tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post250336820867660956..comments2024-03-19T07:48:54.021-06:00Comments on Gus Van Horn: Skepticism Is Not "Denial"Gus Van Hornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-78580737361520436002011-09-27T15:08:07.248-06:002011-09-27T15:08:07.248-06:00I guess it's "in the DNA" of academi...I guess it's "in the DNA" of academics to become annoyed when journalists say things like that. Heh.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-19886918403574044422011-09-27T12:40:47.615-06:002011-09-27T12:40:47.615-06:00Yo, Gus, you write: "Someone has finally got...Yo, Gus, you write: "Someone has finally gotten around to studying why some languages sound faster than others."<br /><br />This sort of research sounded vaguely familiar, so this morning I brought it up with a fellow linguist. Turns out he had the latest issue of <i>Language</i> out on his desk so he could read exactly that article, which takes an approach somewhat different from earlier papers I was thinking of (I had read one or two of them in a seminar he led)--of which there are fewer than there should be.<br /><br />I mentioned that <i>Time</i> had an article about the <i>Language</i> article, and he groaned a little, and I mentioned to him the last passage from the <i>Time</i> article, "It does, however, serve as one more reminder that beneath all of the differences that separate Tagalog from Thai, from Norwegian, from Wolof, from any one of the world's 6,800 other languages, lie some very simple, very common rules. The DNA of speech — like our actual DNA — makes us a lot closer to one another than we think."<br /><br />He shared by bogglement at that, since even the most nativist linguist imaginable, even more nativist than Chomsky, would hesitate to claim a relation between information transmission rate and speech rate would be inborn (rather, it would be a simple consequence along the lines of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipf%27s_law" rel="nofollow">Zipf's work</a> in psycholinguistics of spoken language as a means of transmitting information, but exactly how a consequence is the interesting part needing study); even as a metaphor it fails, for the relationship's surely not something fundamentally constitutive of human language but an interesting consequence. We decided what we most wanted done is to grab the reporter by the wrists and make him slap himself until he stops writing stupid things like "the DNA of language," which we further decided is probably a near-universal response among specialists to <i>Time's</i> science reporting.Snedcatnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-3461485786085314502011-09-26T17:39:45.430-06:002011-09-26T17:39:45.430-06:00Jenn,
See this link.
George,
Thanks!
GusJenn, <br /><br />See this <a href="http://www.jeffjacoby.com/10407/climate-skeptics-dont-deny-science" rel="nofollow">link</a>.<br /><br />George,<br /><br />Thanks!<br /><br />GusGus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-91591062490715176312011-09-26T13:40:20.529-06:002011-09-26T13:40:20.529-06:00The article is available here without registration...The article is available here without registration: <br /><br /> http://www.jeffjacoby.com/10407/climate-skeptics-dont-deny-scienceGeorgenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-60514052813903215182011-09-26T13:35:09.241-06:002011-09-26T13:35:09.241-06:00Aww, Boston Globe requires registration to read th...Aww, Boston Globe requires registration to read the article. While I'm not opposed to registration on sites per se, I don't want sites I can't even remember visiting to have my info. If I were a Bostonian, I'd probably register, but I'm not.Jennifer Snowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00039865566870992465noreply@blogger.com