Press releases

A multi-disciplinary team of researchers from Chalmers and University of Gothenburg has developed a framework to study how language evolves as an effective tool for describing mental concepts. In a new paper, they show that artificial agents can learn how to communicate in an artificial language similar to human language. The results have been published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.

The Rök Runestone, erected in the late 800s in the Swedish province of Östergötland, is the world’s most well-known runestone. Its long inscription has seemed impossible to understand, despite the fact that it is relatively easy to read. A new interpretation of the inscription has now been presented – an interpretation that breaks completely with a century-old interpretative tradition. What has previously been understood as references to heroic feats, kings and wars in fact seems to refer to the monument itself.

When do English speakers say whether that will happen is unknown and when do they say it is unknown whether that will happen? Looking at, among other things, medieval homilies and early modern letter correspondence, a recently published dissertation at the University of Gothenburg shows how clausal arguments, and in particular clausal subjects, have been expressed at different points in time in the history of English.

At the Swedish Armed Forces Interpreter Academy, young recruits learn a new language at a very fast pace. By measuring their brains before and after the language training, a group of researchers have had an almost unique opportunity to observe what happens to the brain when we learn a new language in a short period of time.

What is it about copyright that doesn’t work in the digital society? Why do millions of people think it’s OK to break the law when it comes to file sharing in particular? Sociology of law researcher Stefan Larsson from Lund University believes that legal metaphors and old-fashioned mindsets contribute to the confusion and widening gaps between legislation and the prevailing norms.

This year’s Africa theme at the Göteborg Book Fair will be reflected in two events in Stockholm on September 27. International stars and younger authors will meet to discuss war and love.

The Nordic Africa Institute’s guest writer 2010, Brian James from Sierra Leone, will participate in this year’s Göteborg Book Fair, which takes place between the 23rd and 26th of September in Gothenburg, Sweden.

It was not necessary to be literate to be able to access rune carvings in the 11th century. At the same time those who could read were able to glean much more information from a rune stone than merely what was written in runes. This is shown in new research from Uppsala University in Sweden.

As a part of the process of globalization, an increasing number of higher education institutions are adopting English as the medium of instruction for parts of their education. Within most universities in continental Europe, there are English as a lingua franca (ELF) settings where English is spoken by users of a wide spectrum of first languages for various purposes, be it for academic activity or social interaction. This is clearly the case for Sweden, where higher education has become increasingly international and thus linguistically diverse, for educational, idealistic and financial reasons. Beyza Björkman from the English Department at Stockholm University reports the results of an investigation on the form and communicative effectiveness of spoken lingua franca English in Swedish higher education.