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

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

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

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

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

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

Lavender Linguistics: Learning to live out loud

On Polari and the history of queer language

Homophones, plurals, and language “rulescucks” are roiling prediction markets

Also this week: More Ukrainians are switching from speaking Russian to Ukrainian + Scientists say AI is bringing us closer to talking to animals + A new book on the world’s vanishing languages

The curse of knowledge (and what to do about it)

Inspiring words for linguistics majors

New study links receptivity to corporate bullshit to weaker leadership skills

Also this week: New Mexico is losing a form of Spanish spoken nowhere else + Study finds that isolated human groups speak more diverse languages

The Ass Camouflage Construction

What this African American English expression teaches us about the world’s languages

New evidence that language evolved before humans did

Also this week: Universals of swearing across languages + Does learning Latin improve your SAT scores? + What killed penmanship

The Great Men™ of Language

Language is shaped by everyday people, not the Big Names™ of history

Current Linguistics

We’re losing 338 spoken words every year, linguists find

Also this week: Sperm whale communication closesly mirrors human language + Why toddlers don’t understand the words “I” and “you”

Newsletter

Baby, talk to me: How children get their accents

A sneak peek at Dr. Valerie Fridland’s new book, “Why we talk funny: The real story behind our accents”

Current Linguistics

Linguists work to create UK’s first swear map

Also this week: Bumble bees show a surprising knack for rhythm + Sperm whale songs are surprisingly like human language

Newsletter

Baby talk in the languages of the world

How parents talk to their children around the globe

Current Linguistics

Has forensic linguistics solved the mystery of Bitcoin’s creator?

Also this week: How slang works, and how Black culture is shaping Gen Z’s slang

Newsletter

Were the Ancient Greeks colorblind?

Why Homer uses colors so strangely in the Iliad and the Odyssey

Current Linguistics

Deciphering the Singapore Stone

Also this week: The linguistics of Project Hail Mary + The beautiful linguistic chaos of Iran + Your dog might be eavesdropping on you (linguistically)

Newsletter

What kind of language is Eridian, question?

The linguistics of Project Hail Mary

Current Linguistics

Did Homo erectus have language?

Also this week: Did writing just get pushed back tens of thousands of years? + How slang works + We finally understand why horses whinny

Newsletter

Do all cultures use baby talk?

Or is baby talk just something that white middle class Americans do?

Current Linguistics

Baby chicks know their kiki from their bouba

Also this week: Why human language isn’t like computer code + Why English needs “y’all” + Why do so many women’s names end in A?

Newsletter

Do these Stone Age symbols push back the origins of writing by tens of thousands of years?

Nope. The real finding is even cooler.