The assumption that has often been made at least is that language really isn't like a normal skill. It's something special, as if it was genetically wired into us. But the results of more detailed experimentation on how people process languages are quite the opposite. Really, each of us is different with different levels of skill, different ways of doing things but we don't be over enough. We can still play the language game successfully.
Language is perhaps humanity's most astonishing accomplishment but one that remains poorly understood. On this episode of the podcast we were joined by Nick Chater, Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School, and Morten H. Christiansen, Professor of Psychology at Cornell University. Together in their latest book "The Language Game," they upend our traditional understanding of language, arguing that it's not based on a set of fixed rules, but on a constantly evolving series of flexible conventions. Our host for this episode was journalist Christine Ro.
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