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"Psychologists had already suspected that language was important for understanding numbers. Earlier studies of two tribes in the Amazon - one that had no words for numbers greater than five and another whose counting system seemed to go "one, two, many" - showed that people in those tribes had trouble reporting exactly how many objects were placed in front of them. But in those cultures, which don't have monetary systems, there might be no need to represent large numbers exactly. The question posed was whether language kept those Amazonian people from counting, or a lack of cultural pressure. To address that question, Spaepen and colleagues turned to Nicaraguan homesigners, deaf people who communicate with their hearing friends and relatives entirely through made-up hand gestures."

Description of words, syntax, etc.

By Lera Boroditsky (Stanford researcher) "Scholars have long wondered whether different languages might impart different cognitive abilities. In recent years empirical evidence for this causal relation has emerged, indicating that one's mother tongue does indeed mold the way one thinks about many aspects of the world, including space and time. The latest findings also hint that language is part and parcel of many more aspects of thought than scientists had previously realized."

"Remarkably, how people used pronouns was correlated with almost everything I studied. For example, use of first-person singular pronouns (I, me, my) was consistently related to gender, age, social class, honesty, status, personality, and much more. Although the findings were often robust, people in daily life were unable to pick them up when reading or listening to others... Higher GPAs were associated with admission essays that used high rates of nouns and low rates of verbs and pronouns. The effects were surprisingly strong and lasted across all years of college, no matter what the students' major."

"Rather than focusing on network dynamics, they decided to analyze the tributes by language. Jobs wasn't just an American visionary, but truly global."

wonderful radio interview with the woman who first discovered the songs of whales and is now researching how elephants communicate outside of human auditory range

"Pronunciation Book shows you how to say various words [454, to be precise] in American English."

"as the number of second- and third-generation Hispanic-Americans skyrockets, the perennial runner-up is embracing a new strategy - English-language subtitles and Spanglish - to attract deep-pocketed viewers and the advertisers who covet them.... Bilingual Hispanics, defined as speaking English more than Spanish or Spanish and English equally, are 82 percent of the United States Hispanic population... Shows that incorporate both languages and cultures can hook multiple generations."

Just having a feminine voice means you're probably not as capable at your job. At least, studies suggest, that's what many people in the United States think. There's a gender bias in how Americans perceive feminine voices: as insecure, less competent and less trustworthy.

Discusses current and ongoing changes in our language, and how language might evolve in the future.

A small circle of history researchers is racing to capture the last remnants of a little-known French dialect that endures in some old Missouri mining towns before the few remaining native speakers succumb to old age. So-called Missouri French is spoken by fewer than 30 people in Old Mines. The dialect is one of three French dialects to have developed in the U.S., and emerged 300 years ago. It's an amalgamation of old Norman French, Native American languages, and frontier English.

Barack Obama says his address to Congress this year is all about 'finding areas where we agree, so we can deliver for the American people'. And if there's one thing we can all agree upon, it's emojis.

As both a literary and scholarly achievement Webster's 1828 dictionary is widely regarded as both the first truly comprehensive dictionary of American English, and as one of the most important dictionaries in the history of our language. To mark World Dictionary Day - and to celebrate what would be Webster's 256th birthday - this article presents 26 of some of the most curious, most surprising and most obscure words from Webster's Dictionary in one handy A to Z.

Bilingual 1: "When I'm around Anglo-Americans, I find myself awkward and unable to choose my words quickly enough ... When I'm amongst Latinos/Spanish-speakers, I don't feel shy at all. I'm witty, friendly, and ... I become very out-going." Bilingual 2: "In English, my speech is very polite, with a relaxed tone, always saying "please" and "excuse me."