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There's evidence deaf Hawaiians had been communicating with a homegrown sign language for generations, predating the arrival of missionaries, sugar plantations and the Americans who would overthrow the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893. But linguists didn't officially document the language until 2013, when research by the University of Hawaii found HSL to be a language isolate: born and bred on the Hawaiian Islands with no outside influence. More than 80 percent of its vocabulary bears no similarity to ASL. The findings launched a three-year project to document what remained of HSL, led by Lambrecht and linguistics professor James "Woody" Woodward, who has spent the last 30 years studying and documenting sign languages throughout Asia. By 2016, the team had built a video archive and developed a manuscript for an introductory HSL handbook and dictionary, featuring illustrations of Lambrecht demonstrating signs.

Hawaii Sign Language (HSL) was once believed to be similar to American Sign Language (ASL), used in the majority of deaf communities in the U.S. However, the work of Woodward and his team revealed they're not similar at all. In 2013, the language was recognized as its own distinct language. "Everything is different," Woodward says. "The vocabulary has less than 10% correlation to ASL, which is typical of languages that don't have a relationship to each other and were developed independently." HSL also uses much more body movement and facial expression than ASL.

Outlines the importance of early children's language development. It highlights the importance of the four main components to early language development: Phonology, Semantics, Grammar and Pragmatics. This article shows the critical period of first 5 years in development as this is the time that baby's nerve connections are being made and those for speech/communication need to be built early on so that they're inherent to learning.

Researchers at the University of Washington developed a play-based, intensive, English-language method and curriculum and implemented the research-based program in four public infant-education centers in Madrid, Spain. Based on years of UW's I-LABS (Institute of Learning and Brain Science) research on infant brain and language development, UW's pilot bilingual education method utilized the following brain-research principles: 1. social interaction 2. play 3. high quality and quantity of language from the teachers. 4. Use of "infant-directed speech", or "parentese": the speech style parents use to talk to their babies, which has simpler grammar, higher and exaggerated pitch, and drawn-out vowels. 5. Active child engagement. The country's extensive public education system enabled the researchers to enroll 280 infants and children from families of varying income levels. Babies aged 7 to 33.5 months were given one hour of English sessions a day, using the UW method, for 18 weeks, while a control group received the Madrid schools' standard bilingual program. Both groups of children were tested in Spanish and English at the start and end of the 18 weeks. Children who received the UW method showed rapid increases in English comprehension and production, and significantly outperformed the control group peers at all ages on all tests of English. By the end of the 18-week program, the children in the UW program produced an average of 74 English words or phrases per child, per hour; children in the control group produced 13 English words or phrases per child, per hour. This 3 minute video succinctly captures the study: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE5fBAS6gf4

When your brain encounters sensory stimuli, such as the scent of your morning coffee or the sound of a honking car, that input gets shuttled to the appropriate brain region for analysis. The coffee aroma goes to the olfactory cortex, while sounds are processed in the auditory cortex. That division of labor suggests that the brain's structure follows a predetermined, genetic blueprint. However, evidence is mounting that brain regions can take over functions they were not genetically destined to perform. In a landmark 1996 study of people blinded early in life, neuroscientists showed that the visual cortex could participate in a nonvisual function - reading Braille. Now, a study from MIT neuroscientists shows that in individuals born blind, parts of the visual cortex are recruited for language processing. The finding suggests that the visual cortex can dramatically change its function - from visual processing to language - and it also appears to overturn the idea that language processing can only occur in highly specialized brain regions that are genetically programmed for language tasks. "Your brain is not a prepackaged kind of thing. It doesn't develop along a fixed trajectory, rather, it's a self-building toolkit. The building process is profoundly influenced by the experiences you have during your development," says Marina Bedny, an MIT postdoctoral associate in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and lead author of the study, which appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of Feb. 28.

Researchers have found they can go far in predicting which children with autism will eventually develop language and which will not - based on differences in brain activity when the children are infants and toddlers. The findings represent a potential breakthrough in tailoring future early intervention programs to improve communication and language even before a diagnosis of autism is possible at 18 to 24 months.

Languages are now dying off faster than animal species, at a rate of losing a world language every two weeks. Researchers have discovered that the primary threat to endangered languages is economic development. It is now considered a global phenomenon.

Language is something that is acquired by social interaction as well as the nature factor instilled within us since birth. A study done shows that a group of deaf Nicaraguan people have been able to develop a language of their own. This language of theirs in constantly changing and being added to. The study looks into whether this chance stems from the newer generation or the elders. They found that newer generations are responsible for the constant change and addition to their special language. (Open PDF to see full study)

"Talk to your baby," Dr. Cutler said. "Your baby is picking up useful knowledge about language even though they're not actually learning words." Before, many believed babies did not learn sound until six months of life. However, studies now have shown that "newborns can recognize the voices they've been hearing for the last trimester in the womb, especially the sounds that come from their mothers, and prefer those voices to the voices of strangers." In addition, the language heard before birth and in the first months of life affect sound perception and sound production. These two discoveries have led to a better understanding of language learning and brain development in babies.

Texting language is a new language variety that appears with the Internet and digital media. This language has developed a unique style that requires new terminology, which separates it from daily language.

A few weeks ago, after I said goodbye to a friend who was moving across the country, I texted her an emoji of a crying face. She replied with an image of chick with its arms outstretched. This exchange might have been heartfelt. It could have been ironic.

Use of emoticons varies by geography, age, gender, and social class-just like dialects or regional accents. Friend groups fall into the habit of using certain emoticons, just as they develop their own slang. Emoji have undoubtedly changed the way we text, Gchat, and tweet-but are they changing language itself? While emoji are more popular than ever, the idea behind them is actually quite old. "There's an old utopian ideal that we could create a kind of a universal pictorial language," says linguist Ben Zimmer. Emoji could even mark a return (regression?) to a more pictographic script. However, Ben Zimmer suggests that emoji help convey tone and emotion and enrich written language.

This article discusses both emoji use, and emoji effects in language and expression. The vast majority of web users use or have used emojis, and the emojis that we use can yield information about us such as our general age and interests. Furthermore, emojis may be a form of language simplification and a return to pictogram communications.

This article describes a recent study in which scientists were able to use CT scans to generate 3-D models of Neanderthal ear structures. In the past, attempts to determine whether Neanderthals used language hinged on the hyoid bone, a single piece of the Neanderthal vocal tract. However, these scientists took a different approach by looking at the ears of Neanderthals to give clues about Neanderthal language. By running the ear models through computer programs, scientists were able to determine that the Neanderthal ear's "sweet spot" included higher frequencies characteristic of consonant production, and therefore human language. This is exciting because it gives scientists another piece in the puzzle of early human language development.

This article talks about why children are able to learn languages faster than an adult. It explains why a toddler is able to learn two languages at once while an adult may take years to learn one language. It also talks about how the brain works when a child learns another language.

This article talks about how language is the most important part of culture. I thought this article was an interesting read because I believe it builds upon one of the small group discussions we've had in class earlier on in the semester. I am intrigued by the fact that many different countries have developed a language over time as a way to communicate, and has now become one of the things that define their culture.

This article examines current hypotheses and research on the development of human language. It covers subjects like genetic and cultural evolution as well as the origins of language. Overall, it depicts how language has evolved over time.

This article talks about a critical period in the human life for the development of language.

A longitudinal study conducted by USC suggests that music training during childhood, even for a period as brief as two years, can accelerate brain development and sound processing. We believe that this may benefit language acquisition in children given that developing language and reading skills engage similar brain areas.

Music is such a powerful tool for children, whether it be singing, playing an instrument, or just grooving along to the beat. There are so many types of songs (repetition, recognition, action, imaginative, etc.) that it reaches out to all types of learners and helps develop their language abilities as well! This article explores how music can really help people with down syndrome!