language

Space travel could create language unintelligible to people on Earth - Big Think A new study looks at what would happen to human language on a long journey to other star systems. Researchers proposes that language could change dramatically on long space voyages. Spacefaring people might lose...

Why learning a new language is like an illicit love affair - aeon Learning a new language is a lot like entering a new relationship. Some will become fast friends. Others will hook their arms with calculus formulas and final-exam-worthy historical dates, and march right out of your memory on...

Food innovations changed our mouths, which in turn changed our languages - Arstechnica The overbite that comes from eating soft food may make "ffff" sounds more common. Something deep in the history of the German language pulled speech sounds toward hisses rather than pops. Words like that and...

Lying in a foreign language is easier - Universität Würzburg It is not easy to tell when someone is lying. This is even more difficult when potential liars speak in a language other than their native tongue. Psychologists of the University of Würzburg investigated why that is so. Most...