All language-learners face the difficulties of regional variations or dialects. Usually, it takes the form of an odd word or turn of phrase or a peculiar pronunciation. For most languages, ...

Using advanced imaging to visualize brain areas used for understanding language in native Japanese speakers, a new study finds that the pitch-accent in words pronounced in standard Japanese activates ...

Students studying for exams, competing against each other in areas involving language, and in general, should learn to distinguish between a language and its dialects. While the words are frequently ...

What’s the difference between a language and a dialect? Is there some kind of technical distinction, the way there is between a quasar and a pulsar, or between a rabbit and a hare? Faced with the ...

The ability of children to speak any two dialects -- two closely related varieties of the same language -- may confer the same cognitive advantages as those reported for multilingual children who ...

Joshua Holzer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...

The vast majority of people, if asked what language is spoken in China, would say: That’s a no-brainer: Chinese, of course! Some might know enough to differentiate between Mandarin Chinese and ...

Large language models such as GPT-5 and Llama systematically rate speakers of German dialects less favorably than those using Standard German. This is shown by a recent collaborative study between ...

Slovakia is a small country, but the variety in its language is great. Indeed, much of the nation's history concerns the struggle to identify, codify, and agree upon a common language to support the ...