language

Research findings challenge long-held assumptions about how we learn or regain speech

kay.pettigrew@mcgill.ca — Mon, 25 May 2026 15:58:11 +0000

Learning to speak a new language, or regaining speech, depends more on areas of the brain that process sound and physical sensation than on the parts of the brain that govern motor control, according to new research findings.

The study, by researchers at 91�� and the Yale School of Medicine, has implications for speech-learning theory and for the development of speech processing and recognition technologies.

Vivek Astvansh

lawrence.chiang@mail.mcgill.ca — Sun, 17 Dec 2023 05:06:23 +0000

AI that can learn patterns of human language

shirley.cardenas@mcgill.ca — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 20:33:32 +0000

Human languages are notoriously complex, and linguists have long thought it would be impossible to teach a machine how to analyze speech sounds and word structures in the way humans do. But researchers from 91��, MIT, and Cornell University have taken a step in this direction. They have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can learn the rules and patterns of human languages on its own.

Timothy O'Donnell

frederique.mazerolle@mcgill.ca — Wed, 15 Jan 2020 21:40:23 +0000

WASHINGTON POST | The weight of the words

nathan.menezes@mail.mcgill.ca — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 19:48:20 +0000

Jacob Levy offers a deeply thoughtful meditation on Trump’s use of language — on the power it has exerted over Republican voters and the GOP Congress, and on the folly of imagining that his words alone won’t do serious damage to American political life, as long as he is constrained from acting.

The Washington Post

Being a musician can help you decipher language in loud environments

priya.pajel@mail.mcgill.ca — Mon, 11 Dec 2017 17:57:48 +0000

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has shown that musical training helps people hear speech syllables in loud environments, and has shown how this happens. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), researchers Yi Du and Robert Zatorre monitored brain function as musicians and non-musicians listened to speech fragments and varying background noise levels.

The “reality” of accent change

cynthia.lee@mcgill.ca — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 17:47:30 +0000

Michel Paradis

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Feb 2019 16:59:44 +0000