Read enough Sherlock Holmes, and you begin to realize that any good detective uses footwear as an important source of forensic evidence in an investigation. The bloodhound from Baker Street could say much about people from their footprints or the mud on their shoes. Modern research has taken our understanding of what shoes reveal about their owners a step [...]
Around the world, languages have unique words for topics that are often highly specific. In Russian, for instance, goluboy and siniy aren't shades of one color: they're two separate colors, light blue and dark blue, where an English speaker just says "blue." What happens when we apply the same minute differences to feelings? The words we use shape how we [...]
Have you ever ordered naan bread with your tikka masala or chai tea to go? If so, you’ve been repeating yourself more than you likely realize. Chai tea means tea tea, naan bread means bread bread, and the Sahara Desert means desert desert. Why do English speakers do this? The answer comes down to the moments in history when English [...]
If you’ve ever heard someone speaking in a language other than your own, it might have sounded like they were talking five times faster than you ever have. Or perhaps their language was slow and deliberate, maybe even poetic. Does that mean that “speedy” language speakers are more efficient at communicating more information in less time? Not necessarily. In [...]
The Bee Gees might once have suggested in one of their songs that words alone are enough to sway another person. But as it turns out, human beings use much more than just words to communicate in conversation. Rhythm is an equally important facet of conversation—the rate at which participants speak, how often they interrupt each other, and how much [...]
Have you ever overheard two people begin a sentence in English, slide into another language partway through, and then shift back again? If so, you've encountered code-switching. While some people assume that “needing” to switch back and forth between two languages indicates a person’s incomplete language proficiency, code-switching actually requires a high level of fluency. Code-switching is used to navigate [...]
For new language learners, one experience is common: dreaming in the language you are currently studying. Many people assume that dreaming in a new language is a mark of true fluency, but then you wake up to discover you're not nearly as skilled as you remember. Why does this happen? It can feel like a different version of you [...]
In previous discussions of transcription inside the courtroom, we explained that modern-day transcription is the most accurate that the legal system has ever seen. However, complications still exist on top of technical issues and background noise. A single misheard or ambiguous word can shift the legal meaning of an entire statement. Research indicates that shorthand reporters often mistranscribe non-standard dialects, [...]
Humans have always written too slowly for thought. Cultures across history have solved this problem in their own unique ways: Tiro’s word endings in ancient Rome, Chinese draft script, Pitman's phonetic system, and Gabelsberger's cursive "speech-sign art,” among many others. Nowadays, fast writing often comes down to text speak. But most people will admit that writing “u” instead of [...]
Someone in Buenos Aires might sing a song that first became popular in Italy, then was adapted in the UK, and later rewritten in Spain. And yet despite these vast changes across cultures around the world, everyone knows the words immediately, no sheet music required. How does this happen? Football chants are unique among both music and speech in that [...]
