Linguistics | Penn Today

A child sits at a table reading a book, two closed books are on the table beside them.

Why do young children pick up language easier than adults?

Why do young children pick up language easier than adults? One Penn linguist has some theories.

Osho seated with disciples kneeling before him, circa 1980s

Is it a cult, or a new religious movement?

Many religious movements started off as fringe groups, and many modern-day cults have no religious doctrine. Why are cults and new religious movements conflated, and what makes them different?

A group of people standing in front of a white statue in Rome, Italy.

Connecting with a Deaf community on the other side of the world

On a trip abroad to Italy that capped off the Penn Global Seminar taught by linguist Jami Fisher, students got a firsthand look at the diversity and variety of global deaf culture.

A group of people, some sitting on a bench, some standing, looking at something offscreen, with paintings on yellow walls in the background.

One hour, one painting: A Barnes visit reveals clues about how the brain processes visual cues

The exercise is one part of a two-week mindCORE summer workshop aimed at underrepresented undergrads across the country. This year’s program focused on language science and technology, and minds in the world.

How to think about African-American English

Taylor Jones, a grad student in the School of Arts and Sciences, led a study that found court reporters were only able to accurately transcribe 60% of sentences spoken in the African-American English dialect, regardless of the transcriptionists’ race or experience level.

Shooting for the moon

In her Language and the Brain course, linguistics professor Kathryn Schuler asked 30 undergrads to think big about big problems—and their solutions didn’t disappoint.

A few people stand in front of a building talking to a larger group of gathered people listening.

A shared past for East Africa’s hunter-gatherers

PIK Professor Sarah Tishkoff, Laura Scheinfeldt, and Sameer Soi use data from 50 populations to study African genetic diversity. Their analysis suggests that geographically far-flung hunter-gatherer groups share a common ancestry.

Philly accent: There’s a lot youse don’t know about it. Just ask these experts.

William Labov is best known for his decades of studying language patterns in Philadelphia, but the local accent is anything but fixed in time. Josef Fruehwald of the School of Arts and Sciences commented on the Philadelphia region’s shifting accent, alongside colleagues Meredith Tamminga and Jami Fisher.

Speaking black dialect in courtrooms can have striking consequences

Taylor Jones, a doctoral student in the School of Arts and Sciences, co-authored a new study that found courtroom stenographers made regular errors when transcribing sentences spoken in African-American Vernacular English.

a stack of books in front of a chalkboard with math equations

Celebrating science

Eight Penn faculty share their favorite general interest books about science.

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