Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about the broad intersection of data and society. When it comes to using “big data” to analyze the patterns of society, ...

Is it possible to spot personality dysfunction from someone's everyday word use? My colleagues and I have conducted research ...

Across the United States, a quiet linguistic shift is underway, reshaping how people speak in ways that are easy to miss in everyday conversation but striking under a linguist’s microscope. In South ...

Remember the famous 30 million word gap in language exposure between the children of professional families and those on welfare, and all its attendant problems in reading and attention? How could ...

Language patterns could be predicted by simple laws of physics, a new study has found. A theory using ideas from physics predicts where and how dialects occur. Language patterns could be predicted by ...

The simple pronoun "I" carries enormous psychological weight in ways most people never realize. Research shows that how frequently you use first-person singular pronouns reveals crucial aspects of ...

Obscuring strategies seek to disguise the true intent of a legislative measure, such as through “phrases of universal appeal.” These are statements that nearly everyone would be sure to agree with, ...

The way African penguins talk — in shrieks and squawks — during breeding season may not sound like much, but new research published Tuesday suggests that the raucous calls follow linguistic patterns ...