Uploaded June 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Linguist David Adger on the similarities between all the languages, creation of the new grammatical rules and how social factors affect your word choice.
Read the full text on our website: serious-science.org/the-nature-of-language-9722
'We don't use language just to say literal things: you don't just say 'I am sitting on a chair', that would be pretty boring. What we do is we use language to express ourselves, we use it to express our thoughts, we use it to express how we're feeling, we use it to express what kind of a person we are. That, I think, is another aspect of the nature of language that quite often gets lost from the perspective of people like me who focus very much on the theory of what human language really is as far as syntax and grammar and things like that go.'
David Adger, Professor of Linguistics, Queen Mary University of London
Cognitive Advantages of Bilingualism: serious-science.org/cognitive-advantages-of-bilingualism-2-2610
Language Design: serious-science.org/language-design-679
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Linguist David Adger on the similarities between all the languages, creation of the new grammatical rules and how social factors affect your word choice.
Read the full text on our website: serious-science.org/the-nature-of-language-9722
'We don't use language just to say literal things: you don't just say 'I am sitting on a chair', that would be pretty boring. What we do is we use language to express ourselves, we use it to express our thoughts, we use it to express how we're feeling, we use it to express what kind of a person we are. That, I think, is another aspect of the nature of language that quite often gets lost from the perspective of people like me who focus very much on the theory of what human language really is as far as syntax and grammar and things like that go.'
David Adger, Professor of Linguistics, Queen Mary University of London
Cognitive Advantages of Bilingualism: serious-science.org/cognitive-advantages-of-bilingualism-2-2610
Language Design: serious-science.org/language-design-679
Be the first to find out about our new videos and articles. Learn interesting facts about various topics and people. Discover the answers to the big questions. Be in the know.
serious-science.org
Follow us:
We are on Patreon: patreon.com/SeriousScience
Facebook — facebook.com/serious.science.org
Twitter — twitter.com/scienceserious
YouTube — youtube.com/user/SeriousScience
Instagram — instagram.com/serious.science
Tumblr — serious-science.tumblr.com
VK — vk.com/seriousscience
