Category archives: Linguistics

Is Ukrainian a language or a dialect? That depends on whom you ask and how the war ends

Is Ukrainian a language or a dialect? That depends on whom you ask and how the war ends

LinguisticsSociology

By Invited Researcher

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the number of people studying Ukrainian on Duolingo, a language learning website and mobile app, has increased by more than 500%. Most of those who are taking up Ukrainian are probably unaware that there is a long-running controversy about this particular form of speech. One side views […]

Language evolution: The origin

Language evolution: The origin

Linguistics

By Pablo Bernabéu

1 Introduction Evolutionary linguistics encompasses the origins of language, the change within and across different languages, and the acquisition of language and languages by children and adults (Gong, Shuai, & Zhang, 2014). We shall start framing this voyage by looking back two centuries. Then, some theories of language origins seem to have displayed considerable ‘imagination’ […]

Studying language in people with dementia

Studying language in people with dementia

LinguisticsNeurobiology

By Adrià Rofes

People who are diagnosed with dementia may initially report problems on memory and/or language that affect their activities of daily living. Once factors such as depression, delirium, or mild cognitive impairment, are disregarded, these people are typically referred to a neurologist, radiologist, and neuropsychologist or speech therapist who will help them to understand the reason […]