A computer program that learns to decode language sounds in a similar way to a baby could shed new light on how humans acquire the ability to talk, say US researchers. It casts doubt on the idea that babies are born with an innate understanding of all possible language sounds. …
Read the full news article at New Scientist Tech
Based on the size of Heschl’s Gyrus (HG), a brain structure that typically accounts for no more than 0.2 percent of entire brain volume, the researchers found they could predict — even before exposing study participants to an invented language — which participants would be more successful in learning 18 words in the “pseudo†language. …
Read the full news article at EurekAlert
A controversial research project is trying to trace all human language to a common root. … Headed by Nobel Laureate physicist Murray Gell-Mann, the international Evolution of Human Languages (EHL) project is developing a freely accessible etymological database of the world’s languages. Where possible, EHL linguists are attempting to reconstruct – and then compare – ancestor languages, moving ever closer to the first human language. Viewed by many linguists as a fringe movement, the project has attracted much criticism. Many linguists say that historical languages cannot be studied beyond an 8,000-year threshold; they change too much, they say. Some take issue with the project’s methods: A few words shared among reconstructed languages doesn’t prove a familial relationship, they insist, especially far back in time. …
Read the full news article at USA Today
Your ability to listen to a phone message in one ear while a friend is talking into your other ear—and comprehend what both are saying—is an important communication skill that’s heavily influenced by your genes, say researchers of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), one of the National Institutes of Health. The finding, published in the August 2007 issue of Human Genetics, may help researchers better understand a broad and complex group of disorders—called auditory processing disorders (APDs)—in which individuals with otherwise normal hearing ability have trouble making sense of the sounds around them. …
Read the full article at EurekAlert
While children who have had brain tumors perform worse in school than healthy kids, grades in foreign language are the most affected and girls have a harder time than boys in getting good grades, according to a study published in the July 17, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Researchers say this is the first time the actual grades and subjects of brain tumor survivors have been reported. …
Read the full news release at the American Academy of Neurology news room
Children with Tourette’s syndrome may have to put up with some unwanted movement and verbal tics, but neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center and the Kennedy Krieger Institute have found that they are much quicker at processing certain mental grammar skills than are children without the disorder.
Read the full news release at the Georgetown University Medical Center newsroom
Just as the Bee Gees’ disco style sounds antique compared to hip-hop, birdsong can also go out of fashion. Such stylistic changes may help explain how mating barriers arise, eventually leading to new species. …
Read the full news article at New Scientist
Refuting the popular stereotype that females talk more than men, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have found women and men both use an average of 16,000 words each day. …
Read the full news article at the University of Texas at Austin news room
Researchers are hoping to help the U.S. government sort through data in various languages by developing software that can quickly cull and analyze text and speech. …
Read the full news story at Yahoo! News
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