biolinguistics - LingoDigest

Thinking With Your Hands: The Unconscious Grammar of Co-Speech Gestures

6 min read

We don’t just talk with our mouths; our hands are constantly performing a silent ballet that helps us think, speak, and understand. This article explores co-speech gestures—the universal, unconscious movements that range from depicting objects to marking the rhythm of our sentences. Delve into the hidden grammar of your hands and discover the neuroscience that reveals why we can’t talk without them.

History Psychology Linguistics Psycholinguistics

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

6 min read

The tragic case of “Genie,” a feral child discovered in 1970 after a decade of silent isolation, offers a harrowing look into the “critical period” for language acquisition. While she could learn a vast vocabulary after being rescued, her inability to grasp grammar provided powerful, heartbreaking evidence that the window for learning the fundamental rules of language may be biologically timed. Her story explores the intricate and fragile relationship between our environment, our biology, and the very words we use to define our world.

Linguistics Science Phonetics Evolutionary Linguistics

The Descent of the Larynx: How a Quirky Evolutionary Shift Gave Humans the Power of Speech

6 min read

Human speech is a miracle of evolution, but it comes at a steep price. Our ability to form a rich variety of sounds is thanks to a descended larynx, a unique anatomical quirk that also makes us dangerously prone to choking. This post explores the high-stakes evolutionary gamble that gave our ancestors—and us—the power of language.