Why is language uniquely human? As mentioned in previous posts, chimpanzees can’t learn language because they can’t learn to name things. Only humans can. We’ve also argued that an infant’s ...

Human language allows us to learn new words for things we've never witnessed directly. We do this seamlessly, for example, in conversations, using clues from the overall context to infer a new word's ...

Among the many developmental milestones that new parents look out for, few are as highly anticipated as their baby's first words. Despite some gibberish preceding actual language, a baby's earliest ...

The AI program was way less cute than a real baby. But like a baby, it learned its first words by seeing objects and hearing words. Some ideas of language learning hold that humans are born with ...

Alex Hodges spends significant time every day with her infant daughter doing what kids these days might call "yapping." "Maria can't watch you today because one of her kids is sick," Hodges begins one ...

A new study out of the University of Cambridge has found that singsong speech is vital for a baby’s ability to learn language skills. The study found that infants first understand language through ...

BABIES COME into the world seeking out comfort, so their first word is often “mama”. It is easy to say and reflects the bond of mother and child. Meanwhile those leaving this world often make a ...