Available online
Description
Paul will talk about why humans are the only animals talking. We stand out in the natural world for the remarkable ability to communicate via language, but what makes the difference between us and ...our nearest evolutionary relatives? There are 7000 different languages – 7000 ways to say 'Hello'. A child does not know which one of these 7000 cultural forms it will have to learn, yet they are all learnable (otherwise the languages wouldn't be there to learn!) How do children do it? Why can a 5 year-old out perform the best Artificial Intelligence speech processor (even after 30 years of software development)? Are children 'prodigious' learners of language?
Paul will talk about why humans are the only animals talking. We stand out in the natural world for the remarkable ability to communicate via language, but what makes the difference between us and ...our nearest evolutionary relatives? There are 7000 different languages – 7000 ways to say 'Hello'. A child does not know which one of these 7000 cultural forms it will have to learn, yet they are all learnable (otherwise the languages wouldn't be there to learn!) How do children do it? Why can a 5 year-old out perform the best Artificial Intelligence speech processor (even after 30 years of software development)? Are children 'prodigious' learners of language?
