Increased acceptance of the use of alternative and augmentative communication technologies in general society can enhance the quality of life for people with speech impairment.
Language, geography, age and other factors can all affect how fast a person talks. But sometimes, these perceived differences are only in the listener’s head.
Long treated as a sign of anxiety or a delaying tactic, ‘filled pauses’ are a linguistic trick to signal that what you are about to say might be complicated.
Many people fear the disappearance of the unique way some communities speak. But accent loss is a complicated notion and embracing both language variation and change can be an important social goal.
We often imitate styles of speech we hear – what’s known as ‘linguistic convergence.’ But a researcher wanted to see if we alter our speech based on the mere expectation of how someone will sound.
Vocal imitation is a key part of how humans learn to speak. New research shows that bats babble to learn and use baby talk to teach, just like people do.