Articles tagged with Grammar
A new study using Victorian recordings from Lancaster University's archive found strong links between industrial growth and accent evolution in northern England. The Barrow-in-Furness accent developed due to intense population change and mixing, leading to distinct social histories and settlement patterns.
A new study published in Nature Human Behaviour found that around one third of proposed grammatical universals are consistently observed across all languages. The research team used complex statistical methods to analyze a large database of grammatical features and identified recurring patterns in language structures.
Researchers analyzed over 4,000 examples of Russian spoken by bilinguals, finding that non-standard numeral constructions are influenced by native languages and frequency of use. Less familiar expressions involving numbers two to four were used in non-standard forms more frequently.
A recent study found that 45.9% of ChatGPT-generated feedback was rejected by second-language learners, with content-focused feedback facing higher rejection rates. The researchers identified four key factors driving rejection: misalignment with goals or external standards, and the subjective nature of content-related suggestions.
A new study by Lancaster University reveals that language in job ads can unintentionally reinforce or disrupt labour force gender/racial composition. Workforces with more women tend to use family-friendly policies in ads, while racial minority workers' ads lack impact, the research shows.
A new study found that Norwegian boys are outperforming girls in learning English as a second language, with the gap increasing at age 13. The researchers suggest that online gaming and digital technology may be contributing factors, contradicting conventional wisdom about gender differences in language acquisition.
A study published in Psychological Science found that 2-year-olds rely on grammatical information to understand the meaning of new words. The researchers used focus signals in sentences to manipulate children's responses, showing that young kids can absorb grammatical cues and leverage them to learn new words.
A new study found that foreign accents can mitigate judgment for grammatical errors, except in cases where listeners are highly conscientious. The research suggests that English speakers are generally tolerant of grammatical errors when the speaker has a foreign accent.
Researchers propose that sign language classifiers are integrated into the grammar through pictorial representation, appearing in a comic book-like order. This visualization mechanism allows for greater flexibility and complexity in language, complementing standard words with iconic expressions.
The University of Kansas study suggests that educational systems must undergo transformation to fully utilize the potential of artificial intelligence tools. Personalized learning and project-based learning are key strategies for harnessing AI's transformative power, enabling students to focus on their strengths and interests.
Research by Lancaster University found that people in higher social grades, including corporate world and education sectors, are adopting each other's speech patterns to be more inclusive. This 'resonance' has increased over the past 20 years, particularly among those with high social status.
A Kobe University study finds that high-scoring essays prioritize complex meaning and diverse expressions, not grammatical complexity. The researcher advocates for a shift in test scoring rubrics to reflect this, suggesting 'contextually appropriate grammar' should be used instead of 'complex grammar'.
According to MSU research, linguistically simple headlines engage readers more than complex ones. The study found that simplicity impacts how often people click on stories, leading to increased demand for good journalism. By writing simply, news organizations can make their content more approachable and accessible to a wider audience.
A new study finds that complex and unfamiliar sentences generate stronger responses in the brain's language processing centers. Sentences with higher surprisal and linguistic complexity evoke more activation, while extremely simple or nonsensical sequences elicit little response.
Researchers at Lancaster University find that the 'r' sound is becoming weaker in England, with most young speakers softening it to an elongation of the vowel. This decline is predicted to continue, potentially erasing traditional dialects and linguistic homogenization.
A linguistic phenomenon reveals specific rules governing sentence construction, shedding light on universal features of human language. The researchers found that 'whom of which' obeys strict rules, contributing to a larger discussion about syntax and the existence of pied piping.
Researchers found that white English speakers' accents have shifted away from traditional Southern pronunciation since Generation X. The study, published in Language Variation and Change, used archived and new recordings to analyze vowel patterns, finding distinct changes between baby boomers and Gen X.
A new study of 500,000 pupils in England found that attending a grammar school actually lowers the chances of getting top GCSE grades compared to comprehensive schools. Despite expectations, there is no evidence that selective systems improve academic outcomes for high-achieving students.
A new dictionary provides a comprehensive overview of Shakespeare's language, revealing words with reduced mental ability and plant hybrids. The Arden Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's Language offers insights into the linguistic thumbprints of plays and characters, as well as the networks of character interaction.
Researchers found that languages with larger populations of non-native speakers do not simplify their grammars. Instead, variations in complexity accumulate too slowly to adapt to the environment. This challenges long-held theories on the relationship between language complexity and social factors.
A new, free online language course is available to learn the Ojibwe language, spoken in Indigenous communities around the Great Lakes. The course uses spaced repetition software to help learners memorize vocabulary and grammar.
Research finds that using unconventional spellings can lead to decreased consumer trust and loyalty, but may have positive effects in contexts where consumers seek a memorable experience. The study suggests caution for firms launching new brands with unusual spellings.
The study highlights the importance of language documentation and revitalization to preserve human communication, culture, and cognition. Grambank reveals that language loss is occurring unevenly across major linguistic regions, with indigenous languages in northeast South America, Alaska, and northern Australia at highest risk.
The Grambank database provides an unprecedented level of detail on language structure, showcasing the diversity of human languages. Researchers found that languages exhibit greater similarity to their common ancestors than those they are in contact with, highlighting the importance of genealogical constraints on linguistic diversity.
Researchers at UTHealth Houston identified two brain networks involved in reading, working together to integrate word meanings. The study used electroencephalography recordings from patients with epilepsy to measure neural activity while reading complex sentences.
Researchers found that syntactic surprise, a measure of unexpected word arrangement, significantly improves marketing message efficacy. The optimal level of syntactic surprise falls within the middle range, with messages being most effective at a medium level.
A 17th-century satire on marriage employs fragments from Elio Antonio de Nebrija's Latin grammar to justify arguments. The study highlights Nebrija's significant role as a Latinist over his Spanish grammar.
Researchers have found that Khanty dialects consist of three distinct languages, rather than two, with basic vocabulary coincidences lower than those between certain Slavic languages. Idalia Fedotova's study using 110 basic concepts and 14 sources found dialectal groups to be separate languages due to low coincidence rates.
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.
A new study of patients with Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) shows that those who struggle with complex words compensate by using simpler ones. Healthy volunteers also exhibit a similar balance between word complexity and syntactic structure, suggesting a fundamental property of language production.
A recent study found that American Sign Language (ASL) features a copula called SELF, previously thought to be absent. Researchers tracked the evolution of SELF through historical records and social media videos, discovering a pattern termed the 'copula cycle' that spans over 150 years
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 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.
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.
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 aim to understand language development in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and Fragile X syndrome by examining grammar skills and executive functions. The study will gather data on a two-year developmental window, providing comprehensive insights for families and potential improvements in communication.
Linguists propose that reported speech, a common way people describe others' thoughts and statements, is the source of many grammatical categories. This new theory explains why similar meanings are found in languages worldwide.
A new linguistic study uses computational modeling to reconstruct the grammar of Proto-Indo-European, the ancestor of most Eurasian languages. The model provides insights into language evolution over millennia, including stable features and changes in prominence.
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.
A UTokyo-MIT study reveals multilingual adults can learn new languages faster and more efficiently than bilinguals, thanks to increased brain activity. Multilingual participants demonstrated superior language acquisition skills and faster processing times in a simulated Kazakh language learning environment.
Researchers measured brain activity in Hindi speakers describing different images to study sentence planning before speaking. They found that having fewer grammatical distinctions makes planning particularly demanding for the brain and requires more neural activity.
A new study reveals that DeafBlind signers use tactile grammatical structures to convey meaning, suggesting alternative pathways for language development. Researchers analyzed the conventionalization of protactile phonology in US DeafBlind communities, finding consistent patterns in hand articulation and grammar assignment.
Researchers at MIT have created a system called RoboGrammar that optimizes the shape of robots for traversing different terrain types. The system uses a graph grammar inspired by arthropods to generate hundreds of thousands of potential robot structures, which are then evaluated using a neural network algorithm.
Researchers found that monkeys, chimpanzees, and humans share the ability to process non-adjacent dependencies, a crucial element of language. This suggests that this cognitive skill existed in our most recent common ancestors with these species around 40 million years ago.
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.
At 8 months, babies demonstrate a grasp of grammatical concepts in French, recognizing function words such as articles and prepositions. They exhibit limited interest in new functors, suggesting an innate understanding of their mother tongue's linguistic structure.
Researchers analyzed a massive corpus of spontaneous speech from French-English bilinguals, discovering that pronunciation is not a reliable indicator of linguistic proficiency. Contrary to stereotypes, many speakers often pronounce borrowed words in English-style, even when code-switching into their native language.
A system created by MIT researchers can pinpoint and replace specific information in Wikipedia sentences while retaining humanlike grammar and style. This technology has potential to automatically update factual inconsistencies in Wikipedia articles, reducing time and effort spent by human editors.
Researchers at HSE University found that people with aphasia respond more accurately and quickly when retrieving single verbs with complex argument structures, rather than relying on simpler verbs. This challenges the traditional view that linguistic complexity correlates with cognitive difficulty, suggesting that certain types of verb...
Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed AOGNets, a new framework for building deep neural networks via grammar-guided network generators. The new networks outperformed existing state-of-the-art frameworks in visual recognition tasks, achieving better prediction accuracy and model interpretability.
The study found that over half of the world's living languages are currently endangered, with around 600 nearly extinct. However, hundreds of languages have been documented sustainably archived audio and video collections, and there is ongoing engagement from indigenous researchers on their own languages.
Preliterate 6-year-olds outperformed their peers on grammatical relations, but struggled with novel words. After six months of reading instruction, the advantage disappeared, suggesting that literacy may come at a cost.
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...
A new study published in Educational Review found that grammar schools do not promote social mobility for disadvantaged pupils. The study shows that the likelihood of attending a grammar school varies widely depending on local authority and social background.
A new study by MIT researchers found that children can learn grammar up to age 17 or 18, while adults struggle to achieve native speaker-level proficiency unless they start learning before age 10. The study analyzed data from nearly 670,000 people and suggests a longer critical period for language learning.
Researchers found that individuals with agrammatic aphasia omit grammatical pronouns due to cognitive resource limitations. The study suggests a new usage-based theory of grammar, prioritizing lexical elements over grammatical ones.
A recent study published in PNAS found that language grammatical structures change more quickly than vocabulary, influenced by contact with unrelated languages. Researchers analyzed 81 Austronesian languages and discovered striking differences in the rates of change between grammar and lexicon.
Children who start learning English in the first grade achieve poorer results in this subject than children whose first English lesson isn't until the third grade. This is because early English-language lessons take place at a time when deep immersion would be necessary to achieve sustainable effects.
Researchers found that increased familiarity with a foreign accent leads to better sentence processing and trains the acoustic system to process accented speech. Listeners who correctly identified the accent responded similarly to grammar and vocabulary errors in both native and foreign-accented sentences.
A new study by Florida Atlantic University researchers finds that bilingual children's languages develop at different rates, reflecting the quality of their language exposure. Spanish skills become vulnerable as English skills improve, but English is not affected in the same way.