Lera Boroditsky: How Language Shapes Thought
Long Now
00:00
How to Speak a Language Like Kuktayur
In order to speak a language like this, you must stay oriented. So even to say hello in Kuktayur is in English, we say, how are you fine? And the answer should be something like north-northwest in the far distance. That is literally to get past hello. You have to know which way you're going. People who speak languages like this do have a great sense of direction. They are able to perform feats of navigation that we used to think were beyond human ability. We knew for a long time that animals, different kinds of animals, had orientation abilities that seemed to surpass human orientation abilities. Well, turns out there are people in the world who
Transcript
Play full episode
