Language is an amazing thing in so many ways.

[conuly]

And one of the best ways is novel utterances.

See, that's a big difference between language and all the not-language communication out there. With language you can say something totally new that nobody has ever heard before - and other people will understand it! Even though they've never heard or thought of anything like it before, when you say it, they understand it!

Case in point:

Beetle parents manipulate information broadcast from bacteria in a rotting corpse

Isn't it just amazing?

Comments

[rebeccmeister]

Ha, even better when the case in point is about some of the coolest animals ever! Thanks for the link. :^)

[conuly]

:D

[calimac]

Reminds me of a favorite sentence. I'd like to submit that The Cat in the Hat is the only work of English-language literature ever to contain the sentence, "And our fish shook with fear."

[conuly]

I mean, probably, yeah.

[maia]

Amazing indeed - both the beetles and the novel utterances!!

[conuly]

YES.

[mount_oregano]

God has a well-known inordinate fondness for beetles, and if I make it to the Pearly Gates, I'm going to demand an explanation.

[conuly]

I'm sure God will take time out of his busy day to personally direct you to the FAQ.

[mount_oregano]

:-D

[amaebi]

Great article! Thanks!

Also, I love and agree with your proposition about language, but I think it's underexploited. Language and the human processing of language have that capacity, but the processor has to be willing to pay attention. And it's clearer and clearer to me that humans mostly don't like to pay attention, preferring (among other blinkerings) to recite from small sets of mottos, slogans, and mantras. And castigating most of those who deviate from the current set, most of the time.

[conuly]

Sooooo I'm not an expert in sociolinguistics, but with that said, I think there's a lot of interesting things going on in the world of "mottos, slogans, and mantras" that I don't think you appreciate. I mean, I'm just guessing from the context here.

[amaebi]

You are absolutely right. And it's true-- I don't appreciate them at all.

[mtbc]

I wonder how many novel utterances the typical person generates each day and what fraction of the total they are.

[conuly]

If you can figure out how to do a study on that, more power to you.

[dhampyresa]

Beetle parents manipulate information broadcast from bacteria in a rotting corpse
AS YOU DO

[conuly]

If you're a beetle you do, anyway.

[silveradept]

That is an amazing sentence, and I do, in fact, understand it well enough to then go read the associated article.

[conuly]

I mean, how could you not?