Records show that churches monitored multilingual gossip in Elizabethan London
"Stranger churches"—Protestant congregations that welcomed speakers of certain languages other than English—in early modern London had "eyes everywhere" to hear, spread and dispel gossip in multiple languages, according ...
Phys.org > linguist
The Trump–Harris debate shows how personality can reveal itself in language
An analysis of the choice of words by American presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in their recent debate reveals five insights into their personalities.
Phys.org > linguist
Islands are engines of linguistic diversity, study shows
Islands drive language change and generate language diversity in similar ways to how they drive species diversity, according to research from The Australian National University (ANU) that analyzed languages from over 13,000 ...
Phys.org > linguist
Plenty of ups and downs are key to a great story, research finds
Since at least Aristotle, writers and scholars have debated what makes for a great story. One of them is Samsun Knight, a novelist who is also an economist and assistant professor of marketing at the University of Toronto's ...
Phys.org > linguist
The Singapore Stone's carvings have been undeciphered for centuries—now, researchers are trying to crack the puzzle
If you pay a visit to the Singapore Stone, displayed at the National Museum of Singapore, you might be disappointed. That's because the inscription—carrying an unknown writing system transcribing an unknown language—is ...
Phys.org > linguist
Researchers develop algorithms to understand how humans form body part vocabularies
Human bodies have similar designs. However, languages differ in the way they divide the body into parts and name them. For example, English speakers have two words for foot and leg, whereas other languages express the concepts ...
Phys.org > linguist
Researcher analyzes 3,356 signs to see how language use is changing in three Latino neighborhoods in Philly
Signs written in Spanish are becoming less common along North Philadelphia's Golden Block, or El Bloque de Oro—which runs along North Fifth Street from Lehigh Avenue to Allegheny Avenue and is considered the cultural center ...
Phys.org > linguist
First languages of North America traced back to two very different language groups from Siberia
Johanna Nichols, a linguist at the University of California, Berkeley, has used her pioneering work in the field of language history to learn more about language development in North America. She has found that it can be ...
Phys.org > linguist
English dominates scientific research—here's how we can fix it, and why it matters
It is often remarked that Spanish should be more widely spoken or understood in the scientific community given its number of speakers around the world, a figure the Instituto Cervantes places at almost 600 million.
Phys.org > linguist
Film festivals are becoming more diverse in several ways, new study reports
A group of Tallinn University researchers has published an innovative study that sheds light on the intricate dynamics of the global film festival circuit, revealing insights into diversity and public value creation within ...
Phys.org > linguist
'I'm gonna get totally and utterly X'd': Can you really use any English word to mean 'drunk'?
The English language is famous for the large number of words that express the idea of being drunk in a humorous way—so-called drunkonyms like "pissed," "hammered" or "wasted." British comedian Michael McIntyre even argues ...
Phys.org > linguist
Language-related misunderstanding at work: What it is, why it occurs and what organizations can do about it
Language is the foundation of human interaction. It plays a central role in facilitating effective communication by allowing people to express their thoughts, share essential information and establish connections with one ...
Phys.org > linguist
When languages collide, which survives?
Language has the power to shape our perceptions and interactions with the world. Different languages can coexist, but their dynamics are shaped by the communities that speak them—and how those communities interact with ...
Phys.org > linguist
Cockney and Queen's English have all but disappeared among young people—here's what's replaced them
Cockney and received pronunciation (Queen's English) were once spoken by people of all ages, but they are no longer commonly spoken among young people in the south-east of England.
Phys.org > linguist
How linguists are unlocking the meanings of Shakespeare's words using numbers
Today it would seem odd to describe a flower with the word "bastard"—why apply a term of personal abuse to a flower? But in Shakespeare's time, "bastard" was a technical term describing certain plants.
Phys.org > linguist
Research on 2,400 languages shows nearly half the world's language diversity is at risk
There are more than 7,000 languages in the world, and their grammar can vary a lot. Linguists are interested in these differences because of what they tell us about our history, our cognitive abilities and what it means to ...
Phys.org > linguist
Comparison with humans and bonobos suggests wild African elephants may have self-domesticated
A team of biologists and linguists from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, City University of New York, the State University of New York and the University of Seville has found evidence suggesting that wild African ...
Phys.org > linguist
How linguistic diversity in English-language fiction reveals resistance and tension
Linguistic diversity, like other types of diversity, can enrich life. It's a truism that languages and cultures are closely allied. Some believe that language imposes its own unique perceptual grid on its users.
Phys.org > linguist
Incel activity online is evolving to become more extreme, study shows
Incel activity online is evolving to become more extreme as some of the online spaces hosting its violent and misogynistic content are shut down and new ones emerge, a new study shows.
Phys.org > linguist
Preserving endangered languages as 3D shapes
Half of the world's languages are endangered and more than a thousand are expected to be lost in coming decades. A team at UCL is using animation software to preserve these languages in an entirely new way.
Phys.org > linguist
Sign languages change, too: The evolution of SELF in American Sign Language
A new study shows that American Sign Language (ASL) is more linguistically complex than previously understood. In particular, research appearing in the June 2022 issue of the journal Language, authored by Tory Sampson (UC ...
Phys.org > linguist
Exploring how diverse social networks reduce accent judgments
Everyone has an accent. But the intelligibility of speech doesn't just depend on that accent; it also depends on the listener. Visual cues and the diversity of the listener's social network can impact their ability to understand ...
Phys.org > linguist
Discovery sheds light on why Pacific islands were colonized
The discovery of pottery from the ancient Lapita culture by researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) has shed new light on how Papua New Guinea (PNG) served as a launching pad for the colonization of the Pacific—one ...
Phys.org > linguist