Han Kang’s novel "The Vegetarian" has been named the readers’ favorite winner of the International Booker Prize in a 10th-anniversary poll by the Booker Prize Foundation.
https://t.co/mzePesEdLE
Less than 0.1% of the genome may have about 200 times more impact on language ability than other regions—and those regulatory DNA sequences were already present in Neanderthals. @uiowa@ScienceAdvances https://t.co/rnCImCz1Yq https://t.co/Ou9g1SHc6O
Can early intervention help non-speaking autistic children develop spoken language? New data says yes—for about 66% of kids. 🗣️
The surprise? Duration > Intensity.
Long-term consistency mattered more than total hours per week.
Full summary: https://t.co/5uEMR71Xrx
#Autism #SLP #SciComm #Neuroscience
Cherokee is Dennis Sixkiller’s first spoken language, but it wasn’t until the early 2000s that he learned to read and write it.
https://t.co/xnA4zZWayZ
Harlequin’s French division is reportedly transitioning to AI-generated translation, according to a letter published by The French Literary Translators Association and the collective En Chair et en Os (In Flesh and Bone: For Human Translation) 👇
Here's my conversation with Irving Finkel, a scholar of ancient languages and Mesopotamian history. He specializes in deciphering cuneiform tablets from Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian contexts. He became widely known for studying a tablet with a Mesopotamian flood story that predates the biblical Noah narrative.
We talk about ancient writing & language, controversial theories about ancient civilizations, Noah's Ark, flood myths, Göbekli Tepe, and much more.
It's here on X in full and is up everywhere else (see comment).
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
0:58 - Origins of human language
7:04 - Cuneiform
14:17 - Controversial theory about Göbekli Tepe
25:29 - How to write and speak Cuneiform
30:48 - Primitive human language
32:31 - Development of writing systems
33:25 - Decipherment of Cuneiform
45:57 - Limits of language
50:56 - Art of translation
56:06 - Gods
1:01:31 - Ghosts
1:11:19 - Ancient flood stories
1:21:26 - Noah's Ark
1:32:49 - The Royal Game of Ur
1:45:48 - British Museum
1:53:13 - Evolution of human civilization
Speaking Multiple Languages May Slow Down Biological Aging
An international study of more than 86,000 Europeans found that speaking multiple languages may slow biological aging and protect against age-related decline.
Using AI models to estimate “biobehavioral age,” researchers discovered that multilingual individuals were twice as likely to show slower aging compared to monolinguals.
The effect was cumulative — the more languages a person spoke, the greater the protective benefit for brain and body health.
A Dictionary of the English Language
By Samuel Johnson
This is the 5th edition from 1784 of what some would call THE Dictionary of the English Language... and it is an absolute unit.
Across history, linguists have insisted that language sets humans apart from other species. But a new study demonstrating AI’s startlingly complex “metalinguistic” skills threatens to throw mankind’s exclusivity out the window.
https://t.co/5u9hQyp5dr
A group of researchers studied which language is best understood by artificial intelligence, with Polish in the lead and English only ranking at sixth place. https://t.co/mDcHl7cnot