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23. Language

Stanford · 1.2M views · 2011-02-02 · 1:42:47

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Overview

Robert Sapolsky's Stanford lecture on language, comparing human and animal communication, ape language projects like Koko and Kanzi, and how language is acquired. It is part of his human behavioral biology course.

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HN recommends it, and the whole course, for understanding the brain and language acquisition.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 3 months · HN mentions 2015–2024

Topics

Neuroscience & the brainLanguage & linguisticsUniversity lectures & courses
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sapolskylanguage acquisitionanimal communicationneurosciencestanford

What people said

i2shar · 2024-01 · Strong recommendation

This is well known and well studied. I highly recommend Sapolksy’s lecture on this: [VIDEO] Start at 12:14 for the relevant topic, but the entire lecture is a good watch.

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SlySherZ · 2018-10 · Recommendation

If I remember correctly, when you learn a new language after age 10, the brain encodes the new language in a region adjacent to the one where your mother language is encoded, which means that any localized injury on this part of the brain may impact your ability to speak just one of them. Source: Sapolsky's lecture about language: [VIDEO] If you want to understand better how the brain works, I really recommend watching the whole course.

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nerfhammer · 2015-08 · Recommendation

Robert Sapolsky's lecture, mentioned in the article, wherein he discusses ape language projects, is a good watch: [VIDEO] He completely dismisses Koko but considers Kanzi to be more credible.

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Sources

Video by Stanford, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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