MPI TalkLing

These days new pronouns are gaining recognition in many languages. Some are old pronouns being used in new ways, like “they” in English or “die” in Dutch. Others are totally new, like “iel” in French. But how do new pronouns “happen” and what are their effects? To answer these questions, we turn to Swedish, a language that gained an official new pronoun over a decade ago. Let’s unpack what Swedes were thinking when they added the little word “hen” to their vocabulary and see where they’re at now.

What was the main question in your dissertation? The main question of my dissertation was

Why are so many people these days talking about pronouns? What do they have to do with gender? How do you know what the correct pronouns are for something or someone? Let’s unpack what pronouns are and how their gender gets tricky.

Last year Laura Giglio defended her thesis ‘Speaking in the Brain: How the brain produces and understands language’. Luckily she was happy to answer some questions about it.

By 2050, around 2.5 billion people worldwide are expected to be impacted by hearing loss. This projection is mainly driven by the expected population growth and ageing. Hearing loss can result in difficulty following conversations and social isolation. In this blog, we explore what’s really important in understanding spoken language, and speculate on sound solutions of the future!