Articles tagged with Sociolinguistics
A new study by the University of Birmingham reveals that TikTok's design can make it difficult for young people to distinguish between trustworthy and misleading mental health advice. The study found that young people tend to rely on relatability rather than reliability when seeking mental health advice on the platform.
Despite scientific progress, public faith in science is collapsing due to the proliferation of digital platforms and the democratization of access to information. This erodes trust as people rely on expert opinions without evaluating scientific claims for themselves.
Researchers found that attention networks play a crucial role in communication difficulties in children with autism, affecting verbal and non-verbal communication. Weaker connections in the Dorsal Attention Network and Salience Network led to greater difficulties with understanding gestures, facial expressions, and social signals.
The new book, written by University of Illinois linguistics professor Ryan Shosted and computer language designer Neal Davis, traces the full story of the Deseret alphabet. The alphabet was developed at a time when the Latter-day Saints moved from Nauvoo, Illinois, to Utah and were struggling to survive in the desert.
A study published in PLOS One found that AI-generated impersonations of political debaters were rated as more authentic and relevant by the public than their actual responses. This raises concerns about the potential for targeted misinformation campaigns against specific public figures.
A new study by Lancaster University found that the final vowel in words like 'happy' varies clearly by social class across Manchester. Middle-class speakers tend to use a more closed 'ee' sound, while working-class speakers use a more open 'eh' sound.
Researchers found that self-focused language increased in the US and Germany over five decades, but remained stable in Japan and Hong Kong. This suggests that cultural contexts influence changes in societal centrism.
A recent study by Marta Coll-Florit found that while Spanish newspapers are openly discussing suicide, they still employ stigmatizing metaphors such as 'war' and 'epidemic', which can perpetuate shame and guilt around the topic. The researcher argues that these metaphors convey a focus on individual blame rather than collective respons...
A recent study from Lancaster University reveals that AI systems like ChatGPT can learn to mirror human impoliteness, potentially escalating into verbal violence. The research tested ChatGPT's ability to respond to real-life impolite interactions, finding it often produces more impolite behavior than humans.
Philosopher Dr Kirill Chepurin wins the award for his monograph on Schelling's concept of 'bliss', while art historian Dr Elisabeth Ansel receives the award for her essay on J.M.W. Turner and Carl Gustav Carus' visual translation processes.
A global trend of uncommon names has been observed in various nations, including Germany, the US, UK, France, Japan, China, and Indonesia. This increase reflects broader sociocultural changes emphasizing individuality and distinction.
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.
New study finds psychosis delusions emerge from emotional experiences, bodily reactions, and linguistic fabric. Participants described intense emotional embodiment and disembodiment, with some experiencing positive feelings of awe and love.
Street art in Kaunas, Lithuania acts as a form of cultural activism and collective memory, blending languages, images, and historical narratives. Murals have become powerful tools for community reflection and dialogue, turning public space into a living archive of cultural identity.
The UK's special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system is facing a worsening crisis, with schools lacking skills and resources to support children. Experts warn that without action, the crisis will deepen, harming the economy and NHS, and perpetuating inequalities.
The new book examines language attrition in non-pathological settings, considering social, lexical, and grammatical constraints. Researchers aim to develop a multifaceted approach to combating language loss, improving pedagogy and promoting bilingualism.
Researchers discovered that languages from different continents and populations become more similar after contact, with rates of borrowing ranging from 4-9%. The team found that linguistic features are not consistently transferable, challenging long-held assumptions about language learning.
Researchers found that humans across cultures and languages break their speech into Intonation Units, which follow a low-frequency rhythm of 1.6 seconds. This universal structure plays a critical role in helping listeners follow conversations and absorb information.
Researchers used AI tools to analyze posts from 54 Reddit communities, finding similarities in speech patterns between hate speech groups and communities for certain psychiatric disorders. The study suggests that exposing oneself to hate speech online may lead to decreased empathy and traits similar to Cluster B personality disorders.
Researchers found that speakers from different cultures convey emotions differently when complaining. Complainers use specific vocal expressions to convey negativity, with Québécois sounding more angry and French speakers sounding sadder. The study highlights the importance of tone of voice in social interactions and may have implicati...
A recent study published in the Journal of Sociolinguistics suggests that people's judgments of accent are often culturally influenced rather than based on actual auditory differences. Participants rated speakers from different regions of Ohio, but surprisingly, those who believed certain regions had stronger accents did not necessaril...
A new study aims to address bias and discrimination in AI by leveraging sociolinguistics. By incorporating diverse dialects, registers, and periods of language into training data, researchers can improve the performance of large language models, making them more accurate and reliable. This approach also promotes ethical and socially aw...
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 speech sounds have texture and shape to them, with R sounds associated with roughness and L sounds with smoothness. The research showed strong tendencies for matching trilled R sounds with jagged lines and L sounds with straight lines across cultures.
A Cambridge study suggests that people from Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Ireland are better at detecting fake accents than those from London and the Southeast. The study found that participants were able to detect fake accents with an accuracy of around 60%, varying by region and cultural homogeneity.
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.
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.
Researchers found that American athletes borrow Canadian English accent features for hockey-specific terms and jargon, but not underlying pronunciation rules. Adopting these dialects is a way players portray their identity through speech.
A new study finds that Americans from the South mimic Southern speech patterns when actually listening to a Southerner, but only shift their speech when told they're hearing a Southerner. Non-Southerners, however, are influenced by stereotypes and only shift their speech when told so.
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.
Researchers investigate how creaky voice use varies across different areas of Sydney, finding that the area's diversity plays a significant role. The study reveals mixed results regarding the influence of gender on creaky voice use, with no statistically significant difference found between men and women.
Researchers found that language coexistence is influenced by interaction between communities with opposing language preferences. Individual preferences play a pivotal role in language dynamics, sometimes overcoming social prestige.
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.
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.
A new study reveals that online hate speech is frequently conveyed through subtle and modified wording, allowing it to evade detection. Covert methods of expression are being used by haters to avoid detection, highlighting the need for increased attention to implied ways of expressing hate.
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.