Intonation is an integral part of communication for all speakers. But can sign languages have intonation? A new study shows that signers use their faces to create intonational ‘melodies’ just as ...

Have you ever noticed that a natural conversation flows like a dance—pauses, emphases, and turns arriving just in time? A new study has discovered that this isn't just intuition; there is a biological ...

We have intensively discussed speech sounds in this class. The aim has been to improve on how we pronounce words. Today, we are building on what I hope has been achieved by looking at the concept of ...

Raúl Sánchez and Dan Bullock are linguistics and communications specialists and NYU professors. They say improving vocalics, aka nonverbal aspects of speech, is key for effective communication. Vocal ...

When we read, it's very easy for us to tell individual words apart: In written language, spaces are used to separate words from one another. But this is not the case with spoken language – speech is a ...

We’re taught almost as soon as we speak our first words to end our sentences with a firm and clear “period” or downward intonation. When we want information, though, we lift our pitch in a definitive ...

Twin babies have conversations with each other, complete with gesticulations; it may sound like "dadadadada" to us, but clearly something is going on. Little girls carry on phone conversations with ...

When we read, it’s very easy for us to tell individual words apart: In written language, spaces are used to separate words from one another. But this is not the case with spoken language – speech is a ...

Some people consider baby talk to be incredibly annoying, and many believe it can even be harmful to a child's development. But research has shown speaking slowly in a childish voice is in fact ...

In the last trimester of the pregnancy, human fetuses become active listeners. "The sense of hearing is the first sensory system that develops", says Angela Friederici, one of the Directors at the Max ...