Oldest legible sentence written with first alphabet is about head lice
9 November 2022
The early adopters of the alphabet cared about their personal hygiene, judging by the inscription on the side of an ancient ivory comb
-
Subject
-
Section
-
Type
-
Topics
-
Author
-
Issue
-
Premium
AI can help historians restore ancient texts from damaged inscriptions
9 March 2022
An AI tool developed by DeepMind can help historians restore ancient Greek texts with 72 per cent accuracy, and date inscriptions to within 30 years of their true age
Why everyone should learn some sign language
12 January 2022
Sign languages are flourishing in many parts of the world. This could bring cognitive benefits for all who learn them, says Bencie Woll
Languages could go extinct at a rate of one per month this century
16 December 2021
As people around the world travel more and receive more formal education, languages are predicted to vanish at an alarming rate
Origins of Japanese and Turkish language family traced back 9000 years
10 November 2021
Millet farmers living 9000 years ago in what is now north-east China may have spoken a proto-Transeurasian language that gave rise to Japanese, Turkish and other modern tongues
Puzzle-solving great apes: The shared abilities underpinning language
19 July 2021
The evolutionary origins of speech may be glimpsed in the tool-using abilities of great apes.
Conversations go on too long because people are too polite to end them
1 March 2021
People mask how they feel about an ongoing conversation and leave others unsure of whether to stop talking, so dialogues can carry on longer than desired, according to a study in the US
Using hand gestures when we talk influences what others hear
27 January 2021
Similar words that have different meanings depending on the syllable stressed – like OBject and obJECT – are easier for a listener to distinguish if the speaker uses hand gestures
Newyddion gwych! Maths predicts that Welsh language is set to thrive
8 January 2020
The Welsh language, spoken by around half a million people today, is expected to “thrive in the long term”, based on a model looking at how proficiency in languages changes over time
Over 400 languages spoken today may have originated in northern China
24 April 2019
The Sino-Tibetan languages include Mandarin and Tibetan. Now, a study suggests they originated in northern China, contradicting previous research
