When it comes to using “big data” to analyze the patterns of society, the conversation inevitably turns to social media. Yet the world’s news media actually offers larger and richer insights into ...

Users who participate in online communities linked to conspiracy theories show distinctive linguistic characteristics even when discussing apparently neutral topics, such as films, music, cooking or ...

Like learning math, from simple counting to solving complex equations, language learning happens in a similar stepwise fashion, with each new step building on previous knowledge. Brown (1973) outlines ...

Language patterns could be predicted by simple laws of physics, a new study has found. Dr James Burridge from the University of Portsmouth has published a theory using ideas from physics to predict ...

When we speak, our sentences emerge as a flowing stream of sound. Unless we are really annoyed, We. Don’t. Speak. One. Word. At. A. Time. But this property of speech is not how language itself is ...

Is it possible to spot personality dysfunction from someone's everyday word use? My colleagues and I have conducted research that suggests you can, and often sooner than you might expect. Whether in a ...

A journey into the formal foundations of natural language began as Professor Ryan Nefdt delivered his inaugural lecture on 20 May. The University of Cape Town's (UCT) Mafeje Room at the Bremner ...