The Evolution of Language Structure

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The chapter explores the evolution of language structure, focusing on the formation of dependency trees to measure distances within sentences. It discusses how natural languages have shorter dependencies compared to controlled scrambling, emphasizing the avoidance of crossed dependencies. The conversation delves into the balance between language optimization for production ease and audience comprehension, highlighting the nuanced relationship between form and meaning in communication.

Edward Gibson is a psycholinguistics professor at MIT and heads the MIT Language Lab. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(10:53) – Human language
(14:59) – Generalizations in language
(20:46) – Dependency grammar
(30:45) – Morphology
(39:20) – Evolution of languages
(42:40) – Noam Chomsky
(1:26:46) – Thinking and language
(1:40:16) – LLMs
(1:53:14) – Center embedding
(2:19:42) – Learning a new language
(2:23:34) – Nature vs nurture
(2:30:10) – Culture and language
(2:44:38) – Universal language
(2:49:01) – Language translation
(2:52:16) – Animal communication