Despite the vast diversity of human languages, specific grammatical patterns appear again and again. A new study reveals that around a third of the long-proposed "linguistic universals"—patterns ...

Human language is structured to minimize mental effort by using familiar, predictive patterns grounded in lived experience.

All known human languages display a surprising pattern: the most frequent word in a language is twice as frequent as the second most frequent, three times as frequent as the third, and so on. This is ...

All human languages follow the same pattern: The most common word is used twice as often as the second most common word, three times as often as the third most common word, four times as often as the ...

All languages strive to be efficient According to an influential theory in cognitive science, all human language is shaped by the need to be able to communicate effectively. At the same time, a ...

Humans' unique language capacity was present at least 135,000 years ago, according to a survey of genomic evidence. As such, language might have entered social use 100,000 years ago. It is a deep ...

Humpback whale song is a striking example of a complex, culturally transmitted behavior, but up to now, there was little evidence it has language-like structure. Human language, which is also ...

ispace will send a time capsule of 275 human languages to the moon as part of its lunar mission later this year. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Researchers from the University of Cape Town (UCT), working with international collaborators, have shown that people in ...

Ellen Garland received funding from the following grants for this work: Royal Society University Research Fellowship (UF160081 and URF\R\221020), Royal Society Research Fellows Enhancement Award ...