Language

In the 1970s a young psychologist challenged a popular theory of how we acquire language, launching a fierce debate that continues to this day

What makes a word survive or go extinct?

It’s hard to know whether a toddler needs help with early speech. Here are some tips and guidelines

Ursula Bellugi was fixated on how we learn language. Her groundbreaking research on sign language demonstrated the connection between language skills and biology

Linguists and archaeologists have argued for decades about where and when the first Indo-European languages were spoken and what kind of lives those first speakers led

The Tsimane’ language divides the rainbow into blackish, reddish and whitish. But bilingual Spanish and Tsimane’ speakers are changing that

Most machine-learning models rely on mountains of data to replicate human text, but new research suggests the recipe for learning language might be simpler

The best fiction, nonfiction, history and sci-fi books Scientific American staff read in 2023

AI chatbots can convince other chatbots to instruct users how to build bombs and cook meth

A new study has found that the use of AI tools such as ChatGPT in the workplace entrenches biased language based on gender

A college professor and his students explain what they learned from bringing ChatGPT into the classroom

A new tool based on machine learning uses features of writing style to distinguish between human and AI authors