Transcript: “Listening Time” Episode 67

Welcome to the Listening Time podcast. Hey everybody, this is Conner, and
you're listening to Episode 67 of the Listening Time podcast. I hope you're all doing well
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Alright, in today's episode, we're going to talk about something very interesting
for me. I've been reading a book recently. I haven't finished yet, but it's a very interesting
book, and I'd like to talk about it today. The title of the book is The Atoms of Language,
and it's written by Mark Baker. So, I want to talk about this today. I'm going to talk about
some of the main points in this book. This book talks about the structure of human
language and how all the languages of the world are both similar and different at the
same time. It's a really fascinating subject, in my opinion, and I hope that it's interesting
for you as well.
Before we start, remember to give this podcast a five-star rating, and please
share this podcast with anyone else who might find it useful. Also, remember that you
have the transcript available for this episode. That's in the Episode Description. So, go
down and click on that if you need it. Alright, let's get started.
Okay, so let's talk about this book: The Atoms of Language. So, this book talks
mainly about the syntax of language, not the other features of human language. The
syntax refers to the arrangement of words and phrases within a language, so… how we
place our words, where we place them within our sentences. So, of course, there are
some similarities between different languages and differences between different
languages in terms of their syntax, and he explores this topic, and he does so in a very
interesting way. So, he looks at this topic using the idea of parameters.
So, in linguistics, the word “parameters” refers to the features that languages can
have that differentiate their syntax from other languages. Okay? So, these are the
characteristics that make languages either similar or different in the way that they're
constructed. And so, this is a very big theory in the linguistic world. And it's one of the
best theories to explain the differences and similarities between human languages.
So, let me give you one example of a parameter. This is called the null subject
parameter. This parameter states that languages either always need subjects in their
sentences, or they don't always need subjects if they're not necessary. So, all
languages—I’m pretty sure—fall into one of these two categories. Either you need
subjects in your sentences, or you sometimes don't need subjects depending on the
type of sentence. Okay?
So, let me give you an example of this. In English, we always need subjects in
our sentences can't. So, even if it doesn't seem like there's a subject, we still need to
put a subject, and in English, we use the word “it” in this case. For example, let's talk
about the weather. When we talk about the weather, there are some interesting
sentences that we use in English where we use the word “it” as the subject. For
example, we can say “it's raining,” right? We don't say “the sky is raining” or “the clouds
are raining.” We just say “it's raining.” Okay? This word “it” doesn't really refer to
anything. It's not talking about any real thing. But in English, we can't just say “raining,”
right? We need to say “it's raining.” Or for example, we also say “it's hot” and “it's cold.”
That word “it” doesn't refer to anything in these sentences either. Okay?
However, in a language like Spanish, when we say sentences like this, we don't
actually have a subject. We can just say “está lloviendo.” This means “is raining.”
There’s no “it” there. It's just the verb “is” and “raining.” So, this is very different in
English and in Spanish, because in English, if you say a sentence without a subject, it
sounds completely wrong. However, in Spanish sometimes you don't need a subject.
And there are many sentences like that, where you can use the correct form of the verb
to indicate what subject you're talking about. And in English, you can't do that.
So, this is one example of a parameter, right? Languages fall into one of these
two categories: either they need subjects or they don't need subjects, and depending on
which category they fall into, this will affect a lot of other sentences in that language.
Okay?
One other type of parameter that I want to mention is the word order parameter.
And this parameter is interesting because when we look at word order in all of the
languages that have some type of fixed word order, where the word order is an
essential part of the language, there are really two main types of word order. Right?
There aren't many different types. There are just two main types, and then of course,
there are some minor types as well. But these two main types make up the vast majority
of all the languages in the world. So, these two main types are like 95% of the
languages where word order matters, if I'm not mistaken.
So, for example, one of the main types of word orders is the word order that we
have in English, where we have subject-verb-object. So, for example, John hit the ball,
right? The subject is “John,” “hit” is the verb, and “ball” is the object. And then, we have
another very popular word order type, which is the Japanese type, for example, where
you have subject-object-verb. So, the object usually comes before the verb in these
languages. So, these are the two main types of word order. And like I said, there are a
few other types, but a very small percentage of languages have those types. So, in
general, when we talk about different word orders, we talk about two main types of word
orders.
And this is really surprising. Let me tell you why. If you were to just think about
this topic about how many different types of word order we could have in human
language, people would usually think that there's either one main word order, or that
there are tons of different word orders, many different word orders. Because for
example, some people would say that there's probably just one word order because this
is the way that our brain logically thinks. It always thinks about the subject first, and then
the verb, and then the object. So, all languages should follow that natural order, that
logical order of how we think, right? That's one way people might think about this topic if
they were to just guess about how many word orders there are. They might just say one
because “that's the way our brain thinks.”
Or some other people might say that there are many different types of word
orders, and that they're pretty random because languages just have all these different
random features and random orders. And so, there's probably a ton of different word
orders. So, most people would think that it's either one of those two options: either one
word order or many different random word orders.
However, there are two, exactly two main types. Like I said, there are more, but
I'm talking about the main types. And this is really interesting, because why should there
be two main types? Why aren't there three main types or four main types? It's a very
interesting question that the author explores in this book. And it shows that there are
certain restrictions or limitations in the human brain when it comes to language.
Language is not completely random, like many people might think. There are actually
rules that are just naturally there when it comes to language. And the author explores
this in detail with some of the other parameters that he talks about.
But the main point that I take away from this, this idea that languages aren't just
random, they have a set of rules, and some languages choose one option and some
languages choose the other option of the parameter… this is all part of the theory of
universal grammar. This theory states that there are certain innate constraints on what a
language can be. In English, the word “innate” refers to something natural, something
that is already there. For example, I could say “He has an innate ability to teach.” I'm
saying that he was born with that ability. It's a natural ability. So, in universal grammar,
we have the idea that there are innate constraints or restrictions on what a language
could be. We can't just have a language with all these really random features in it. There
are really only a few choices that the language can “make,” so to say.
So, for example, there are almost zero languages in the world that have the word
order: object-subject-verb. If languages were just randomly constructed, then we
wouldn't expect to see this type of phenomenon. We would expect there to be some
languages that are subject-verb-object, some that are subject-object-verb, some that
are object-verb-subject, some that are objects-subject-verb, etc. And we would expect
these to be relatively equal in number, right? We wouldn't expect there to just be two
main types of word order. And we definitely wouldn't expect there to be zero or almost
zero languages that have the object-subject-verb word order. It really doesn't make
sense.
Why don't languages have that word order? There are thousands of languages in
the world, and almost zero of them have this word order. It doesn't really make sense if
we think that languages are just randomly constructed. So, this is the idea of universal
grammar, that there are already certain rules and restrictions in the human brain that
limit the types of languages we can create in our world.
So, this is a really fascinating idea. And I would recommend that you read more
about this. If you think this is interesting, you can look up articles on universal grammar
or read books about this. And what's also interesting about this is that the idea of
universal grammar is that language isn't completely determined by our history and our
culture and things like that. And this is what most people would assume. They would
assume that because of our history and our culture, languages develop in certain ways.
Of course, words can be developed in this way, and certain parts of the language can,
but in terms of the syntax, the way that we order the words in our sentences, it's not
really determined by these factors.
So, for example, we see neighbor cultures, cultures that are right next to each
other geographically, in the same region, that have completely different types of
languages. They have completely different grammar and syntax even though these
cultures have lived next to each other for centuries, for example. And yet, we have
some cultures that are very far from each other, that are in different parts of the world,
and they have the same language structure or very similar language structures, even
though these cultures have had no contact and no influence on each other.
So, we can see that this aspect of language isn't determined by the history or the
culture of the people who are speaking it. It's determined by this idea of universal
grammar, that languages can either be this way or that way. And some languages
choose to be this way, and some languages choose to be that way. Some languages
are more like English and their word order, and some languages are more like
Japanese in their word order. And this is the vast majority of languages. There aren't
just many, many different types of word order among the languages of the world. It's not
like that. So, this is the idea of universal grammar. So, some of you might disagree with
this, or some of you might not know much about this, but I encourage you to, like I said,
read more about this and think about this because it's a very interesting idea to
consider.
So, lastly, I just want to talk a little bit about language acquisition and what these
ideas have to do with the way we acquire language. So, when we think of how children
and adults acquire language, we can see that children definitely have an advantage. I'm
sure you've seen this before. If an adult and their child move to a new country, usually,
the child learns that language very fast and the adult doesn't. This is a very common
scenario. So, why does a child have such a head start when it comes to acquiring a new
language? In English, the word “head start” refers to when one person gets an
advantage, and they get to start early or do something early before the other competitor,
for example. So, children have a head start when it comes to acquiring languages, it
seems.
So, one idea is that children are exposed to a rule or a couple of rules when
they're just listening to the new language, and they have this ability to deduce or infer
other rules from that first rule. Right? So, for example, if they hear the sentence, “It's
raining,” after a while, they can understand that in this language, subjects are
necessary, right? The fact that the word “it” is there means that subjects are necessary.
And this is not something that consciously think, and it's not something we analyze
when we're listening to native speakers talk, but it's something that's in the child's brain,
and it helps them understand other rules of the language. So, if they see in this
sentence, that the person is saying “it,” but they're not referring to anything, then the
child's brain starts to understand that this is a feature of the language, that the language
needs a subject even if there's no real subject.
And so, the child starts to understand these rules without even realizing it. And
this is something that children have the ability to do that adults can't really do well. We
know this: that adults are not as good as children in seeing these patterns and
understanding them. So, because children have this ability, they're able to acquire
languages much more easily. And so, because of universal grammar, because
languages aren't just randomly constructed, but they have a very solid base or a stable
framework, so to say, children can very easily detect these patterns and start to
understand them more. So, it's something that's already in their brain.
It's like this: we’re born with a certain way of speaking language. Regardless of
what language we speak, our brain is made to construct language in a certain way,
right? There are certain things that we just need to do, we need to construct, when
we're speaking a language. And there are certain things that are off limits. There are
certain combinations or options that we simply can't choose when we're creating a
language. And so, because of these limitations, these natural constraints, children can
easily use this part of their brain to recognize patterns.
So, in summary, language is so incredibly different from other subjects that we
learn. And so, we shouldn't learn languages they way we learn other subjects like math
or physics, for example. This is my opinion. I don't think that we should approach
language like we approach other topics because it works so differently in our brain. I
think we should pay more attention to this idea of universal grammar and parameters,
and we should think differently about how humans acquire language.
Alright, why don't we stop there for today? This might’ve been a very deep topic
for you. It might’ve been a little hard to understand. That's okay. You have the transcript
available, and you can try to listen multiple times to try to understand everything I'm
saying. Remember that if you want more content, if you want extra episodes and my
Listening Practice Seminars, then become a Listening Time Member.
And if you want my advanced podcast, then become a Listening Time Family
Member today. The link is in the Episode Description below this episode. So, click on
that if you want my advanced podcast episodes. And please remember to share this
podcast with anyone else who might find it useful, and give this podcast a five-star
rating. Alright, thank you all for listening to this episode, and I'll talk to you on the next
episode of Listening Time.
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Advanced Episodes: www.patreon.com/listeningtime