Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.

Current Linguistics

Large language models are shrinking linguistic diversity

Also this week: How habitat shapes the vocal repertoire of primates + The Canadian English dictionary gets a new update + Many loathed “Americanisms” are actually British coinages

Current Linguistics

Choctaw Nation launches Rosetta Stone language app

Also this week: Do languages become less complex with more new adult speakers? + Is it okay to let a language die?

Current Linguistics

Wordsmaxxing: Merriam-Webster adds 1,400 new entries to its dictionary

Also this week: How children talk can indicate risk for future mental health problems + Birdsong and whalesong have both been found to follow a fundamental law of human language

Current Linguistics

What an ape’s laugh can teach us about human language

Also this week: Why grammar snobs don’t actually like language + Bluey released in an Australian indigenous language + Enrollment in advanced language classes dropping in the UK

Current Linguistics

Language genes may be much older than previously thought

Also this week: ConlangCrafter: The AI that invents languages + What linguists think everyone should know about language

Current Linguistics

The Golden Age of Language might have boasted 75,000 languages approximately 2,000 years ago

Also this week: The Herculaneum scrolls are giving up their secrets + The Bantu Expansion: The mass migration that transformed sub-Saharan Africa

Newsletter

Pre-Greek: The lost language hidden within Ancient Greek

Around 1,000 Greek words can’t be traced to any Indo-European language. Where do they come from?

Current Linguistics

Why your foreign accent sucks

Also this week: Why you might not want to learn language like a child + How California “Valley Girl” talk changed the way America speaks + Statistical physics reveals how languages evolve

Newsletter

Do kids in poor families really hear 30 million fewer words by age 4?

On the “word gap” and how much you should talk to your toddler

Newsletter

Why your brain is faster at dismantling some words than others

Also this week: Mom defends decision to teach her kids French despite not being a native speaker + Why English isn’t actually decaying + Baby talk is good for your child, actually

Newsletter

Is it “Iran” or “Persia”? “Persian” or “Farsi”?

On Persia, Iran, Farsi, and Aryan: The many names for Iran, its peoples, and its languages

Current Linguistics

When words look like their meaning, we process them faster

Also this week: Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome to a Eurovision Song Contest that embraces linguistic diversity + Linguists are mapping Rhode Island’s linguistic diversity