From contemporary syntax to human language’s deep origins
New paper amplifies hypothesis that human language builds on birdsong and speech forms of other primates.
Department
Linguistics and Philosophy
Linguistic puzzler
Graduate student Rafael Nonato travels to the fringes of the Amazon rainforest to explore the Brazilian native language of the Kĩsêdjê.
Decoding ‘noisy’ language in daily life
Study shows how people rationally interpret linguistic input.
MIT and Haiti sign agreement to promote Kreyòl-language STEM education
Initiative designed to help Haitians gain technical education.
How human language could have evolved from birdsong
Linguistics and biology researchers propose a new theory on the deep roots of human speech.
American Philosophical Association honors Judith Jarvis Thomson
Bestows Quinn Prize for lifelong contributions to philosophy
Outsized influence
MIT Philosophy has extraordinary success placing PhD graduates in top tenure-track positions.
Q&A: Michel DeGraff on teaching STEM in Kreyòl
A model for reaching science-hungry students around the world who speak local languages
DeGraff awarded $1 million NSF grant to continue linguistics research in Haiti
Funding will help develop classroom tools to teach science and math in Creole for the first time.
The complexities of cognitive comparisons
In experiments, linguists examine how we make everyday judgments about groups of objects.