Songs to syntax : cognition, computation, and the origin of language.

dc.contributor.authorBerwick, Robert C.
dc.date2013-03-04
dc.date.accessioned2013-04-05T16:07:03Z
dc.date.available2013-04-05T16:07:03Z
dc.date.issued2013-03-04
dc.description65 minutesen_US
dc.description.abstractMIT Professor Robert Berwick discusses the evolution of human language and specifically how underlying syntax arose via the introduction of a single, surprisingly simple operation that "glues" words and sentence parts together. The relation of this simple syntax to human sensory-motor and thought systems reveals language to be asymmetric in design. While it precisely matches the representations required for inner mental thought, it also poses computational difficulties for understanding sentences, as everyday experience demonstrates. Despite this mismatch, one can show that syntax leads directly to the rich cognitive array that marks us as a symbolic species, including mathematics, music, etc.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipAmerican Museum of Natural History.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2246/6425
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesJames Arthur lecture on the evolution of the human brain, 2013.en_US
dc.subjectLanguage--Origin.en_US
dc.subjectSyntax.en_US
dc.subjectAnimal sounds.en_US
dc.titleSongs to syntax : cognition, computation, and the origin of language.en_US
dc.typeRecording, oralen_US

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
T001_20130304.mp3
Size:
88.52 MB
Format:
MPEG Audio
Description:
Audio File
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
Berwick in Kaufmann_3-4-720.mp4
Size:
275.9 MB
Format:
Moving Picture Experts Group
Description:
Video File