News tagged with human language

Language structure is partly determined by social structure, says psychology study

Psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Memphis have released a new study on linguistic evolution that challenges the prominent hypothesis for why languages differ throughout the world.

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Jan 21, 2010 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (11) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

'Look at that!' -- ravens use gestures, too

Pointing and holding up objects in order to attract attention has so far only been observed in humans and our closest living relatives, the great apes. Simone Pika from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and Thomas ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 29, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Language driven by culture, not biology

(PhysOrg.com) -- Language in humans has evolved culturally rather than genetically, according to a study by UCL (University College London) and US researchers. By modelling the ways in which genes for language might have ...

Biology /

created Jan 20, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (7) | comments 1

How gorilla gestures point to evolution of human language

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the University of St Andrews have discovered that gorillas have a more extensive repertoire of gestures than any other mammal.

Biology /

created Feb 09, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (7) | comments 0

Study shows bilinguals are unable to 'turn off' a language completely

With a vast majority of the world speaking more than one language, it is no wonder that psychologists are interested in its effect on cognitive functioning. For instance, how does the human brain switch between languages? ...

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Aug 18, 2009 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (7) | comments 5

Chimpanzee studies suggest speech perception not a uniquely human trait

We all know that experience is a powerful teaching tool: practice remodels neural connections and leads to mastery. Now scientists suggest that it is early experience with language—and not special innate cognitive ability—that ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 31, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Challenging the limits of learning: Human mind vs. yardstick of a machine

Although we're convinced that baby is brilliant when she mutters her first words, cognitive scientists have been conducting a decades-long debate about whether or not human beings actually "learn" language.

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Jan 19, 2011 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (6) | comments 14 | with audio podcast

Human brain becomes tuned to voices and emotional tone of voice during infancy

New research finds that the brains of infants as young as 7 months old demonstrate a sensitivity to the human voice and to emotions communicated through the voice that is remarkably similar to what is observed in the brains ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Mar 24, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Humans' critical ability to throw long distances aided by an illusion: study

Can't help molding some snow into a ball and hurling it or tossing a stone as far into a lake as you can? New research from Indiana University and the University of Wyoming shows how humans, unlike any other species on Earth, ...

Biology / Evolution

created Jan 24, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Human language and dolphin movement patterns show similarities in brevity

Two researchers from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom have shown for the first time that the law of brevity in human language, according to ...

Biology / Other

created Jul 30, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Gene discovery supports link between handedness and language-related disorders

Scientists at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, have identified a genetic variant which influences whether a person with dyslexia is more skilled with either the left or right hand. The finding ...

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Nov 05, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Can networked human computation solve computer language comprehension?

Researchers at the University of Essex hope to answer this question by getting more volunteers to take part in their online game, Phrase Detectives.

Technology / Computer Sciences

created Jan 26, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 1

Gorillas' right-handedness gives new clues to human language development

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study that has identified a right-handed dominance in gorillas may also reveal how tool use led to language development in humans.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 20, 2011 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Shakespeare's skill 'more in grammar than in words'

William Shakespeare's mastery of the English language is displayed more in the grammar he used than in his words, according to a researcher at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

Other Sciences / Other

created Jan 30, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 1

Mouse Model Provides Clues to Human Language Development

Scientists of the German Mouse Clinic at Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen (Germany) have made a major contribution to understanding human language development. Using a comprehensive screening method, they studied a mouse model ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Jun 24, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Human language

A human language is a language primarily intended for communication among humans. The two major categories of human languages are natural languages and constructed languages. The term is used in the opposition to other kinds of communication used by humans traditionally called "language", such as formal language or machine language, as well as to hypothetical alien languages.

Often the terms "human language" and "natural language" are used synonymously.

For more information about Human language, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.