The Concept of Language (Noam Chomsky)
Why Hacker News recommends it
Recommended in threads on language purity and standardization for its clear take that languages are fluid and that national languages are constructed.
What it is
Noam Chomsky talks with the University of Washington's Upon Reflection about how languages change over time, why a national language is a modern idea, and how language is a system of communication rooted in human nature.
Recommended by 3 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2021 to 2024.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec surfpel · 2023-12 · on “History-making SpaceX booster mostly destroyed in post-flight topple”
"Learning" is also a noun [1] - which can be plural, so I'd say the creator of those comments has some learnings to make. More generally, though, being a grammar nazi is silly. Dictionaries are defined by the common use of language and language is quite flexible, evolving, unique to individuals, and even used to be much more geographically continuous than it is today.[2] 1 - [LINK] 2 - Here's my favorite talk on the subject given by Chomsky, highly recommend a listen (especially to the poster of those dead comments): [this video]
Recommends random314 · 2022-05 · on “France bans English gaming tech jargon in push to preserve language purity”
Yes, the concept of nationalism and national language is a modern phenomenon. It is helpful in having subjects treat their governments as correct and moral by default and develop a distrust of their neighbors. Noam chomsky has an informative interview. He seems to think the concept of guardianship of a "pure" language is conceptually silly [this video]
Recommends jcul · 2024-06 · on “Noam Chomsky 'no longer able to talk' after 'medical event'”
I love this old interview. If you skip to the very last question at 26:50, it is a little bit poignant, considering this news. [this video]
Cites speedcoder · 2021-10 · on “Peter Norvig Joins Stanford HAI”
Hmm. Does language itself come from inventing a way to express what one wants to express? What would Chomsky say? [this video]
Cites random314 · 2023-03 · on “Nalanda: The university that changed the world”
> If this is your sort of goalpost, then even relatively homogenous countries like Germany and Italy shouldn't really exist today, given that they only coalesced in the late 19th century. The strength of modern state propaganda is such that people have developed all kinds of crazy notions about history. The nation state is a modern invention and this involves myth building about the country going back to ancient times. The French spoken in southern France had much more in common with northern Italian. Its just common sense that it would be so. Modern French was forced down it's subjects just like Urdu in Pakistan, Standardized Mandarin in China and ongoing attempts for Hindu in India. The st