Someone doesn’t sound like you. Are they speaking in a dialect? A dialect is a variety of a language that signals where a person comes from. When you hear people talk, not everyone sounds the same, even when they are speaking the same language! This is often because they are speaking in different dialects. When […]
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How do Siri and Alexa sound so much like people and not robots? One way: formants!
Formants are used in all sorts of voice-related technology and analysis. Formants are bands of high-energy sound that occur at certain frequencies. Does this sound complicated? How about this: Have you been in a small echoey room or stairwell and noticed the echoes were stronger when you spoke or sung a certain pitch? The room […]
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Scientists can’t ask babies what they think, but we can see where they look.
Where infants look can tell us what they know about the world. As any parent knows, infants cannot readily tell you what they want or need. This also means that they cannot directly express what they know. For developmental psychologists, who are often interested in what infants know when, this can be pretty challenging. So […]
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What is a language? How can we define it?
Language lets people share complex ideas. A language is a system of communication consisting of a system to form words, a system to assign meanings, and a grammar. When considering what language is, there are many different factors to take into account. One of these factors is grammar, which is the set of rules that […]
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What are Broca’s Area and Wernicke’s Area?
These two areas of the brain are well-known to be used to understand and produce language. Broca’s area is the part of the brain most commonly linked to language production. One way that people can learn about the function of Broca’s area is by studying people who have damage to this brain region. In fact, […]
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Lemma: the essential form of a word
What do you know when you know a word? You probably know many forms of the same word, with small modifications, or what linguists call inflections— small grammatical changes that don’t really change the meaning of the word. While the technical term for the whole group of possible forms together is a lexeme, the most […]
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Did you know words are built from even smaller meaningful parts?
A morpheme is the smallest unit of a word that can carry meaning. You might think that’s the same as a word, but there are even smaller bits that you know the meaning of, maybe without realizing it. Think about the following words: unlock, untie, unwrap, unwind, unwind, unstick. What does that little piece un- […]
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Babies on their home turf: using observational methods to study development
How do scientists learn what babies know? Babies learn language from the language (or languages) they experience in the world around them. But what is early language experience actually like for babies? Observational methods can give us a glimpse into children’s everyday lives – what they hear, see, and say. One approach uses naturalistic recordings […]
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[f] for Phoneme: the units of speech sounds
Phonemes are the building blocks of words. A phoneme is a speech sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. They are like little categories in your brain! You sort acoustic sounds into phonemes when you say something or hear someone speak. Not all instances of a phoneme sound exactly the […]
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What is a Speech Language Pathologist?
A speech language pathologist (SLP) is a specialist in speech and language. SLPs often diagnose and treat speech and language delays and disorders, but may also work on swallowing disorders. They may work in schools, hospitals, nursing homes, or private clinics. To become a speech language pathologist in the United States, you must complete a […]