Summary of Steven Pinker: Linguistics as a Window to Understanding the Brain | Big Think

00:00:00 - 00:45:00

In this video, Steven Pinker discusses how linguistics can be used to understand the brain. He discusses how rules allow for creativity and expression of unfamiliar meaning, and how they allow for production of vast numbers of combinations. He also discusses how language acquisition is a skill that children learn, and how children start to create sentences that adults don't typically produce at the two-word stage.

• 00:00:00 Steve Pinker, Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, speaks about the miracle of language, its vast expressive power, and its importance in human life. He notes that the language trait that most conspicuously distinguishes humans from other species is language, and that language is not a peculiarity of one culture but has been found in every society ever studied by anthropologists. Pinker also discusses the difference between spoken language and written language, the importance of grammar, and the fact that children have to learn to write.
• 00:05:00 Linguistics is the study of how humans communicate. Rules that govern written prose are not the same as the rules that govern spoken language. Many of the rules of language that are promoted as rules of logical speaking are actually double negatives, and make no sense. Babies and other animals communicate without speech, and think in non-verbal ways. People use tacit knowledge to understand language and remember the gist of what was said.
• 00:10:00 Linguistics is the study of language, including the words that make up sentences, the rules that dictate how those words can be put together, and the way people hear and respond to language. Linguistics has long been interested in the origins of language, and linguists have theorized about where language may have come from. Linguistics also studies how language works, focusing on the way words are stored in memory, the rules that govern how those words can be put together, and the way people hear and respond to language.
• 00:15:00 Linguistics is the study of the structure and function of language. Chomsky's three major insights into language are creativity, syntax, and long distance dependencies. Linguistics is a branch of psychology that is a window into the human mind. Prose style can be difficult to understand if sentences have too many long distance dependencies.
• 00:20:00 Steven Pinker discusses how linguistics can be used to understand the brain, including how rules allow for creativity and expression of unfamiliar meaning, and how they allow for production of vast numbers of combinations. He also discusses how language acquisition is a skill that children learn, and how children start to create sentences that adults don't typically produce at the two-word stage.
• 00:25:00 Steven Pinker discusses how children unconsciously assimilate grammar rules from the moment they begin to speak. He also discusses Chomsky's argument that children possess a universal grammar.
• 00:30:00 Steven Pinker discusses Chomsky's theory of universal grammar, which is supported by evidence that children use structure-dependent rules. Some critics argue that Chomsky has not shown that principles of universal grammar are specific to language, that he has not examined all 6,000 languages, and that more general purpose learning models, such as neuro network models, can learn language together with all the other things that children learn.
• 00:35:00 This video illustrates how the human vocal tract shapes speech sounds and how the brain perceives them. The human vocal tract evolved to allow for speech, but it also compromises the user's safety by leaving them vulnerable to choking. Speech comprehension is an incredibly complex process, and the examples given demonstrate how different words are pronounced when dictated into a computer.
• 00:40:00 Steven Pinker explains how the different sounds that words make come out differently depending on what comes before and after, as well as the lack of word boundaries in speech, makes it difficult for computers to understand language. He also refers to examples of wordplay that take advantage of this knowledge.
• 00:45:00 The subject of linguistics is the study of how people use language in context and the principles behind it. Pragmatics is a branch of linguistics that focuses on understanding communication in the context of the speaker's knowledge of the world and expectations of other speakers. The most important principle of pragmatics is the "cooperative principle," which assumes that the speaker and the listener are working together to get a meaning across. The study of language has many practical applications, including computers that understand and speak, the diagnosis and treatment of language disorders, the teaching of reading, writing, and foreign languages, and the interpretation of the language of law, politics, and literature.