Language

African gray parrots are highly intelligent birds that can learn to closely mimic human voices.

These Parrots Won't Stop Swearing. Will They Learn to Behave—or Corrupt the Entire Flock?

A British zoo hopes the good manners of a larger group will rub off on the eight misbehaving birds

The three-inch blade is one of the earliest surviving examples of a runic inscription in Denmark.

Engravings on 2,000-Year-Old Knife Might Be the Oldest Runes Ever Found in Denmark

The letters on the blade read "hirila," which experts say may translate to "small sword"

Accents center on the pronunciation of words, while dialects encompass pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. Here, the subjects of Grant Wood's American Gothic channel speaking styles popular in California and New York.

A Brief History of the United States' Accents and Dialects

Migration patterns, cultural ties, geographic regions and class differences all shape speaking patterns

Participants on a bus tour at the 2014 community pilgrimage to Tule Lake

Why the Language We Use to Describe Japanese American Incarceration During World War II Matters

A descendant of concentration camp survivors argues that using the right vocabulary can help clarify the stakes when confronting wartime trauma

This year, lookups on Dictionary.com increased for A.I.-related words, including "generative A.I.,” “GPT” and “chatbot.”

'Hallucinate' Is Dictionary.com's Word of the Year for 2023

In the context of artificial intelligence, the word means "to produce false information" and "present it as if true"

Fialka's reading group in Venice, California, in 2008

A Book Club Began 'Finnegans Wake' in 1995. After 28 Years, It Finally Reached the End

The group meets once a month to talk about one or two pages of the bewildering James Joyce novel

Rizz is unusual, in that it's an abbreviated version of the word "charisma" that comes from the middle of the word.

‘Rizz’ Is Oxford’s 2023 Word of the Year

The word means “style, charm or attractiveness” or “the ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner"

Advances in technology are making altering or faking content increasingly easier.

Merriam-Webster's 2023 Word of the Year Is 'Authentic'

As technology's ability to manipulate reality improves, we're all searching for the truth

A Herculaneum scroll being scanned at Institut de France by Brent Seales and his team

This 21-Year-Old Used A.I. to Decipher Text From a Scroll That Hasn’t Been Read in 2,000 Years

The papyrus scroll is one of hundreds that were carbonized in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E.

Two types of white blood cells, a neutrophil (top) and a lymphocyte (bottom), in human blood.

Human Cells Display a Mathematical Pattern That Repeats in Nature and Language

New research suggests adult humans have between 28 trillion and 36 trillion cells, which follow a commonly seen distribution of size and mass

Some birds—including blue jays—are strong vocal learners that can mimic other birds and make lots of different sounds.

Songbirds That Learn to Make New Sounds Are the Best Problem-Solvers

Birds—and humans—are vocal learners, meaning they can imitate new vocalizations and use them to communicate

Pink Floyd performs c. 1972 in London, England. Researchers used a computer model to try recreate one of their songs using the brain signals of people listening to it. 

Scientists Recreated a Pink Floyd Song From Listeners' Brain Waves

Electrodes collected brain signals while people listened to "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 1," then computers produced a garbled but recognizable track

The letter “x” often symbolizes something unknown, with an air of mystery that can be appealing.

A Brief History of the Letter 'X,' From Algebra to X-Mas to Elon Musk

A math historian explores how "x" came to stand in for an unknown quantity

Dolphins and humans both change how they communicate when they're around babies.

Dolphins Use Baby Talk When Their Calves Are Around

Like humans, female dolphins make higher-pitched vocalizations when communicating with their young

Scientists observed two separate groups of orangutans making biphonations, or two sounds at once.

Orangutans Can Beatbox, Just Like Humans

The primates can simultaneously make sounds with their mouth and throat, a finding that may shed light on the evolution of human speech

In this page from Confessionario En lengua Castellana y Timuquana Con algunos consejos para animar al penitente (Confessions in the Castilian and Timucua Language, with some tips to encourage the penitent.), Spanish is at left and the translation of Timucua is at right.

With Their Knowledge Combined, Two Scholars Are Deciphering a Long-Lost Native Language

A historian and a linguist, working together, revealed new truths about the relationship between Spanish colonizers and the Timucua people

One of the scrolls carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius

You Could Win $1 Million by Deciphering These Ancient Roman Scrolls

The Herculaneum scrolls have remained unreadable since their discovery in 1750, but researchers hope to change that

The resort sits at the base of Palisades Tahoe, a ski resort that dropped the slur from its name two years ago.

California Resort Drops Racial Slur From Its Name

The resort worked with representatives from the Washoe Tribe to implement the name change

Dictionary.com regularly adds new words with staying power to its online listings.

Dictionary.com Adds More Than 300 New Words

Additions like “digital nomad,” “anti-fat” and “liminal space” reflect the dynamic nature of the English language

The comb found by archaeologists in 2016

What a Comb Can Tell Us About the History of the Written Word

A curious new find yields clues to the origins of the alphabet

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