From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or ...

A neuroimaging study by a UB psychologist suggests that phonics, a method of learning to read using knowledge of word sounds, shouldn’t be overlooked in favor of a whole-language technique that ...

Made-up words like “clisious” and “smanious” are easier to remember when they sound beautiful. Could the feel of a word shape how we learn languages, sell products and even how languages evolve?

Linguists have noticed that many swear words share the same sharp, punchy sounds—hard consonants like “k,” “t,” and “g” that burst out of the mouth rather than flow. When a study examined those sound ...

The days of having a dictionary on your bookshelf are numbered. But that’s OK, because everyone already walks around with a dictionary — not the one on your phone, but the one in your head. Just like ...

Effective communication lies at the heart of human connection. It helps us collaborate with each other, solve problems and build relationships. And communicating clearly is a major consideration for ...

Dogs may have better linguistic talents than scientists have previously given them credit for. The ability to recognize specific word sounds in human speech is a difficult task since small differences ...