Summary:
- This article reports on a study that used machine learning to analyze the evolution of language and found that languages tend to simplify over time.
- The researchers analyzed data from over 2,000 languages and found that grammatical features like case marking, gender, and vowel complexity tend to decrease as languages evolve.
- The findings suggest that language simplification may be a universal process driven by the need for efficient communication, and could help explain the diversity of human languages.