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Articles on Language evolution

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Baboons make sounds, but how does it relate to human speech? Creative Wrights/Shutterstock.com

Examining how primates make vowel sounds pushes timeline for speech evolution back by 27 million years

Researchers say it’s time to finally discard a decades-old theory about the origins of human language – and revise the date when human ancestors likely were able to make certain speech noises.
Borrowings from the indigenous Māori language are so common that visitors to New Zealand are greeted in Māori as soon as they arrive. Sinead Leahy

Kia ora: how Māori borrowings shape New Zealand English

One of the distinguishing features of New Zealand English is how much it borrows from the indigenous Māori, with consequences for both languages.
People currently speak 7,000 languages around the globe. Michael Gavin

Why do human beings speak so many languages?

There’s little research into origins of the geographic patterns of language diversity. A new model exploring processes that shaped Australia’s language diversity provides a template for investigators.

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