we'll explore what metaphors are, why they work, their different types, and how you can use them to create more powerful and ...

Western University's Frank Boers explains why idioms can cause even fluent english speakers trouble with communicating and understanding.

Being a linguist—and someone who has tried to learn several languages (including English) in addition to my mother tongue (Flemish Dutch)—I have an annoying habit: instead of paying attention to what ...

Idioms are an often invisible barrier to understanding and inclusion for second-language speakers because their meanings rely ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Among the myriad abilities that humans possess, which ones are uniquely human? Language has been a top candidate at least since ...

The power of imagery in writing lies in its ability to transport readers beyond the mere words on a page, immersing them in vivid sensory experiences. It's the writer's brushstroke, painting pictures ...

Among the myriad abilities that humans possess, which ones are uniquely human? Language has been a top candidate at least since Aristotle, who wrote that humanity was “the animal that has language.” ...

I'm genuinely not sure if large language models—often referred to as “AI” in shorthand—are the future of computing. But I also don't think chatbots are how people will use this technology in the years ...

Understanding a simple-looking sentence such as “I read this article yesterday” actually requires some sophisticated conceptual computation: a subject (“I”) performed an action (“read”) on an object ( ...

Growing up, Tai-Danae Bradley had no love for math. In 2008, she entered the City College of New York, where she played for the basketball team and hoped to start a career in sports nutrition. She saw ...