Saturday, 31 January 2015

what makes us human: noam chomsky and human languages

An 11-minute programme from the BBC looking at how we learn language and where is comes from:

Barry Smith on Noam Chomsky and Human Language

A History of Ideas


Barry Smith argues that language is out most important uniquely human attribute. It doesn't just help us communicate it helps us to think. He makes the case for the distinctiveness of human language against the limited signalling systems of other animals. He looks at Noam Chomsky's idea of a universal grammar - that there is something in the human brain that gives us an innate ability to produce language from very early in our lives. And he talks to experts on other intelligent animals - Prof. Nicola Clayton and Prof. Robin Dunbar - to ask how human language and imagination compares with that of birds and primates.



Available now
11 minutes

Last on

Thu 22 Jan 201512:04
BBC RADIO 4

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BBC Radio 4 - A History of Ideas, Barry Smith on Noam Chomsky and Human Language



http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02hdy9f
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