Mom’s voice boosts language-center development in preemies’ brains
Also this week: Smart dogs have a humanlike knack for naming new objects + Birds all over the world use the same sound to warn of threats + The Language-Lover’s Lexipedia
Read more
China lays claim to Austronesian languages
Also this week: The Linguistics of a Showgirl: How Taylor Swift’s accent has changed over time + We will soon be able to talk with other species—but which one will be first?
What’s in a name?: Eponymous etymology
A sneak peek at Jess Zafarris’ new book, “Useless etymology: Word origins for curious minds”
Could Neanderthals handle language variation?
Also this week: Jane Goodall dies at 91 + Merriam-Webster adds 5,000 words to the dictionary
Where does the alphabet come from? And why does English use it so strangely?
A new book takes us on a linguistic odyssey through the history of the alphabet