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73: Consequences of Language (with Nick Enfield and Morten Christiansen)

Because Language - a podcast about linguistics, the science of language.

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The Power of Quoted Speech

Grammar is an important part of the whole intersubjectivity thing, and grammar helps us to do that. All languages allow you to report what someone else said. So I can say there are buffalo down on the plane by using speech to refer to speech. That's the basic information but it also separates the speaker from the animator who pronounces them. And quoted speech is this massively powerful thing because it separation these components of agency.

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