Lingformant
The science of linguistics in the news

People may be able to taste words

We are all capable of “hearing” shapes and sizes and perhaps even “tasting” sounds, according to researchers.

Full article: BBC News

Stretching Your Mouth Affects What You Hear

Neuroscience textbooks typically portray the five senses as separate entities, but in the real world the senses frequently interact, as anyone who has tried to enjoy dinner with a stuffy nose can attest. Hearing and vision seem similarly connected, the most famous example being the “McGurk effect,” where visual cues, such as moving lips, affect how people hear speech. And now new research shows that touch can influence speech perception, too.

Full article: Scientific American

Human speech gene gives mouse a baritone squeak

Mice can’t talk, but a transgenic rodent could shed light on the evolution of language. A team of German researchers has created mice with a human gene implicated in speech problems and thought to play a role in the evolution of language.

Full article: New Scientist

Emotional speech leaves ’signature’ on the brain

If I was reading this sentence aloud, your brain would be able to interpret whether I was speaking in anger, joy, relief, or sadness. That’s because emotions in speech leave distinct “signatures” in the brain of the listener.

Now, for the first time, brain scans have now characterised those patterns. The finding could help determine where in the brain deficits in emotion processing occur in people with psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia.

Full article: New Scientist

Songbird study provides concrete measure of biology’s impact on culture

A study by scientists from CSHL and CCNY performed among a species of songbirds called zebra finches provides new insights into how genetic background, learning abilities and environmental variation might influence how birds evolve “song culture” — and provides some pointers to how human languages may evolve.

Full article: EurekAlert