The Language and the Land

A great linguist once said that "a language is a dialect with an army and a navy." The distinction between a language and a dialect (or between different languages) is hard to make independent of politics and a populations' identity. In fact, linguistically, from a structural level, there is no distinction to be made.

The linguistic differences between dialects within the 'Chinese" language are much greater (structurally) than those between the Romance languages (Spanish, French, Italian), however, they aren't recognized independently as different languages. The key to understanding this odd phenomenon is to look at where (linguistically) a people identify themselves. The people of China are united linguistically through a shared script (uniform written word), so the significant structural differences between their dialects aren't as significant. It is very important for the Spanish, French and Italian peoples that their spoken languages be viewed as significantly distinct, in spite of their structural linguistic similarities, because their cultural identity is rooted in their language (among other things).

Language marinates our experience of the world so fully that it is easy to forget that we (social beings that we are) have made it and that it is an organic and dynamic social force, rather than a social tool.

Baby Steps

These days parents will do anything to give their kids an advantage. Whether it's prenatal Mozart or pre-pre-school, the business of gr owning up and getting out into the "real world" has gotten a lot more involved. News for the homefront: sometimes it's better to just let them go at their own pace. One piece of evidence on this topic comes from a study concluding that children who spend more time crawling (read: take longer to learn how to walk) have better hand-eye coordination AND are much better and deeper readers.

Kids Really Are Monkeys, Just Ask a Linguist

In my linguistics class we've been learning about hominid (pre-human and human) evolution, specifically the evolution of the vocal apparatus. In our last lecture my professor, Meiko Ueno, brought us back to the present and showed us a slide comparing the vocal apparatus of a chimpanzee, an adult, and a child. Interestingly enough, the child has much more in common with the chimp than the adult.

Now this might not seem right, kids are technically human (homo sapiens) not chimpanzee (homo troglodytes), no matter how much monkeying around you have to put up with, so what gives?

Here's the thing; the (adult) human vocal apparatus is a choking hazard. Yup. You heard me right, from an evolutionary perspective humans would rather risk a gruesome death (choking) than put down their cell phones. Our species has survived long enough to invent and use cell phones because human infants are born with the ability to eat without choking to death. As infants develop more muscle control, their vocal tract shifts into an adult human (talking) configuration (between ages 3 and 4).

If you think about it, evolution can be seen in the life of an individual (from monkey to man in five years) as well as the species.

How to be a Superfan

If you pay any attention to sports, you will know that the Superbowl is tomorrow. More Americans watch the Superbowl than vote, and there is rarely any doubt about which team to back (unlike elections).

If you're a well-informed fan, according to Psychology Today, you would gather a group of like minded friends and wave pennants (or foam hands or whatever) in sync. A group of amateur psychologists did this as an informal experiment at a series of Dallas Mavericks games. At the games they attended, the Mavericks opponents shot 8% below the league average on free-throws. This may not seem like a tremendously significant effect, but it could make the difference for the home team.

Also of note, the same article points out that "emergency room visits drop during big games and spike after they're over." A new criterion for die-hard sports fans: if your own personal risk of injury is at least as great as a professional athlete in a contact sport.