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Language

Life

Listen to an Australian duck say ‘you bloody fool’ like a human

When raised in captivity, musk ducks learn to copy the sounds of human life around them, which shows that they are what’s known as vocal language learners like parrots and humans

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Humans

Puzzle-solving great apes: The shared abilities underpinning language

Video
gorilla

Humans

Meet the puzzle-solving gorillas shedding light on how speech evolved

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tamarin

Life

Monkeys can change their accent to communicate with another species

News

Technology

The way we use emojis evolves like language and changes their meaning

News

Humans

The alphabet may have been invented 500 years earlier than we thought

News
two people talking

Humans

Conversations go on too long because people are too polite to end them

News
chimpanzee

Life

Chimpanzees seem to ‘speak’ in sentences of three or more calls

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orangutan

Life

Orangutans create new ways to communicate with each other in captivity

News
man gesticulating

Humans

Using hand gestures when we talk influences what others hear

Similar words that have different meanings depending on the syllable stressed – like OBject and obJECT – are easier for a listener to distinguish if the speaker uses hand gestures

News

Technology

Dr Dolittle machines: How AI is helping us talk to the animals

Features

Life

Baboons that live together in tight-knit groups have similar ‘accents’

News

Humans

‘Ums’ and ‘ers’ are a hidden code that helped complex language evolve

Features

Technology

In-ear nerve-stimulating device helps people learning a new language

News