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linguisticdiscovery.com
Exploring the science and diversity of language! 🗣️ The latest linguistics-related news, how language works, and the diverse ways that languages do things. 👨🏼‍🏫 Danny Hieber, Ph.D. /ˈdæ.ni ˈhi.bɚ/ https://linguisticdiscovery.com
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When did language emerge? 🗣️ New genetic evidence 🧬 suggests that language must have emerged by at least 135,000 years ago, before humanity had begun to disperse around the globe and separate into distinct populations 🌍 scienmag.com/unraveling-t... #evolution #linguistics #language @Science.org

submitted 12 hours ago • 2 comments

What I like about this book is that the whole point is basically, “Don’t be a jerk about language.” And it’s now out in paperback! amzn.to/42qvOoe #linguistics #language #grammar #writing

submitted 17 hours ago • 1 comment

Even though 22% of U.S. resident report speaking a language other than English at home, only 8.4% of those residents speak English less than “very well”.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

The fascinating story of the ancient words that survive in the mouths of billions of speakers today www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a... #linguistics #language #history #archaeology #genetics #DNA #IndoEuropean @BloomsburyBooksUS.bsky.social @BloomsburyBooks.bsky.social @LauraInParis.bsky.social

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

The word “cuneiform” comes from the Latin word “cuneus” ‘wedge’, in reference to the wedge-shaped lines used to write its characters. Scribes began using a wedge-shaped stylus (first image) around 2500 BCE, which gave the characters their distinctive wedge shape.

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Latest reading! @laurainparis.bsky.social @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social amzn.to/4lBs3Uo

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

An AI model trained on dozens of hours of real-world conversation accurately predicts human brain activity and shows that features of language structure emerge without being coded in: www.livescience.com/health/neuro... #AI #neuroscience #science #linguistics #language #conversation

submitted 2 days ago • 2 comments

Here’s a video of Kanzi, the bonobo who learned to communicate using symbols, responding to novel English sentences, showing he has a rudimentary grasp of language. The main researcher who worked with him estimates that he knew about 3,000 English words. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dhc...

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

The writing on a recently-discovered tablet has linguists baffled ✍🏼 and GPT passes the Turing Test 🤖—here’s what happened this week in the world of language and linguistics 📰 linguisticdiscovery.com/posts/2025-16/ (Also available on Substack and Patreon.)

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

The word “guacamole” originally meant ‘avocado sauce’ in the Nahuatl (Aztec) language! The word was “āhuacamōlli”. The first part of that word, “āhuaca-”, is the origin of the word “avocado”, and the second part, “mōlli”, is the origin of the word “mole” (the food).

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

Two new books on Proto-Indo-European are coming out in May! ⬇️ #IndoEuropean #history #archaeology #linguistics #language

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

Did you know that the Linguistic Discovery website includes a list of over 60 linguistics podcasts? linguisticdiscovery.com/podcasts #podcasts #linguistics #language

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Americans are increasingly adopting Britishisms in their speech, according to data from the largest-ever spoken corpus of American English: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025... #corpus #linguistics #language #English #British #American

submitted 5 days ago • 3 comments

Why do some languages have so few sounds? A thread 🧵

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

Bonobo calls share a key trait with human language www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t... #primatology #communication #linguistics #language #evolution #science #anthropology @smithsonianmag.bsky.social

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

Reposting this because I found the creator! Ed of the Life Intolerance blog: lifeintolerance.thecomicseries.com/comics/16/ #linguistics #IPA #phonetics

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Here’s a sensationalist worrymongering piece from Forbes claiming that AI will ruin our vocabulary: www.forbes.com/sites/lancee...

submitted 7 days ago • 3 comments

Tibet is one of the most linguistically diverse places in the world, but that diversity is in danger of disappearing theconversation.com/tibet-is-one... #Tibet #China #linguistics #language #endangered #diversity @us.theconversation.com

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

Recent research increasingly shows that human culture isn’t as unique as we thought. @NewScientist.com discusses some of the ways animals have challenged the notion of human exceptionalism: www.newscientist.com/article/mg26... #animals #science #evolution #linguistics #language

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

Bonobo calls are more like human language than we thought www.scientificamerican.com/article/bono... #primatology #communication #language #linguistics #evolution #science #anthropology @SciAm.bsky.social

submitted 8 days ago • 2 comments

Babel: The Language Magazine just released its 50th issue! @BabelZine.bsky.social I’m excited to read the article about Nüshu, a script used only by women in an area of Hunan Province, China. (Writing systems have always been an interest of mine.) Grab your own subscription here: babelzine.co.uk

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments