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Babies would rather listen to each other than to their parents’ babytalk, according to new research.
Nisarg Desai observes wild chimps known as Sandi, Ferdinand and Siri in Tanzania.
Michael Wilson
Do chimpanzee talk to each other? Scientists follow and record chimpanzees in the wild to find out – and to fill in details about how human language might have evolved.
It is nearly impossible for us to know or be sure about the earliest human language ever used.
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There have been many theories that try to explain where language came from. None prevailed or even came close to the position of the Darwinism theory in biology or the Big Bang theory in physics.
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You’re more likely to know a word but not be able to produce it as you get older. Keeping fit could minimise these lapses.
Pharmacy or marijuana dispensary?
Scott Sonner/AP Photo
Marijuana has a rich linguistic tradition. But drive by dispensaries like ‘Advanced Medical Alternatives’ or ‘Alameda Wellness Center,’ and you might think you’re passing the office of a physical therapist.
Macedonian Slavic wedding in the Prespes region in the border between Greece and FYR Macedonia.
Unknown via Wikimedia Commons
For the Greek government, having people speaking Macedonian Slavic in its territory did not sit well with its national ideology.
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Organisational twaddle is everywhere. It’s time to climb the ‘strategic staircase’ and incentivise our corporate leaders to abandon it.
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Medicine is an innovative, rapidly progressing field. Unfortunately, medical language is often stuck in the past.
Multilingual children.
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Raising children to speak more than one language is a challenge for parents in today’s world. Here are some tips to raise bilingual children.
Georgian alphabet.
rocketfall via Wikimedia Commons
Linguist Alison Long helped translate a best-selling novel into the latest BBC television drama.
Filtering information.
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Having English as a common language can and does lead to problems.
What was that word again?
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Language attrition can happen to people who live in a foreign context – and it can be embarrassing.
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Each discipline tells us only part of the story. And so the truest picture of prehistory comes from triangulating these independent lines of evidence.
Masculine words and metaphors are frequently used in financial language.
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The stock market is littered with metaphors made by and for men, so it’s no wonder women don’t feel as comfortable in investing.
Okay, we get it, you’re happy – no need to rub it in.
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Their culture places a high value on something many Americans don’t.
Edward Hopper’s ‘Office in a Small City’ (1953).
Gandalf's Gallery
Although loneliness may seem timeless and universal, the word seems to have originated in the 16th century,
Medieval teaching scene.
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Back in the Middle Ages, as well as speaking English and Latin, many people living in Britain also spoke French.
Science Oxford
But the British soon got the hang of profanity.
The Warrnambool potato harvest of 1881.
State Library of Victoria
Irish influence on Australian English is much like the influence of the Irish on Australians themselves — less than you’d expect on the surface, but everywhere once you start looking.
The spread of Pama-Nyungan was likely influenced by climate.
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The origin of around 300 of Australia’s Aboriginal languages lies in Queensland, about 6,000 years ago.