found that 75% of medicinal plant services are linguistically-unique and known to one language, highlighting the critical role of indigenous languages in preserving medicinal knowledge. The study suggests that language loss will be even more critical to medicinal knowledge extinction than biodiversity loss.
Researchers found that Indigenous languages overlap with 8,200 species ranges in African UNESCO sites, suggesting a strong connection between cultural and biodiversity preservation. The study suggests engaging Indigenous people in governance to redesign management strategies and conserve localities.
A study by Toyohashi University of Technology found that Japanese speakers often confuse the pronunciations of /hi/ and /si/ due to palatalized tongue articulation. Real-time MRI and supercomputer simulations revealed that acoustic contrast between the sounds can be produced by differences in tongue shape in the transverse direction.
A study by Jon Zabala found that Basque individuals with strong identity and collective empowerment display high levels of personal and social wellbeing, as well as community participation. The researcher suggests that feeling identified with Basques balances negative aspects of being a linguistic minority.
A recent study published in the Journal of Marketing found that linguistically feminine brand names are perceived as warmer and more likable, leading to increased purchase intentions. Researchers discovered that brands with feminine names are more likely to be well-ranked on Interbrand's Global Top Brands list.
A team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that people are more successful at identifying language associated with Republican speech than Democratic speech patterns. The study used machine learning to scan the Congressional Record and presidential debate corpora to isolate linguistic variation between the two parties.
Researchers investigated how well speech is understood from those speaking while wearing a cloth mask. They found that masked speech was not more difficult to understand and, in some cases, understanding was improved when speakers were instructed to speak clearly. The study highlights the adaptive nature of human speech.
A University of Miami study found that a soft food diet can reshape language by changing how people speak and pronounce sounds. The research analyzed thousands of languages and the speech patterns of 10 celebrities, including Freddie Mercury and Michael Phelps.
Researchers found a correlation between extraverts and the use of positive emotion words and social process words. The study aims to improve machine learning approaches for consumer marketing using well-founded linguistic predictors.
Researchers found that listeners in Gainesville perceived increased accentedness with a South Asian face, whereas Montreal listeners did not exhibit the same effect. Exposure to linguistic diversity may impact accentedness judgments.
A RUDN University linguist found a potential correlation between the number of COVID-19 cases in a country and the presence of aspirated consonants in its main language. The study, published in Medical Hypotheses journal, suggests that languages like English with more aspirated consonants may lead to faster spread of the virus.
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.
A Flinders University academic challenges traditional arguments that Chinese written characters hinder its global adoption. Dr Jeffrey Gil presents four arguments supporting the possibility of Chinese becoming a global language, citing technological advancements and historical precedents.