Saturday, July 19, 2008
Talking fish are no strangers to Americans. From the comedic portrayal of “Mr. Limpet” by Don Knotts, to the children’s Disney favorite, “Nemo,” fish can talk, laugh and tell jokes–at least on television and the silver screen. But can real fish verbally communicate? Researchers say, “Yes,” in a paper published in the July 18 issue of the journal Science. Further, the findings put human speech–and social communications of all vertebrates–in evolutionary context. …
Full article: EurekAlert
Researchers from the Validation and Business Applications Group (VAI) at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid’s School of Computing (FIUPM) have developed an intelligent computational model of the descriptive grammar of the Spanish language. This opens up new possibilities for the computational representation of languages and natural language processing applications. …
Full article: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
Monday, July 14, 2008
Fossil finds suggest an early origin for human speech — It may be time to rethink the stereotype of grunting, wordless Neandertals. The prehistoric humans may have been quite chatty — at least if the ear canals of their ancestors are any indication. …
Full article: Science News
Saturday, July 12, 2008
A well-nursed prejudice in scholarly communication is that researchers avoid journalists and are disappointed with the coverage when they do have contact with the media. A current study in the specialist journal Science shows the opposite to be true: more than half of the researchers questioned described their contact with journalists as predominantly good. Four out of ten found coverage in the public-sector beneficial to their career. The idea of the “ivory tower of science” can therefore no longer be upheld. …
Full article: EurekAlert!
Researchers led by Steven R. Wilson of Purdue University videotaped forty mothers as they completed a ten minute play period with one of their children between the ages of three and eight years. The mothers then completed a series of questionnaires including the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale. …
Full article: EurekAlert!
Humans interpret symbols every day, from traffic lights to warning labels on tins. We also use symbols on a more complex level such as currency. When we use money, be it a paper note or a coin, we inherently understand the corresponding intrinsic value that that note or coin has. Our whole economic system runs on the basis that we all understand the value currency has. The question is, do animals also have this understanding? The project SEDSU, funded by the EU with around EUR 37 500 in financing, is saying yes, animals may very well understand the power of symbols and of currency. …
Full article: European Commission Research
At this rate a monkey might prove the Riemann hypothesis. Rhesus macaques have been shown to possess yet another numerical talent once thought unique to humans – they can simultaneously count audible beeps and dots on a computer screen. …
Full article: New Scientist
The mind appears to have a consistent way of organizing an event that defies the order in which subjects, verbs, and objects typically appear in languages, according to research at the University of Chicago. …
Full article: University of Chicago
In a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers found that speakers of subject-verb-object languages — “Bill eats cake” — reverted to a subject-object-verb form when asked to communicate with their hands. “Bill cake eats” may sound counterintuitive to an ear weaned on English or any of the one-half of human languages that modify subjects with verbs, but it appears to follow the natural order of our cognition. …
Full story: Wired News
Bicultural people may unconsciously change their personality when they switch languages, according to a US study on bilingual Hispanic women. It found that women who were actively involved in both English and Spanish speaking cultures interpreted the same events differently, depending on which language they were using at the time. …
Full article: New Scientist
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