A study suggests some pattens in profanity are universal. Almost all languages feature foul words, and almost all of those words work in similar ways, functioning to show off our strongest feelings ...

There are two ways to appear smart—look it or sound it. Looking smart is OK, but if it ends when you open your mouth, how does that help you? There are many life hacks, but finding the perfect word in ...

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?

Splish-splash, boing, bang, thud, sparkle, and pitter-patter are all fun words to say — they also happen to sound exactly like their definition. A study published recently in the Journal of ...

As different as the world’s languages may seem to the untrained ear, some concepts share the same sounds even in languages that are completely unrelated, a new study finds. In a study spotted by Atlas ...

A new study suggests that the phonemic composition of words influences as how beautiful we perceive them to be, and how well ...

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 ...