Dr. Nadine de Rue was a PhD student at the Radboud University. At the start of this year she defended her thesis entitled ‘Phonological Contrast and Conflict in Dutch Vowels: Neurobiological and Psycholinguistic Evidence from Children and Adults’. Luckily she was happy to answer some questions about it.

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Language is a form of human communication which is learned over years. The ability to use language is more than just understanding and using words. Language is structured, which means that people learn how to arrange words into phrases and sentences using grammatical rules. Once learned, using language seems effortless. But can such a complex system as language also be forgotten?

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Research requires scientists to do all sorts of digging when looking for new scientific discoveries. For example, they dig into papers, then into theories, back into papers, and ultimately into experiments to find intellectual gold (knowledge). However, before digging, experimenters must choose which tool to dig with as there is not a one-size-fits-all tool.

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People use their bodies when they talk—a lot. For example, we change our posture, move our head, gesture with our arms and hands, and use facial expressions to convey different things. In other words, visual signals form an essential part of human communication, at least in many cultures.

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Recently the Dutch language advisory body Taalunie has published guidelines for gender-inclusive language. The guidelines,

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