Brains sell magazines, mathematical linguistics sells caffeine. That basically summarizes coverage of a recent study on songbirds' "artificial grammar system". More on that later. First, a summary of ...

Timmy and Tommy are having a counting contest. “One,” says Timmy. “Two,” says Tommy. “Three,” Timmy replies. “Four,” Tommy responds. Timmy pauses. He can’t think of a higher number, and neither can ...

According to Noam Chomsky's linguistic theories, humans have evolved to possess an innate, biological set of grammatical "building blocks" of which recursion -- the ability to insert one phrase inside ...

Noam Chomsky, that noted linguist, has theorized that one of the main hallmarks that distinguishes human language from the squeaks and rumblings of birds and beasts is the ability to use something ...

Timmy and Tommy are having a counting contest. “One,” says Timmy. “Two,” says Tommy. “Three,” Timmy replies. “Four,” Tommy responds. Timmy pauses. He can’t think of a higher number, and neither can ...