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Archive for the ‘language and thought’ Category

October 8th, 2009 - 12:28 pm § in language and thought, language learning

Koko the Gorilla

This was the topic of discussion at last night’s anthropology class… There have been several attempts to teach animals language in the past. What we’ve learned is that some animals may actually have the capacity for language… but none have the speech capabilities that humans [...]

September 29th, 2009 - 7:40 pm § in language and thought, language evolution, language learning

Does language make us human?

I’m currently taking 2 anthropology courses at a local community college (Mission College), and one aspect of cultural anthropology is language. In the wild, animals can communicate with different sounds and movement. Honeybees even have a way to convey where the best flowers and pollen are. D[...]

September 8th, 2009 - 1:13 pm § in language and thought, linguistic determinism

Linguistic Determinism – “freedom” & counting

Let’s talk more about language and thought. If you missed it, check out my post on linguistic determinism. Last time I concluded that if language keeps one from practicing thinking about something, then it succeeds in affecting the way one thinks. Did you ever read George Orwell’s book, [...]