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The environment we're in triggers us to respond a certain way. The words we choose to use build the social environment around us. For example, studies show that people are more cooperate if they see the words "dependable" and "support," but they don't even realize seeing those words has triggered this sort of response. Using positive language creates a more positive and comfortable environment, while using negative language creates a more stressful environment.

In his study, anthropologist Caleb Everett found that certain languages were shaped by their environment. One of the environmental factors that affected the types of words that were found in a language is altitude. Languages that originated at higher altitudes, in thinner air resulted in specific sounds.

Language in humans has evolved culturally rather than genetically, according to a new study. By modeling the ways in which genes for language might have evolved alongside language itself, the study showed that genetic adaptation to language would be highly unlikely, as cultural conventions change much more rapidly than genes. Thus, the biological machinery upon which human language is built appears to predate the emergence of language. Professor Nick Chater, University College London Cognitive, Perceptual and Brain Sciences, says: "...although we have appear to have a genetic predisposition towards language, human language has evolved far more quickly than our genes could keep up with, suggesting that language is shaped and driven by culture rather than biology. The linguistic environment is continually changing; indeed, linguistic change is vastly more rapid than genetic change. "

"This shows that our brain has a complex sensitivity to our own speech that helps us distinguish between our vocalizations and those of others, and makes sure that what we say is actually what we meant to say," Flinker says.... While the study doesn't specifically address why humans need to track their own speech so closely, Flinker theorizes that, among other things, tracking our own speech is important for language development, monitoring what we say and adjusting to various noise environments.

"The current, long-standing theory suggests that children learn their first words through a series of associations; they associate words they hear with multiple possible referents in their immediate environment....A small set of psychologists and linguists, including members of the Penn team, have long argued that the sheer number of statistical comparisons necessary to learn words this way is simply beyond the capabilities of human memory.... rich interactions with children-and patience-are more important than abstract picture books and drilling."

These writing experiments seem like ways to burrow through the language environment that is our niche...

This article explains how children who are raised in an environment with lots of social interaction, and a wide range of vocabulary, tend to have a higher language comprehension.

This article explores the affects of high social interaction from a young age on children.

From the section Science & Environment An analysis of a Neanderthal's fossilised hyoid bone - a horseshoe-shaped structure in the neck - suggests the species had the ability to speak. This has been suspected since the 1989 discovery of a Neanderthal hyoid that looks just like a modern human's.

This article is interesting. It makes me theorize that birds can speak different languages, like how humans can be bilingual, trilingual, etc. I don't think animals can really understand each other, but they learn to do so in their hostile environment. My questions is this: humans are animals, so why can't we understand other animal's language like how, the video we watched in class claimed/Mrs. Stewart said, one species can understand the calls of other species? My answer is simply because we don't have to. Our environment doesn't force us to really pay attention to the signs and warnings of calls and such of predators because we are the dominant animals.

This article is about a study that was published about the correlation between different language learning environments and the brain activity. The results of the study showed that the brain activity when speaking a language learned from an immersion based learning resembles the brain activity of a native speaker when they speak the language. The results go to show that immersion based learning may be a better environment for language learning.

This site describes how colors affect emotions. And what colors evoke which emotions. It gives an example of when colors affects a work environment. And it describes events where this information would be applicable.

How environmental factors come to shape the emergence of linguistic This article describes how environmental motivations drive the emergence of different communicative conventions.

This article describes the relative effect of language internal and external factors on the number of cases in the world's languages. It considers model population size and the proportion of second language speakers in the speech community as sociolinguistic predictors, and other factors that have recently been suggested to influence typological and sociolinguistic language variations.

This article talked about the benefits of playing video games for language development since players are immersed in an environment where there is repetition of language through characters, environments, etc. They also learn grammar from dialogue within the game

This Scientific American blog article provides a handy run-down of research findings re: music's effect on the brain, including 1. Musicians are better able to process foreign languages because of their ability to hear differences in pitch, and have incredible abilities to detect speech in noise. Even those w/ a few years of music training showed more robust neural processing of sounds. Music "tones auditory fitness", critical for perceiving speech and distinguishing, recognizing and processing conversation in noisy environments. 2. Musical training and education may confer linguistic, mathematical, and spatial benefits, and promote social development/"team player" capacities.

This article discusses how Nashville, Tennessee voted to not make English the city's official language. Supporters said that by making English the official language, that would exclude certain people from an otherwise welcoming environment.

A whistling language like that quoted in "Tree of Codes," she said, speaks to "how we humans adapt to and interact with our environment, not being separate, but really being in a merged relationship with everything around us." That positive attitude sets Ms. Lim apart from some of the other musical-linguistic ventures.

Listening to music while studying can be helpful for many different reasons. Since music can affect your mood, if you listen to relaxing music it can prevent you from becoming stressed while studying. Music can also help to block out other distractions while studying, especially in busy or loud environments.

We each absorb select scenes in our environment through which we interpret a situation, creating our own reality by that to which we give attention. Our brain naturally tries to process what could otherwise be overwhelming amounts of information, by reducing it to a simplified story. However, because that story is based on a small sliver of reality, our perception may be incorrect. Thought holes, or cognitive distortions, are skewed perceptions of reality. They are negative interpretations of a situation based on poor assumptions. Studies show self-defeating thoughts (i.e., "I'm a loser") can trigger self-defeating emotions (i.e., pain, anxiety, malaise) that, in turn, cause self-defeating actions (i.e., acting out, skipping school). Left unchecked, this tendency can also lead to more severe conditions, such as depression and anxiety. Accurate thinking--identifying and recognizing one's false assumptions--can help reduce negative thinking. Here are 8 common thought holes: 1. Jumping to conclusions: judging a situation based on assumptions as opposed to definitive facts 2. Mental filtering: paying attention to the negative details in a situation while ignoring the positive 3. Magnifying: magnifying negative aspects in a situation 4. Minimizing: minimizing positive aspects in a situation 5. Personalizing: assuming the blame for problems even when you are not primarily responsible 6. Externalizing: pushing the blame for problems onto others even when you are primarily responsible 7. Overgeneralizing: concluding that one bad incident will lead to a repeated pattern of defeat 8. Emotional reasoning: assuming your negative emotions translate into reality, or confusing feelings with facts