Corrections & clarifications: An earlier version of this story contained inaccurate or incomplete facts about the history of language. Language is an essential part of human communication, allowing ...

Marlee Matlin has won an Oscar, and she’s appeared in countless films and television shows. Yet she, too, has faced a common Deaf dilemma: how to claim equitable access to information, when one lives ...

Social communication disorder, also called pragmatic language disorder, is a new entry to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Before that, the idea ...

A group of neuroscientists argue that our words are primarily for communicating, not for reasoning. By Carl Zimmer For thousands of years, philosophers have argued about the purpose of language. Plato ...

Teaching computers to make sense of human language has long been a goal of computer scientists. The natural language that people use when speaking to each other is complex and deeply dependent upon ...

Some may remember taking foreign language classes during school or in preparation for a new job or some travel. There are over 7,100 spoken languages in the world, according to Ethnologue. While it’s ...

LINGUISTS TEND to say that all languages are valuable, expressive and complex. They usually attribute negative attitudes to prejudice and politics. That is probably why no one has carefully studied ...

Wondering what language you should learn? From career goals to culture and ease of learning, here’s how to find the perfect fit for you.