Kyle Mahowald, The University of Texas at Austin and Anna A. Ivanova, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Fluent expression is not always evidence of a mind at work, but the human brain is primed to believe so. A pair of cognitive linguistics experts explain why language is not a good test of sentience.
It’s common for people to live near others who speak a different – but similar – language. But generally, they handle their differences without violence.
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.
There’s a long history of communities speaking Romany in the UK, so it’s hardly surprising that some of its words have found their way into everyday English.
Metaphors, analogies and comparisons abound when talking about the war in Ukraine, but are they helpful? An expert in peace and conflict resolution explains.
To Russian nationalists, if the Ukrainian language is classified as a derivative of the Russian language, the invasion looks less like an act of aggression and more like reintegration.
Wordle has become an obsession online, with over 3 million daily players around the world. But the game has more in common with code-breaking than it does with crosswords.