The origins of human language remain mysterious. Are we the only animals truly capable of complex speech? Are Homo sapiens the only hominids who could give detailed directions to a far-off freshwater ...

An international team proposes replacing Hockett’s feature checklist with a model of language as a dynamic, multimodal, and socially evolving system.

Lead exposure may have spelled evolutionary success for humans—and extinction for our ancient cousins—but other scientists are casting doubt on the headline-making study Birds Make an Alarm Call That ...

How much does the evolution of human speech owe to one amino acid? The origins of human language remain mysterious. Are we the only animals truly capable of complex speech? Are Homo sapiens the only ...

Could chimpanzees hold a key to the evolution of human language? A recent study reveals complex vocal combinations in our closest relatives. Researchers recorded thousands of vocalizations from wild ...

Despite the vast diversity of human languages, specific grammatical patterns appear again and again. A new study reveals that around a third of the long-proposed "linguistic universals"—patterns ...

Language is one of the few faculties that still seems to be uniquely human. Other animals, like chimpanzees and songbirds, have developed elaborate communication systems, but none appears to convey ...