v1 - What Is Language?

1. "Linguistics" as described on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics

2. "Language" as described on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language

3. On Vervet "words":
Vervet monkey alarm calls: Semantic communication in a free-ranging primate. 1980. Robert M. Seyfarth, Dorothy L. Cheney, Peter Marler. "Animal Behaviour" 28 (4), pp.1070-1094.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347280800972

4. PDF where Hockett's original "design features" and images come from:
CF Hockett. 1960. The Origin of Speech.
http://www.columbia.edu/~rmk7/HC/HC_Readings/Hockett.pdf

5. Note on Discreteness:
The example used in the video, with "Mary" functioning as a discrete unit, is not the best example of discreteness. The real take-home message about discreteness is that languages aren't perceived in shades of variation, but in absolute terms. The words "fat" and "vat" are REMARKABLY similar in how they are produced. But we don't perceive them that way. We think of them as being as distinct and "fat" and "thin" or "vat" and "chemicals" are. That's discreteness.

6. Note on "Mary" vowels:
I used the TRAP vowel to transcribe how I say the word "Mary". That's totally not how I say it. I should have used the DRESS vowel. What am I? Zoidberg?

7. Deacon reference:
Seriously, go read Terence Deacon's 1994 book "The Symbolic Species" as soon as you can. Deacon argues that human language isn't even *RELATED* to communication, but that they exist as two separate systems. I totally agree with him.

8. Sign language guy:
The images of ASL "same" come from:
http://lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/s/same.htm

9. Ethnologue:
Go get lost in an Ethnologue hole. That website is freakin amazing. Statistics, cultural information, maps, demographics... it has everything you could ever want to know about the Earth's linguistic diversity. Go there.
http://www.ethnologue.com/

10. "Untranslatable" is part of a design project by Pei-Ying Lin.
http://uniquelang.peiyinglin.net/01untranslatable.html

11. The adorable elephant hiding behind a tree I found here:
http://www.kiboko-safaris.com

12. Images of vervet monkeys are from:
Vervet Images:
http://animalstown.com/animals/v/vervet-monkey/wallpapers/vervet-monkey-wallpaper-01.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vervet_monkey
http://www.treknature.com/gallery/Africa/Tanzania/photo199500.htm

13. OMG, go watch Phase IV! It's amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcs3_b3VXSU
http://www.superpunch.net/2012/10/phase-iv-directed-by-saul-bass.html

Видео v1 - What Is Language? канала DS Bigham