Why language is humanity's greatest invention
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0:02 - 0:03Spoons.
-
0:05 - 0:06Cardboard boxes.
-
0:07 - 0:10Toddler-size electric trains.
-
0:11 - 0:12Holiday ornaments.
-
0:12 - 0:14Bounce houses.
-
0:14 - 0:16Blankets.
-
0:16 - 0:17Baskets.
-
0:17 - 0:18Carpets.
-
0:18 - 0:20Tray tables.
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0:20 - 0:21Smartphones.
-
0:21 - 0:22Pianos.
-
0:23 - 0:25Robes.
-
0:25 - 0:26Photographs.
-
0:26 - 0:28What do all of these things
have in common, -
0:28 - 0:32aside from the fact they're photos
that I took in the last three months, -
0:32 - 0:34and therefore, own the copyright to?
-
0:34 - 0:35(Laughter)
-
0:35 - 0:37They're all inventions
-
0:37 - 0:41that were created
with the benefit of language. -
0:41 - 0:43None of these things
would have existed without language. -
0:43 - 0:45Imagine creating any one of those things
-
0:45 - 0:48or, like, building
an entire building like this, -
0:48 - 0:50without being able to use language
-
0:50 - 0:55or without benefiting from any knowledge
that was got by the use of language. -
0:55 - 0:59Basically, language
is the most important thing -
0:59 - 1:00in the entire world.
-
1:00 - 1:03All of our civilization rests upon it.
-
1:03 - 1:06And those who devote
their lives to studying it -- -
1:06 - 1:11both how language emerged,
how human languages differ, -
1:11 - 1:13how they differ from
animal communication systems -- -
1:13 - 1:14are linguists.
-
1:15 - 1:20Formal linguistics is a relatively
young field, more or less. -
1:21 - 1:23And it's uncovered a lot
of really important stuff. -
1:24 - 1:26Like, for example, that human
communication systems -
1:26 - 1:29differ crucially from animal
communication systems, -
1:29 - 1:32that all languages are equally expressive,
-
1:32 - 1:34even if they do it in different ways.
-
1:34 - 1:37And yet, despite this,
-
1:37 - 1:42there are a lot of people
who just love to pop off about language -
1:42 - 1:46like they have an equal
understanding of it as a linguist, -
1:46 - 1:48because, of course, they speak a language.
-
1:48 - 1:51And if you speak a language,
that means you have just as much right -
1:51 - 1:53to talk about its function
as anybody else. -
1:53 - 1:55Imagine if you were talking to a surgeon,
-
1:55 - 1:56and you say, "Listen, buddy.
-
1:56 - 1:58I've had a heart for, like, 40 years now.
-
1:58 - 2:01I think I know a thing or two
about aortic valve replacements. -
2:01 - 2:04I think my opinion
is just as valid as yours." -
2:04 - 2:05And yet, that's exactly what happens.
-
2:06 - 2:10This is Neil deGrasse Tyson,
saying that in the film "Arrival," -
2:10 - 2:12he would have brought a cryptographer --
-
2:12 - 2:16somebody who can unscramble a message
in a language they already know -- -
2:16 - 2:17rather than a linguist,
-
2:17 - 2:19to communicate with the aliens,
-
2:19 - 2:21because what would a linguist --
-
2:21 - 2:23why would that be useful
in talking to somebody -
2:23 - 2:25speaking a language we don't even know?
-
2:25 - 2:28Though, of course, the "Arrival" film
is not off the hook. -
2:28 - 2:30I mean, come on --
listen, film. Hey, buddy: -
2:30 - 2:33there are aliens that come down
to our planet in gigantic ships, -
2:33 - 2:37and they want to do nothing
except for communicate with us, -
2:37 - 2:39and you hire one linguist?
-
2:39 - 2:40(Laughter)
-
2:40 - 2:43What's the US government
on a budget or something? -
2:43 - 2:45(Laughter)
-
2:45 - 2:48A lot of these things can be
chalked up to misunderstandings, -
2:48 - 2:51both about what language is
and about the formal study of language, -
2:51 - 2:52about linguistics.
-
2:54 - 2:58And I think there's something that
underlies a lot of these misunderstandings -
2:58 - 3:03that can be summed up
by this delightful article in "Forbes," -
3:03 - 3:06about why high school students
shouldn't learn foreign languages. -
3:06 - 3:08I'm going to pull out
some quotes from this, -
3:08 - 3:11and I want you to see
if you can figure out -
3:11 - 3:14what underlies some
of these opinions and ideas. -
3:15 - 3:19"Americans rarely read the classics,
even in translation." -
3:19 - 3:22So in other words, why bother
learning a foreign language -
3:22 - 3:25when they're not even going to read
the classic in the original anyway? -
3:25 - 3:26What's the point?
-
3:26 - 3:29"Studying foreign languages in school
is a waste of time, -
3:29 - 3:33compared to other things
that you could be doing in school." -
3:34 - 3:38"Europe has a lot of language groups
clustered in a relatively small space." -
3:38 - 3:41So for Americans, ah, what's the point
of learning another language? -
3:41 - 3:45You're not really going to get
a lot of bang for your buck out of that. -
3:45 - 3:46This is my favorite,
-
3:46 - 3:48"A student in Birmingham
would have to travel -
3:48 - 3:51about a thousand miles
to get to the Mexican border, -
3:51 - 3:55and even then, there would be enough
people who speak English to get around." -
3:55 - 3:57In other words, if you can
kind of wave your arms around, -
3:57 - 3:59and you can get to where you're going,
-
3:59 - 4:02then there's really no point
in learning another language anyway. -
4:02 - 4:07What underlies a lot of these attitudes
is the conceptual metaphor, -
4:07 - 4:09language is a tool.
-
4:09 - 4:12And there's something that rings
very true about this metaphor. -
4:12 - 4:13Language is kind of a tool
-
4:13 - 4:17in that, if you know the local language,
you can do more than if you didn't. -
4:17 - 4:20But the implication is that
language is only a tool, -
4:20 - 4:22and this is absolutely false.
-
4:22 - 4:25If language was a tool,
it would honestly be a pretty poor tool. -
4:25 - 4:29And we would have abandoned it long ago
for something that was a lot better. -
4:29 - 4:30Think about just any sentence.
-
4:30 - 4:34Here's a sentence that I'm sure I've said
in my life: "Yesterday I saw Kyn." -
4:34 - 4:35I have a friend named Kyn.
-
4:35 - 4:38And when I say this sentence,
"Yesterday I saw Kyn," -
4:38 - 4:40do you think it's really the case
-
4:40 - 4:43that everything in my mind
is now implanted in your mind -
4:43 - 4:44via this sentence?
-
4:44 - 4:47Hardly, because there's a lot
of other stuff going on. -
4:47 - 4:48Like, when I say "yesterday,"
-
4:48 - 4:52I might think what the weather
was like yesterday because I was there. -
4:52 - 4:53And if I'm remembering,
-
4:53 - 4:56I'll probably remember there was something
I forgot to mail, which I did. -
4:56 - 5:00This was a preplanned joke,
but I really did forget to mail something. -
5:00 - 5:02And so that means
I'm going to have to do it Monday, -
5:02 - 5:05because that's when
I'm going to get back home. -
5:05 - 5:07And of course, when I think of Monday,
-
5:07 - 5:09I'll think of "Manic Monday"
by the Bangles. It's a good song. -
5:09 - 5:13And when I say the word "saw,"
I think of this phrase: -
5:13 - 5:16"'I see!' said the blind man
as he picked up his hammer and saw." -
5:16 - 5:17I always do.
-
5:17 - 5:20Anytime I hear the word "saw" or say it,
I always think of that, -
5:20 - 5:22because my grandfather
always used to say it, -
5:22 - 5:24so it makes me think of my grandfather.
-
5:24 - 5:27And we're back to "Manic Monday"
again, for some reason. -
5:27 - 5:30And with Kyn, when I'm saying
something like, "Yesterday I saw Kyn," -
5:30 - 5:33I'll think of the circumstances
under which I saw him. -
5:33 - 5:36And this happened to be that day.
Here he is with my cat. -
5:36 - 5:38And of course, if I'm thinking of Kyn,
-
5:38 - 5:40I'll think he's going to
Long Beach State right now, -
5:40 - 5:43and I'll remember that
my good friend John and my mother -
5:43 - 5:45both graduated from Long Beach State,
-
5:45 - 5:48my cousin Katie is going to
Long Beach State right now. -
5:48 - 5:49And it's "Manic Monday" again.
-
5:49 - 5:52But this is just a fraction
of what's going on in your head -
5:52 - 5:54at any given time while you are speaking.
-
5:54 - 5:57And all we have to represent
the entire mess -
5:57 - 6:00that is going on in our head, is this.
-
6:00 - 6:01I mean, that's all we got.
-
6:01 - 6:02(Laughter)
-
6:02 - 6:05Is it any wonder
that our system is so poor? -
6:05 - 6:07So imagine, if I can give you an analogy,
-
6:07 - 6:11imagine if you wanted to know
what is it like to eat a cake, -
6:11 - 6:13if instead of just eating the cake,
-
6:13 - 6:16you instead had to ingest
the ingredients of a cake, -
6:16 - 6:18one by one,
-
6:18 - 6:19along with instructions
-
6:19 - 6:23about how these ingredients
can be combined to form a cake. -
6:23 - 6:25You had to eat the instructions, too.
-
6:25 - 6:26(Laughter)
-
6:26 - 6:28If that was how we had to experience cake,
-
6:28 - 6:29we would never eat cake.
-
6:30 - 6:34And yet, language is
the only way -- the only way -- -
6:34 - 6:38that we can figure out
what is going on here, in our minds. -
6:38 - 6:40This is our interiority,
-
6:40 - 6:42the thing that makes us human,
-
6:42 - 6:45the thing that makes us different
from other animals, -
6:45 - 6:47is all inside here somewhere,
-
6:47 - 6:51and all we have to do to represent it
is our own languages. -
6:51 - 6:54A language is our best way of showing
what's going on in our head. -
6:54 - 6:56Imagine if I wanted to ask
a big question, like: -
6:56 - 6:58"What is the nature of human
thought and emotion?" -
6:58 - 7:00What you'd want to do
-
7:00 - 7:03is you'd want to examine
as many different languages -
7:03 - 7:04as possible.
-
7:04 - 7:06One isn't just going to do it.
-
7:06 - 7:08To give you an example,
-
7:08 - 7:11here's a picture I took of little Roman,
-
7:11 - 7:14that I took with a 12-megapixel camera.
-
7:14 - 7:17Now, here's that same picture
with a lot fewer pixels. -
7:17 - 7:21Obviously, neither
of these pictures is a real cat. -
7:21 - 7:25But one gives you a lot better sense
of what a cat is than the other. -
7:27 - 7:29Language is not merely a tool.
-
7:29 - 7:30It is our legacy,
-
7:30 - 7:32it's our way of conveying
what it means to be human. -
7:32 - 7:37And of course, by "our" legacy,
I mean all humans everywhere. -
7:37 - 7:42And losing even one language
makes that picture a lot less clear. -
7:42 - 7:46So as a job for the past 10 years
-
7:46 - 7:49and also as recreation, just for fun,
-
7:49 - 7:51I create languages.
-
7:51 - 7:53These are called "conlangs,"
-
7:53 - 7:55short for "constructed languages."
-
7:55 - 7:57Now, presenting these facts back to back,
-
7:57 - 7:59that we're losing languages on our planet
-
7:59 - 8:01and that I create brand-new languages,
-
8:01 - 8:04you might think that there's
some nonsuperficial connection -
8:04 - 8:05between these two.
-
8:05 - 8:08In fact, a lot of people have drawn a line
between those dots. -
8:08 - 8:10This is a guy who got
all bent out of shape -
8:10 - 8:13that there was a conlang
in James Cameron's "Avatar." -
8:13 - 8:14He says,
-
8:14 - 8:17"But in the three years
it took James Cameron -
8:17 - 8:19to get Avatar to the screen,
a language died." -
8:19 - 8:21Probably a lot more than that, actually.
-
8:21 - 8:24"Na'vi, alas, won't fill the hole
where it used to be ..." -
8:24 - 8:27A truly profound and poignant statement --
-
8:27 - 8:29if you don't think about it at all.
-
8:29 - 8:31(Laughter)
-
8:31 - 8:33But when I was here at Cal,
-
8:33 - 8:34I completed two majors.
-
8:34 - 8:37One of them was linguistics,
but the other one was English. -
8:37 - 8:39And of course, the English major,
the study of English, -
8:39 - 8:42is not actually the study
of the English language, as we know, -
8:42 - 8:44it's the study of literature.
-
8:44 - 8:46Literature is just a wonderful thing,
-
8:46 - 8:49because basically, literature,
more broadly, is kind of like art; -
8:50 - 8:51it falls under the rubric of art.
-
8:51 - 8:53And what we do with literature,
-
8:53 - 8:58authors create new,
entire beings and histories. -
8:58 - 9:01And it's interesting to us to see
-
9:01 - 9:06what kind of depth and emotion
and just unique spirit -
9:06 - 9:09authors can invest
into these fictional beings. -
9:09 - 9:11So much so, that, I mean --
take a look at this. -
9:11 - 9:14There's an entire series of books
-
9:14 - 9:16that are written
about fictional characters. -
9:16 - 9:20Like, the entire book is just about one
fictional, fake human being. -
9:20 - 9:22There's an entire book
on George F. Babbitt -
9:22 - 9:24from Sinclair Lewis's "Babbitt,"
-
9:24 - 9:27and I guarantee you,
that book is longer than "Babbitt," -
9:27 - 9:28which is a short book.
-
9:28 - 9:30Does anybody even remember that one?
-
9:30 - 9:33It's pretty good, I actually think
it's better than "Main Street." -
9:33 - 9:34That's my hot take.
-
9:34 - 9:38So we've never questioned the fact
that literature is interesting. -
9:38 - 9:40But despite the fact,
-
9:40 - 9:44not even linguists are actually interested
in what created languages can tell us -
9:44 - 9:48about the depth of the human spirit
just as an artistic endeavor. -
9:49 - 9:51I'll give you a nice little example here.
-
9:51 - 9:54There was an article written about me
-
9:54 - 9:57in the California alumni
magazine a while back. -
9:57 - 9:59And when they wrote this article,
-
9:59 - 10:01they wanted to get somebody
from the opposing side, -
10:01 - 10:04which, in hindsight,
seems like a weird thing to do. -
10:04 - 10:05You're just talking about a person,
-
10:05 - 10:08and you want to get somebody
from the opposing side of that person. -
10:08 - 10:10(Laughter)
-
10:10 - 10:12Essentially, this is just
a puff piece, but whatever. -
10:12 - 10:15So, they happened to get
-
10:15 - 10:17one of the most brilliant
linguists of our time, -
10:17 - 10:20George Lakoff, who's a linguist
here at Berkeley. -
10:20 - 10:24And his work has basically forever changed
the fields of linguistics -
10:24 - 10:25and cognitive science.
-
10:25 - 10:29And when asked about my work
and about language creation in general, -
10:29 - 10:32he said, "But there's a lot of things
to be done in the study of language. -
10:32 - 10:35You should spend the time
on something real." -
10:35 - 10:36Yeah.
-
10:36 - 10:39"Something real."
Does this remind you of anything? -
10:39 - 10:43To use the very framework
that he himself invented, -
10:43 - 10:45let me refer back
to this conceptual metaphor: -
10:45 - 10:47language is a tool.
-
10:47 - 10:50And he appears to be laboring
under this conceptual metaphor; -
10:50 - 10:54that is, language is useful
when it can be used for communication. -
10:54 - 10:58Language is useless
when it can't be used for communication. -
10:58 - 11:00It might make you wonder:
What do we do with dead languages? -
11:00 - 11:02But anyway.
-
11:02 - 11:03So, because of this idea,
-
11:03 - 11:07it might seem like
the very height of absurdity -
11:07 - 11:10to have a Duolingo course
on the High Valyrian language -
11:10 - 11:13that I created for HBO's
"Game of Thrones." -
11:13 - 11:17You might wonder what, exactly,
are 740,000 people learning? -
11:17 - 11:20(Laughter)
-
11:20 - 11:22Well, let's take a look at it.
-
11:22 - 11:23What are they learning?
-
11:23 - 11:26What could they possibly be learning?
-
11:26 - 11:29Well, bearing in mind that
the other language for this -- -
11:29 - 11:31it's for people that speak English --
-
11:31 - 11:33English speakers are learning quite a bit.
-
11:33 - 11:37Here's a sentence that they will probably
never use for communication -
11:37 - 11:38in their entire lives:
-
11:38 - 11:39"Vala ābre urnes."
-
11:39 - 11:41"The man sees the woman."
-
11:41 - 11:43The little middle line is the gloss,
-
11:43 - 11:45so it's word for word,
that's what it says. -
11:45 - 11:48And they're actually learning
some very fascinating things, -
11:48 - 11:50especially if they're English speakers.
-
11:50 - 11:53They're learning that a verb can come
at the very end of a sentence. -
11:53 - 11:56Doesn't really do that in English
when you have two arguments. -
11:56 - 11:58They're learning that sometimes
-
11:58 - 12:01a language doesn't have an equivalent
for the word "the" -- it's totally absent. -
12:02 - 12:03That's something language can do.
-
12:03 - 12:07They're learning that a long vowel
can actually be longer in duration, -
12:07 - 12:09as opposed to different in quality,
-
12:09 - 12:12which is what our long vowels do;
they're actually the same length. -
12:12 - 12:16They're learning that
there are these little inflections. -
12:16 - 12:17Hmm? Hmm?
-
12:17 - 12:20There are inflections called "cases"
on the end of nouns -- -
12:20 - 12:21(Laughter)
-
12:21 - 12:25that tell you who does what
to whom in a sentence. -
12:25 - 12:28Even if you leave the order
of the words the same -
12:28 - 12:29and switch the endings,
-
12:29 - 12:32it changes who does what to whom.
-
12:32 - 12:38What they're learning is that languages
do things, the same things, differently. -
12:39 - 12:41And that learning languages can be fun.
-
12:42 - 12:46What they're learning is respect
for Language: capital "L" Language. -
12:46 - 12:50And given the fact that 88 percent
of Americans only speak English at home, -
12:50 - 12:53I don't think that's
necessarily a bad thing. -
12:53 - 12:56You know why languages die on our planet?
-
12:57 - 13:02It's not because government imposes
one language on a smaller group, -
13:02 - 13:05or because an entire group
of speakers is wiped out. -
13:05 - 13:08That certainly has happened in the past,
and it's happening now, -
13:08 - 13:10but it's not the main reason.
-
13:10 - 13:13The main reason is that
a child is born to a family -
13:13 - 13:17that speaks a language that
is not widely spoken in their community, -
13:17 - 13:19and that child doesn't learn it.
-
13:19 - 13:20Why?
-
13:20 - 13:24Because that language is not valued
in their community. -
13:24 - 13:26Because the language isn't useful.
-
13:26 - 13:31Because the child can't go and get a job
if they speak that language. -
13:31 - 13:35Because if language is just a tool,
-
13:35 - 13:38then learning their native language
-
13:38 - 13:40is about as useful
as learning High Valyrian, -
13:40 - 13:41so why bother?
-
13:43 - 13:45Now ...
-
13:47 - 13:51Maybe language study isn't going to lead
to a lot more linguistic fluency. -
13:51 - 13:53But maybe that's not such a big deal.
-
13:54 - 13:57Maybe if more people
are studying more languages, -
13:57 - 14:00it will lead to more linguistic tolerance
-
14:00 - 14:02and less linguistic imperialism.
-
14:02 - 14:05Maybe if we actually respect
language for what it is -- -
14:05 - 14:10literally, the greatest invention
in the history of humankind -- -
14:10 - 14:11then in the future,
-
14:11 - 14:15we can celebrate endangered languages
as living languages, -
14:15 - 14:17as opposed to museum pieces.
-
14:17 - 14:19(High Valyrian) Kirimvose.
Thank you. -
14:19 - 14:20(Applause)
- Title:
- Why language is humanity's greatest invention
- Speaker:
- David Peterson
- Description:
-
Civilization rests upon the existence of language, says language creator David Peterson. In a talk that's equal parts passionate and hilarious, he shows how studying, preserving and inventing new languages helps us understand our collective humanity -- and gives a quick lesson on High Valyrian, one of two languages he created for "Game of Thrones" (along with Dothraki). "Language is not merely a tool," he says. "It is our legacy, it's our way of conveying what it means to be human."
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 14:33
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Why language is humanity's greatest invention | ||
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for Why language is humanity's greatest invention | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Why language is humanity's greatest invention | ||
Camille Martínez accepted English subtitles for Why language is humanity's greatest invention | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for Why language is humanity's greatest invention | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for Why language is humanity's greatest invention | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for Why language is humanity's greatest invention | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for Why language is humanity's greatest invention |