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The special sauce of human language. Gotten. NATO alphabet. A1 sauce.
Dec 19, 2023
Linguistics professor Valerie Fridland explores the uniqueness of human language, emphasizing creativity, identity expression, and leadership in linguistic change. They discuss differences between animal communication and human language, the potential of chatbots, and the nuances of 'gotten' in American English. The episode includes funny anecdotes about the NATO alphabet mix-ups and 'A1 sauce' mispronunciations.
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Quick takeaways
- Human language allows for spontaneous creativity, expression of identity, and leadership in linguistic change.
- Animals and chatbots lack the ability to innovate with language to convey nuanced and complex meanings like humans do.
Deep dives
The Complexity of Human Language
Human language is incredibly complex and constantly evolving, conveying not just literal information, but also subtle hints about attitudes, perspectives, and emotions. Animals and computers share some linguistic abilities, but lack the perfect mix that humans have to discuss the present, plan for the future, reflect on the past, and adjust their speech accordingly.
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