What is language, why do we use it, and how did it evolve? These are questions that language researchers are still working to answer. From a basic standpoint, a language is a shared system of symbols ...

For all the world’s linguistic diversity, human languages still obey certain universal patterns. These run deeper than grammar and syntax; they’re rooted in statistical laws that predict how ...

Human brains can discern the basic structures of written language from a single glance — enabling us to quickly consume the torrent of information fed to us by smartphones, a new study finds.

Chimp chatter is a lot more like human language than previously thought By combining different sounds, the apes unlock sophisticated communication abilities ...