> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://linguisticdiscovery.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# An experiment with the Aboriginal language Murrinhpatha suggests language influences perception
- URL: https://linguisticdiscovery.com/posts/2025-33/
- Published: 2025-08-21T14:00:57.000Z
- Updated: 2026-03-11T11:33:32.000Z
- Description: Also this week: Why all languages have words for ‘this’ and ‘that’ + Antarctic leopard seal ‘songs’ are surprisingly similar to nursey rhymes. Here’s what happened this week in language and linguistics.
- Author: Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.
- Tags: Current Linguistics, African American English, animal communication, AI, Latin, demonstratives, linguistic relativity, psycholinguistics, phonetics, spelling

Welcome to this week’s edition of *Discovery Dispatch*, a weekly roundup of the latest language-related news, research in linguistics, interesting reads from the week, and newest books and other media dealing with language and linguistics!

## 📰 In the News

*Language and linguistics in the news.*

### Assembling *The Oxford Dictionary of African American English*

This is some old reporting from back in 2023, but it’s an [ongoing project](https://www.oed.com/discover/odaae/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) and still very cool to read about! Oxford Languages is hard at work on the *Oxford Dictionary of African American English*, and the *New Yorker* has a great write-up about it:

[Assembling the Oxford Dictionary of African American EnglishLinguists from Oxford meet to compare notes on words like “bussin” (adj.) and “do-rag” (n.).![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/favicon-112.ico)The New YorkerAlex Carp![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/230327_r42083illuweb-site.jpg)](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/03/27/assembling-the-oxford-dictionary-of-african-american-english?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)

You can also read the [project description](https://www.oed.com/discover/odaae/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) on the Oxford Languages website, or watch this documentary:

## 🗞️ Current Linguistics

*Recently published research in linguistics.*

### Antarctic leopard seal ‘songs’ are surprisingly similar to nursey rhymes

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-Q7C!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79536b09-592f-4da1-9a05-33b407e8425a_685x385.png)

Typical behavior of leopard seal vocalizations - the male will sing a sequence of sounds underwater before returning to the surface to breathe (represented by a ‘Z’) and repeats this cycle for hours at a time. The sequence of sounds is then converted to a symbolic code.

> A recent study has found that Antarctic leopard seal mating call sequences seem to be similar in predictability to human nursery rhymes. \[…\] Although some of the characteristics of animal songs have a lot in common with human songs, they are not made of series of words that each have a specific meaning. Research on vocal sequences and song in animals is therefore mostly focused on identifying patterns in animal vocal communication and studying what function a song or vocal sequence might serve. \[…\] When compared to humans, the authors found that leopard seal sequences were less random than music by classical and romantic composers or the Beatles, and that they were similar to the randomness found in nursery rhymes.

[Antarctic leopard seal ‘songs’ are surprisingly similar to nursery rhymesThe fact that animals don’t use words makes it hard to decode their communication. But technology is starting to make it easier.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/web-app-logo-192x192-2d05bdd6de6328146de80245d4685946-47.png)The ConversationRüdiger Riesch![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/file-20250808-56-xmccwq.jpg)](https://theconversation.com/antarctic-leopard-seal-songs-are-surprisingly-similar-to-nursery-rhymes-262822?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)

[Leopard seal song patterns have similar predictability to nursery rhymes - Scientific ReportsScientific Reports - Leopard seal song patterns have similar predictability to nursery rhymes![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-f39cb19454-17.png)NatureLucinda E. H. Chambers![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/41598_2025_11008_Fig1_HTML.png)](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-11008-8?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)

### AI helps reconstruct damaged Latin texts

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7vxw!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffab6f22e-89d6-45f7-9892-d8d93f2c98f5_685x245.png)

This inscription (**Inscriptiones Graecae*, volume 1, edition 3, document 4, face B (**IG* I3 4B)) records a decree concerning the Acropolis of Athens and dates to 485/4 bc. Marsyas, Epigraphic Museum, WikiMedia CC BY 2.5.

I already reported on this [the other week](https://linguisticdiscovery.com/posts/2025-31/), but here’s some additional reporting from *New Scientist* about how researchers are using AI to help them reconstruct incomplete and damaged Latin texts:

[AI helps reconstruct damaged Latin inscriptions from the Roman EmpireGoogle DeepMind and historians created an AI tool called Aeneas that can predict the missing words in Latin inscriptions carved into stone walls and pottery sherds from the ancient Roman Empire.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/180x180.50b024f6-10.png)New Scientist#author.fullName}![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/SEI_259729679.jpg)](https://www.newscientist.com/article/2489138-ai-helps-reconstruct-damaged-latin-inscriptions-from-the-roman-empire/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)

[Contextualizing ancient texts with generative neural networks - NatureAeneas, a generative neural network trained on ancient texts, helps historians contextualize inscriptions and perform epigraphic tasks, offering an improved starting point for historical research.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-f39cb19454-18.png)NatureYannis Assael![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/41586_2025_9292_Fig1_HTML.png)](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09292-5?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)

You can also use the AI models for Latin (Aeneas) and Greek (Ithaca) here:

[Predicting the Past | Contextualising, restoring, and attributing ancient textsIthaca and Aeneas are generative AI models designed to assist historians in the study of ancient Greek and Latin inscriptions. They are part of a wider initiative on developing collaborative AI for historical research.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-48.png)Ithaca![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/predicting-the-past-1200.jpg)](https://predictingthepast.com/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)

### Why all languages have words for ‘this’ and ‘that’

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XmZp!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb33079ca-0399-4fff-887e-3a0bf1e4f3b4_1023x349.png)

Experimental setup for the study on spatial communication systems across languages. The experiments used various configurations of speakers and addressees situated around tables with objects at different distances on them.

> Researchers studied more than 1,000 speakers of 29 different languages to see how they use demonstratives—words that show where something is in relation to a person talking such as ‘this cat’ or ‘that dog’. It was previously thought that languages vary in the spatial distinctions they make—and that speakers of different languages may think in fundamentally different ways as a consequence. But the new study shows that all of the languages tested make the same spatial distinctions using words like ‘this’ or ‘that’ based on whether they can reach the object they are talking about.

- [Why all languages have words for ‘this’ and ‘that’](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1006041?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) (Eureka Alert)
- Coventry et al. 2022\. Spatial communication systems across languages reflect universal action constraints. *Nature Human Behavior* 7: 2099–2110\. DOI: [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01697-4](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01697-4?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com).

### Research with Aboriginal language Murrinhpatha suggests language influences perception

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!O_RS!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd4c744b8-649a-44b7-b66c-b057a34d7904_900x600.png)

Aboriginal elders locate landmarks at Da Ayimeli. The culturally significant site is near Wadeye, a town close to Australia's northern coast. David Maurice Smith

The Aboriginal language Murrinhpatha is spoken by about 2,500 people in the town of Wadeye on Australia’s northwestern coast. In the first-ever psycholinguistic study of the language, Rachel Nordlinger, a linguist at the University of Melbourne who has studied Murrinhpatha for 18 years, and her colleagues found that when people are putting their thoughts into words, their mental processes may be shaped by the structure of their language. In particular, they found evidence that word order affects how participants take in a scene, and the order in which they focus on elements in that scene.

The *Scientific American* article is from 2023, but a great read. It gives a lot more of the context and history of both this research and the Murrinhpatha language:

[Grammar Changes How We See, an Australian Language ShowsAn Aboriginal language provides unexpected insight into how language influences perception![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/favicon-113.ico)Scientific AmericanChristine Kenneally![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/55AF0C77-657C-4C1D-B9A7CD94A42E3BAE_source.jpg)](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/grammar-changes-how-we-see-an-australian-language-shows/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)

[Project MUSE - Sentence planning and production in Murrinhpatha, an Australian ‘free word order’ language![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/favicon-114.ico)Project MUSE logoRachel Nordlinger![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/og_image.jpg)](https://muse.jhu.edu/article/857152?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)

**Further Reading:**

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!j_Tu!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9ac1df1b-ade0-4e98-9bbe-8e63c96d168b_417x630.png)

[Amazon](https://amzn.to/4hsH9tu?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)

## 📃 This Week’s Reads

*Interesting articles I’ve come across this week.*

[“It’s Like Dropping a Bomb on the Louvre:” The Remarkable Race to Save These Critical Languages Before They DieIndigenous communities are building their own advanced machine-learning tools to preserve languages—and heritages—that are on the brink.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon.5d5fa0d.png)Popular MechanicsLuke Ottenhof![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/indigenous-ai-1-652d615c06a71.jpg)](https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/a45521181/will-artificial-intelligence-save-native-languages/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)

[Language Clues Can Mislead Cultural PsychologistsFans of detective stories know that a clue may reveal what happened or be a red herring. Cultural psychologists encounter the same dilemma with linguistic clues.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-49.png)Psychology TodayLawrence T. White Ph.D.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/Hello-20Mary-20Pahlke-20Pixabay.png.jpg)](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/culture-conscious/202303/language-clues-can-mislead-cultural-psychologists?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)

  - People love to claim that language deeply affects how we think, but features of language don’t always mirror thinking styles in different societies.

[T-Glottalization: The Reason Some People Drop Their ’T’s When SpeakingDropping that ‘t’ sound is an example of what linguists call glottalization.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/MFFavicon_216ef394-60ef-4fac-9984-97a8819af760_400x-5.png)Mental FlossMarla Mackoul![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/01hfbdk9g66qvp40qmt8.jpg)](https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/why-people-do-not-pronounce-letter-t-glottalization/partners/47910?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)

  - Most British English speakers using a glottal stop \[ʔ\] instead of a \[t\] in the middle or end of words. But Americans are flappers, using \[ɾ\] in those same positions instead.

[Elizabeth Bates and the Search for the Roots of Human LanguageIn the 1970s a young psychologist challenged a popular theory of how we acquire language, launching a fierce debate that continues to this day![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/favicon-115.ico)Scientific AmericanSamia Bouzid, Katie Hafner, The Lost Women of Science Initiative![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/Elizabeth-Bates-Square-16x9-1.jpg)](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/elizabeth-bates-and-the-search-for-the-roots-of-human-language/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)

  - In the 1970s a young psychologist challenged a popular theory of how we acquire language, launching a fierce debate that continues to this day.

## 📚 Books & Media

*New (and old) books and media touching on language and linguistics.*

### Water, whiskey, and vodka: A story of Slavic languages

A friend pointed out this fun book to me last year, but I haven’t yet shared it with y’all, my esteemed readers:

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!No2M!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F90e65aef-2e9e-445b-b3f8-2eba200c5ea9_293x425.png)

[Amazon](https://amzn.to/4oKMcZW?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)

## 🗃️ Resources

*Maps, databases, lists, etc. on language and linguistics.*

### Vowel Map-o-Later

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BqAo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffe9f4426-9f70-48e6-80cd-7743047d9fa8_725x475.png)

Screenshot of the Vowel Map-o-later, showing a cloud of dots representing the location where various vowel tokens were pronounced in a particular speaker’s mouth

Linguist Roslyn Burns and the DiversiPHy project has recently launched a free online tool for plotting vowels called the Vowel Map-o-later.

This tool is intended for students with little to no coding background such as introductory phonetics students, introductory sociolinguistics students, or honors/thesis students whose specialty is not in phonetics. With this tool, students and instructors can easily plot vowels and update visualizations as parameters in the plot change (e.g. transform the acoustic representation, label vowel classes or speakers, color code vowel classes or speakers, estimate vowel spread in acoustic space, etc.). Students may download their plots for inclusion as graphics in classroom assignments or term papers.

[Vowel Map-o-lator![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/VowelMap.png)](https://linguisticking.com/VowelMapolator.html?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)

## 👋🏼 Til next week!

I’ll leave you this week with a fun reminder about how English spelling is a mess, from Lucille Ball:

And if you want to learn more about the history of English spelling, check out this book by David Crystal:

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!15DQ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5c893860-b95a-4981-8e8c-95edb0b8a280_304x466.png)

[Amazon](https://amzn.to/40I09MB?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)

💡

The Amazon links on this site are affiliate links, which means that I earn a small commission from Amazon for purchases made through them (at no extra cost to you).  
  
If you’d like to support Linguistic Discovery, purchasing through these links is a great way to do so! I greatly appreciate your support!  
  
[Check out my entire Amazon storefront here.](https://www.amazon.com/shop/linguisticdiscovery?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)