Progovac's study challenges two dominant narratives in human evolution: "survival of the fittest" (physical strength) and "survival of the friendliest" (prosociality). While both played a role, ...

In A Nutshell A linguist argues that wit, humor, and wordplay helped drive human language evolution through sexual selection, ...

The study of language evolution and learning addresses the complex interplay between cultural dynamics and biological predispositions in shaping human communication. Researchers employ experimental ...

Wild chimpanzees alter the meaning of single calls when embedding them into diverse call combinations, mirroring linguistic operations in human language. Human language, however, allows an infinite ...

This research was supported by funding from: The National Center for Competence in Research "Evolving Language" (SNSF agreement number 51NF40_180888) Swiss National Science Foundation (project grant ...

Recent advances in generative AI and machine learning have evolved technological communication to levels beyond what was previously comprehensible. The recent and rapid rise of Large Language Models ...

A photo by Seán Roberts on a recent hike near his house in Wales, which prompted him to recall the conclusion of a research paper he co-authored on the impact of environment on language. "Ultimately, ...

The study of gestural communication in great apes has provided a rich insight into the evolutionary roots of human language. Apes typically employ an extensive repertoire of innate gestures that are ...

The Maltese language stands as one of the most distinctive and ancient languages in the world, representing a remarkable ...

Language technology has grown fast, but it still feels frustrating at times. Maybe your virtual assistant misunderstands commands, or translation tools miss the tone of a sentence. These gaps can ...

For more than 150 years ago, the assumption that language is a singular event has hampered progress in explaining its evolution. Another obstacle was the failure to recognize that certain social ...