Evolutionary linguistics   Wikipedia
Evolutionary linguistics is the scientific study of the origins and development of language. The main challenge in this research is the lack of empirical data: spoken language leaves practically no traces. This led to an abandonment of the field for more than a century. Since the late 1980s, the field has been revived in the wake of progress made in the related fields of psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, evolutionary anthropology, evolutionary psychology, and cognitive science.

Survival of the fittest: Linguistic evolution in practice   PhysOrg - December 9, 2011
A new study of how compound word formation is influenced by subtle forms of linguistic pressure demonstrates that words which "sound better" to the speakers of a language have a higher chance of being created, suggesting that, like biological organisms, words are subject to selection pressures that play a role in deciding which words become part of a language over time.

Language universality idea tested with biology method   BBC - April 15, 2011
A long-standing idea that human languages share universal features that are dictated by human brain structure has been cast into doubt. A study has borrowed methods from evolutionary biology to trace the development of grammar in several language families. The results suggest that features shared across language families evolved independently in each lineage.

Indian language is new to science   BBC - October 5, 2010
Researchers have identified a language new to science in a remote region of India. Known as Koro, it appears to be distinct from other languages in the family to which it belongs; but it is also under threat. Koro was discovered by a team of linguists on an expedition to Arunachal Pradesh, in north-eastern India.

  "Lost" Language Found   National Geographic - October 5, 2010

Faces of Koro: Photos of "Lost" Language's Last Speakers   National Geographic - October 5, 2010
In India's remote Arunachal Pradesh, linguist Gregory Anderson, director of the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, makes one of the first ever recordings of the "hidden" language Koro, whose existence was announced Tuesday. Koro speakers' language is as different from that of their neighbors as English is from Japanese, yet Koro has only now been scientifically documented as its own tongue.

"Lost" Language Found on Back of 400-Year-Old Letter   National Geographic - August 27, 2010

Native Peruvian language rediscovered in remains of church. Notes on the back of a 400-year-old letter have revealed a previously unknown language once spoken by indigenous peoples of northern Peru, an archaeologist says. Penned by an unknown Spanish author and lost for four centuries, the battered piece of paper was pulled from the ruins of an ancient Spanish colonial church in 2008. But a team of scientists and linguists has only recently revealed the importance of the words written on the flip side of the letter.

Ancient language mystery deepens   BBC - August 11, 2010

A linguistic mystery has arisen surrounding symbol-inscribed stones in Scotland that predate the formation of the country itself. The stones are believed to have been carved by members of an ancient people known as the Picts, who thrived in what is now Scotland from the 4th to the 9th Centuries. These symbols, researchers say, are probably "words" rather than images.

Tip-of-the-Tongue Moments Explained   Live Science - February 25, 2010
It's one of the most frustrating feelings: You know the word exists, and you know what it means, but you just can't spit it out. New research suggests the forgetfulness may have to do with how frequently we use certain words. The findings could help scientists understand more about how the brain organizes and remembers language.For insight into the phenomenon, researchers tested people who speak two languages, as well as deaf people who use American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate.

Nouns and verbs are learned in different parts of the brain   PhysOrg - February 25, 2010
Two Spanish psychologists and a German neurologist have recently shown that the brain that activates when a person learns a new noun is different from the part used when a verb is learnt. The scientists observed this using brain images taken using functional magnetic resonance, according to an article they have published this month in the journal Neuroimage.

Human Speech Gene Found   Live Science - November 11, 2009
Researchers have found a gene that could explain why we developed language and speech while our closest living relatives, the chimps, did not. The gene called FOXP2 is a transcription factor, meaning it regulates other genes. Past research has suggested this gene remained relatively unchanged along mammal evolution until after humans and chimps diverged. And about 200,000 years ago, when modern humans appeared on the scene, scientists think two amino acids (building blocks of proteins) changed in FOXP2. But whether that amino-acid modification had any real effect on us wasn't known. To find out, a team of researchers expressed the chimp and human forms of this speech gene in neuronal cells that essentially didn't express the gene, or make proteins that carry out that gene's instructions. They found 116 genes that were expressed differently in humans compared with chimps, suggesting FOXP2 is responsible for those differences, the researchers say.

Suite of language genes discovered   New Scientist - November 11, 2009
t is often thought of as one of the things that make humans unique. Now, researchers are uncovering the suite of genes that gave us our gift of the gab. All of them appear to be controlled by a master-switch gene called Foxp2. When inactive, this gene causes severe speech and language problems in humans. Although other animals have versions of Foxp2, in 2002 a German team identified two small alterations in the protein the human Foxp2 produces that are not carried by our closest living relative, the chimpanzee. This suggested that the human version of Foxp2 may function differently, and be a key element in our unique linguistic abilities.

Language may be key to theory of mind   New Scientist - June 23, 2009
How blind and deaf people approach a cognitive test regarded as a milestone in human development has provided clues to how we deduce what others are thinking. Understanding another person's perspective, and realizing that it can differ from our own, is known as theory of mind. It underpins empathy, communication and the ability to deceive Ð all of which we take for granted. Although our theory of mind is more developed than it is in other animals, we don't acquire it until around age four, and how it develops is a mystery.

What Happens When a Language Dies?   National Geographic - February 26, 2009
India is extraordinary for its linguistic and cultural diversity. According to official estimates, the country is home to at least 400 distinct tongues, but many experts believe the actual number is probably around 700.

'Oldest English words' identified   BBC - February 26, 2009
Some of the oldest words in English have been identified, scientists say. Reading University researchers claim "I", "we", "two" and "three" are among the most ancient, dating back tens of thousands of years. Their computer model analyses the rate of change of words in English and the languages that share a common heritage. The team says it can predict which words are likely to become extinct - citing "squeeze", "guts", "stick" and "bad" as probable first casualties.

Siberian, Native American Languages Linked -- A First National Geographic - March 27, 2008
A fast-dying language in remote central Siberia shares a mother tongue with dozens of Native American languages spoken thousands of miles away.

Language Feature Unique To Human Brain Identified Science Daily - March 24, 2008
To explore the evolution of human language, Yerkes researcher James Rilling, PhD, and his colleagues studied the arcuate fasciculus, a pathway that connects brain regions known to be involved in human language, such as Broca's area in the frontal lobe and Wernicke's area in the temporal lobe. Using DTI, researchers compared the size and trajectory of the arcuate fasciculus in humans, rhesus macaques and chimpanzees.

Siberian, Native American Languages Linked -- A First National Geographic - March 27, 2008
A fast-dying language in remote central Siberia shares a mother tongue with dozens of Native American languages spoken thousands of miles away, new research confirms. The finding may allow linguists to weigh in on how the Americas were first settled, according to Edward Vajda, director of the Center for East Asian Studies at Western Washington University in Bellingham.

Languages Racing to Extinction in 5 Global "Hotspots" National Geographic - September 18, 2007
From Alaska to Australia, hundreds of languages around the world are teetering on the brink of extinction-some being spoken only by a single person, according to a new study. The research has revealed five hotspots where languages are vanishing most rapidly: eastern Siberia, northern Australia, central South America, Oklahoma, and the U.S. Pacific Northwest. "Languages are undergoing a global extinction crisis that greatly exceeds the pace of species extinction," said David Harrison, a linguistics professor at Pennsylvania's Swarthmore College.

  Video: Last Speaker of "Extinct" Language Found National Geographic - September 18, 2007

'Oldest' New World writing found National Geographic - September 15, 2006

A writing system lost for 3,000 years has been rediscovered on an ancient stone tablet in Mexico.

Writing traced to nature, ancient shapes   MSNBC - April 25, 2006
The shapes of letters in all languages are derived from common forms in nature, according to a new hypothesis. The idea, in some ways seemingly obvious and innately human, arose however from a study of how robots see the world. Robots employ object recognition technology to navigate a room by recognizing contours. A corner is seen as a "Y," for example, and a wall is recognized by the L-shape it makes where it meets the floor.

English sounds like one language, but it's really not   PhysOrg - July 12, 2005
Americans need to realize that English as they know it is not what the rest of the world knows, says a Purdue University English language expert.

How different languages reflect, and shape, our conception of time   Guardian - February 23, 2005
For the Aymara people living in the Andes, the past lies ahead and the future lies behind. Laura Spinney looks at how different languages reflect, and shape, our conception of time. The old man shields his eyes against the fierce light of the Altiplano and considers the question. When he talks about his ancestors, does he mean the Incas? No, he replies in a sort of Spanish creole, he means his great-great-grandfather. And with his right hand he makes a rotating gesture up and forwards from his body. The Incas, he adds, came way earlier. And with the same hand he sweeps even further forward, towards the mountains on the horizon.

New Language Points To Foundations Of Human Grammar Science Daily - February 1, 2005
How is a language born? What are its essential elements? Linguists are gaining new insights into these age-old conundrums from a language created in a small village in Israel's Negev Desert. The Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL), which serves as an alternative language of a community of about 3,500 deaf and hearing people, has developed a distinct grammatical structure early in its evolution, researchers report, and the structure favors a particular word order: verbs after objects.

Speaking Tonal Languages Promotes Perfect Pitch   Scientific American - November 9, 2004

A new study concludes that young musicians who speak Mandarin Chinese can learn to identify isolated musical notes much better than English speakers can. Fewer than one American in 10,000 has absolute pitch, which means they can identify or produce a note without reference to any other note. Also called perfect pitch, this skill requires distinguishing sounds that differ by just 6 percent in frequency.

Learning languages 'boosts brain'   BBC - October 2004
Learning a second language "boosts" brain-power, scientists believe. Researchers from University College London studied the brains of 105 people - 80 of whom were bilingual. They found learning other languages altered grey matter - the area of the brain which processes information - in the same way exercise builds muscles.

Children create new sign language   BBC - September 16, 2004
A new sign language created over the last 30 years by deaf children in Nicaragua has given experts a unique insight into how languages evolve. The language follows many basic rules common to all tongues, even though the children were not taught them. It indicates some language traits are not passed on by culture, but instead arise due to the innate way human beings process language, experts claim.

English in Decline as a First Language   National Geographic - February 26, 2004
According to one new study, the percentage of the global population that grew up speaking English as its first language is declining. In addition, an increasing number of people now speak more than one language.

First language gene discovered   BBC - August 14, 2002
Scientists think they have found the first of many genes that gave humans speech. Without it, language and human culture may never have developed. Key changes to a gene in the last 200,000 years of human evolution appear to be the driving force.