Psycholinguistics

Cracking the Code Before Words: The Infant’s Amazing Ability to Find Word Boundaries

To an infant, spoken language is a continuous, unbroken river of sound. So how do they learn where one word…

3 weeks ago

Walking Backwards into the Future: How the Aymara Language Redefines Time

What if the past was in front of you and the future was behind you? This isn't science fiction; it's…

3 weeks ago

From “Flinty” to “Foxy”: How the World of Wine Invented Its Own Language

From "tannic" to "terroir," the world of wine has invented a specialized language to describe complex sensory experiences that are…

3 weeks ago

The Accent That Wasn’t Theirs: Inside the Baffling Neurological Mystery of Foreign Accent Syndrome

Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) is a baffling and rare medical condition where a person, typically after a stroke or brain…

3 weeks ago

Why Is This Shape “Bouba” and That One “Kiki”? The Surprising Science of Sound Symbolism

Have you ever wondered why a spiky shape just *feels* like a "Kiki" and a rounded one a "Bouba"? This…

3 weeks ago

The Hidden Verbs of Persuasion: How Advertising Language Gets Inside Your Head

Every word in an advertisement is chosen with surgical precision. Beyond marketing psychology, specific linguistic tricks—from "weasel words" like 'helps'…

3 weeks ago

Tasting the Word ‘Tuesday’: The Extraordinary World of Lexical-Gustatory Synesthesia

What does the word 'Tuesday' taste like to you? For most of us, the question is nonsensical, but for individuals…

3 weeks ago

The Girl Who Couldn’t Speak: Genie and the Tragic Limits of the Critical Period for Language

The tragic case of "Genie," a feral child discovered in 1970 after a decade of silent isolation, offers a harrowing…

3 weeks ago

The Syntax of Scent: Can We Ever Truly Describe Smells with Words?

Why can we describe a shade of blue with a dozen words, but struggle to articulate the scent of rain?…

3 weeks ago

The ELIZA Effect: Why We Talk to Chatbots Like They’re Human

Have you ever found yourself saying "please" and "thank you" to a chatbot or voice assistant? This is the ELIZA…

3 weeks ago

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