Q&A - Linguistics, Style and Writing - with Steven Pinker

Watch Steven Pinker's talk here: • Linguistics, Style and...
Steven Pinker and Lord Melvyn Bragg answer questions on the importance of writing well.
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Does writing well matter in an age of instant communication? Drawing on the latest research in linguistics and cognitive science, Steven Pinker replaces the recycled dogma of style guides with reason and evidence.
Steven Pinker is an experimental psychologist and one of the world’s foremost writers on language, mind, and human nature. He is Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University and conducts research on language and cognition but also writes for publications such as the New York Times, Time, and is the author of many books, including The Language Instinct and How the Mind Works.
Melvyn Bragg is a broadcaster, writer and novelist. He was made a Life Peer (Lord Bragg of Wigton) in 1998. Since then he has hosted over 660 episodes of In Our Time on subjects ranging from Quantum Gravity to Truth. He was presenter of the BBC radio series The Routes of English, a history of the English language. He is currently Chancellor of the University of Leeds
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[@WillyTheComposerOfficial]

I love how quickly he can pull up specific examples from his head, like a human database.

[@kavorka8855]

Absolutely!

[@sd4dfg2]

He has a lot of knowledge and facts readily available.

[@twelvecatsinatrenchcoat]

After reading one of his books ("Better Angels of Our Nature") I'm not surprised he can just spontaneously call up so many references, concepts and thoughts. It seems like if he sets himself to a topic, he just learns literally everything there is to know about it.

[@fardareismai4495]

@@twelvecatsinatrenchcoat literally... But yeah, I agree. He's very knowledgeable and it's wonderful to listen to

[@TranscendentBen]

I remember his TED talk based on that book, I was very interested in the topic but his speaking seemed stiff and boring, as he basically just read his speech. I enjoyed this speech much better.

[@mdmobashshir432]

We need this guy if Arrival happens in reality.

[@Framm9]

Md Mobashshir arrival? Is it a series?

[@jakubbanasiak5563]

The Arrival is a 2016 American sf movie, which is based on a very valuable short story by Ted Chiang (Story of Your Life). I know two similar books. First one is of course Contact by Sagan (with film adaptation). And the second one is His Master's Voice by Polish (brilliant) writer Stanislaw Lem. I recommend all of them.

[@gonderage]

This man, among other prominent linguists spread throughout the world. The world is pretty well stocked with linguists who are well equipped with knowledge and methods to work with undocumented languages.

[@cagatayegesahin2533]

Why would you spend one single chance of asking a question to Steven Pinker by simply boasting how well received his writing was?

[@pauljsm]

Indeed. That was an awkward moment.

[@hester234]

20:40 Who also played great games with punctuation was José Saramago, a Portuguese author who won the Nobel prize in 1998. Everybody who hasn't read it yet and has a soft spot for unusual writing styles: I highly recommend one of Saramago's most famous novels, "Blindness". (I must admit though that I don't know the English translation, I've read the German version "Die Stadt der Blinden".)

[@sooraj1497]

His eyes beams with a sense of calm and confidence , a reflection of the wealth of knowledge and experience that he has amassed over the years .

[@benjamindeworsop8348]

Just when you think the questions ask for information out of the scope of his knowledge, Pinker comes back

[@Framm9]

benjamin deworsop god, really. He's unstoppable 😱

[@unvergebeneid]

I actually appreciate the careful language of science. Not only in papers, also when listening to scientists in interviews, it's always refreshing to me how deliberate, precise and at the same time diffident they express themselves. In a world where everybody is just claiming absolute truths left and right, I actually think we need more of this, not less.

[@ivangartenhaus4276]

+Penny Lane Say that to Donald Trump.

[@unvergebeneid]

Ivan Gartenhaus When we discuss how we want to communicate with each other, I think it is a good idea not to let Donald Trump even be a category. Any way he changes how we talk to each other can only be a bad way, even if it is to contrast ourselves from him. He simply shouldn't have any say in the matter.

[@ivangartenhaus4276]

Penny Lane Well , you can't ignore him no more if he's the next president of the United States.

[@thulyblu5486]

+Penny Lane No, Donald Trump "has the best words", didn't you listen to him? Complicated thoughts are an invention of China in order to prop up their economy and take American jobs. To your point about academic language: I agree that in order to stay perfectly correct you actually have to use words that relativize and use passive, etc. The cost of this is often that your sentences get more complicated, jumbled up and messy so that fewer people will be able to follow the core of its meaning. Taken to its logical extreme this would mean that nobody understands what you're talking about which makes the whole effort meaningless. There has to be a balance between understandability and absolute precision.

[@unvergebeneid]

Thulyblu I wish I could write project proposals with the language of Donald Trump: "I have a great idea. It's gonna be tremendous science. I don't know how but it's gonna be great. You should stop everyone else from getting money until we figure things out. Give it all to me. Because I'm great." Unfortunately, this kind of talk can only make you the president of the United States of America, not get you a grant.

[@alazrabed]

That has to be one of the most honest QandA I've seen in ages.

[@TheActualCathal]

I'm so annoyed at that guy for saying the last chapter of Ulysses is Anna Livia Plurabelle. Anna Livia Plurabelle is a chapter in Finnegans Wake, the last chapter of Ulysses is called Penelope. I demand everyone knows that I know this.

[@deeXaeed]

what are you on about?

[@TheEudaemonicPlague]

​@@deeXaeed I'm guessing that you know nothing of either book. The point is, it's funny...but mostly to people familiar with both books. Try reading them, they're incredible.

[@sananton2821]

*everyone know

[@user-qq3bl6py3g]

Thanks guys for taking care of all that stuff.

[@madviolentchicken]

It's a shame the dyslexia question wasn't answered. Even more so that it was passed over in favour of a man who, it seems, essentially wanted to boast about how well received his writing was.

[@SDSKamikaze]

+madviolentchicken As opposed to the man who boasted about his bright daughter.

[@KieranGarland]

What a shitty thing to say.

[@fred_rock]

I was so looking forward to that answer!

[@ex0pos]

He did hit at it, when he said "writing is not natural" (or something to that effect). But I agree, it would have been interesting if he had gone into it. But that wasn't really the topic -- it would have been best addressed in the Q&A. Blame the audience!

[@FutureChaosTV]

@@ex0pos This is the Q&A...

[@myopenmind527]

Excellent talk and the Q&A demonstrated his command of linguists with complete perspicuity. 😀

[@toddtrimble2555]

Very good talk. Pinker is a kind of professor's professor: engaged, alert, articulate, affable, quick on his feet. I especially enjoyed his points about much academic writing being stilted by a kind of hedging and apologizing in advance, just to avoid the "gotchas!". So true.

[@blackbirdzzzz]

Totally agree

[@thanksfernuthin]

Great question and answer period. I love Melvyn Bragg's "The Adventure of English". That's a really great intro animation to this video. It's kickin'!

[@WillyTheComposerOfficial]

I’ve listened to that audiobook like a hundred times. Lol

[@thanksfernuthin]

@@WillyTheComposerOfficial, it's an excellent documentary series as well. One of my favorites.

[@ajazb123]

This is such a high level talk .

[@lcama5178]

Pinker is like a human database. Really impressive.

[@TheEudaemonicPlague]

Answers to subjects that you spend much of your time thinking about, talking about, and writing about come quickly...and it doesn't take anything special to do so. Try asking your mechanic random questions about engines sometime. Those answers will be there just as quickly, even if your mechanic isn't in any way exceptional.

[@Ares4TW]

English is not my first language, so I only now realized that the way I punctuate my sentences is the same I would in Romanian, which is my native language. Sure, there are points where I might overdo it, but that is an issue I have regardless of the language I am writing in. I now feel like that is the reason why I wanted to learn Japanese.

[@louisedadge4056]

Timeless!

[@ulyssesalvarezlaviada1502]

BADASS ATTITUDE OF QUOTES IN ACTION. "It is better to be clear and possibly wrong than fuzzy and not even wrong." - Steven Pinker. "It is better to be fuzzy and possibly right than simplistic and definitely wrong." - Ulysses Alvarez Laviada. The first quote assumes that clarity doesn't have shortcomings in itself. For instance, the habits of clarity develops a tendency for us to be simplistic rather than simple when the context requires it. The habits of clarity also develops the tendency for us to dismiss fuzziness when the context might require it. The second quote assumes that fuzziness doesn't have shortcomings in itself. For instance, the habits of fuzziness develops a tendency for us to be over complicated rather than complex when the context requires it. The habits of fuzziness also develops the tendency for us to dismiss clarity when the context might require it. Both quotes dismiss one ontological nature of reality, namely, anything that can show human excellence, in our case, simplicity and complexity, tend to show their natural shortcomings when either of them becomes a habit.

[@gravygravyjosh]

I think he was showing the benefits of Classic prose (and clarity) is more instinctive comprehension. It more accurately reflects normal thought patterns which makes it more directly enter our brains. Which yes can be better or worse depending on context or what you're trying to describe. Most of the examples he shows use needlessly complex language to avoid being direct, not because the subject requires it.

[@josephvictory9536]

I really like your deduction here. It shows a much brighter third reality. The reality that flexibility and context sensitivity is more valuable to you as a writer than either mastery of fuzzy academic prose or extremely direct prose. This makes the most sense to me since i have a powerful experience to match it. I was experimenting with metaphor in my scientific papers. I thought at the time that since articles rarely used metaphor it must have been taboo. I was having fun seeing just how much i could get away with and managed to find a certain 'groove' of what felt 'just right' for a metaphor in a situation. The paper i wrote got 100% and was the first 100% paper in 15 years of the teachers instruction. So i guess for writing, if you must master something, master everything!

[@compagniaelvira]

There is a core problem here. The first quote is about being "clear" The second one is about being "simplistic". These concept are beyond different, so the difference between the two quotes is not about the shortcomings of being simple, but the possible advantages of fuzziness.

[@lejlanuhanovic5700]

how is he coming up with examples for everything on-the-spot? it's amazing

[@InsistentlyInterdisciplinary]

It's admirable when speakers do that. We are doing some things better now in education, but some things worse... and this is one of them, not giving pupils and students a concrete backbone to work with and pull examples from.

[@DownhillAllTheWay]

I don't know the state of the language in Shakespeare's time - whether he was writing in terms that were well known, but it seems to me that he was frequently inventive with the language.

[@daen1402]

1:10 the importance of a standardized and evaluable langugae increased with the start of the modern education system..which, just in perpective, has not made many steps ever since.

[@semidemiurge]

well said :-)

[@JohnVLinton]

Pinker's argument towards the end about the subsets of language being different does not obviate the point that the superset of a language would be fairly constant -- modulo, yes, a language can be augmented (incrementally). He kind of comes back around to this with his point about the South American rainforest dialect in discussing theoretical physics. The answer must be yes whether language imposes conceptual restraints in the very practical sense that any given individual can only evolve a language ever so slightly into abstraction on any given question so it would surely follow that some abstraction (like quantum mechanics) many orders of understanding removed would be wholly unavailable to anyone speaking a language that did not provide (nearly) the entire scaffolding of shades of approach. E.g., Einstein could not have formulated Relativity without the language of LaGrange transformations or various contributions to the understanding of electromagnetism made before him.

[@derekl.9244]

At 17:43 he mentions another talk on the problem with punctuation. Does anybody have a link to that talk?

[@stjudeprayer7]

when seen and heard for the first time --- about 20 years ago --- he was an unforgettable presence. And his speaking style equally , well, stunning. But from this oracle, and in a near whisper came the telling about the human infant brain and those in our homes of pre-school age and how not only being pre-wired to speech , they will go right ahead and add an "ed" after words to make them past tense. And we know exactly what the tyke means when she says "....he hitted me..." Right. But the child herself knows to do that to her verb...she gets the job done having never heard that word herself.. Well Steven Pinker merely speaking of this ennobled a pretty much bland and not noticed fact so I could never forget him or it.

[@EebstertheGreat]

"Because [noun]" has a recent origin in image macros on the web, where it is just as deliberately wrong as "I can has cheezburger." If the usage becomes accepted, it doesn't work anymore.

[@roz7056]

I know this is silly but he has such a beautiful head of hair I wish someone would style it for him.

[@TookThisPictureInSpace]

he has amazing hair as it is, it needs no styling whatsoever.

[@TheEudaemonicPlague]

If you really think his hair is beautiful, then why do you think it needs anything done to it? Seems more of a back-handed compliment, than anything else.

[@archangecamilien1879]

0:50 that guy, haha...really liked his documentary about the English language, and he brought up that Jonathan Swift story in there...

[@archangecamilien1879]

7:55 "because X", there's a construction in French which, even though I've known it since I was a child, still strikes me as weird (and it isn't slang, haha, or anything, it's actually standard, traditional, etc)..."because too little", that's something you could say in French..."parce que trop petit" and stuff like that...basically omitting the subject and verb if they were included in the beginning, like: "He couldn't touch the ceiling because too short" or something...well, haha, maybe that's bad example, creating ambiguity about the what is short...but something like that...I used to find it strange and I think it would be difficult for me to write that one myself...

[@archangecamilien1879]

...writing the subject and verb is correct too, though, that's just an alternative form that is entirely correct, which it wouldn't be in English...

[@archangecamilien1879]

ah...8:25 -ish...grammar changes more slowly...I suppose "ish" is also a change, haha, a slang-like change...

[@ToxisLT]

because reasons, and because science! is caching up :)

[@unvergebeneid]

+Toxis Although "caching up" instead of "catching up" is new to me. Anyway, "because reasons" has a humorous element to it that partly relies on the fact that it's ungrammatical. "Because reasons" is not the same as "because _of_ reasons." It's more akin to "because ... ." That's what makes it such a great expression. So maybe some day it will just become a normal construction that replaces "because of" but I actually hope it doesn't.

[@ivangartenhaus4276]

+Penny Lane And who knows maybe "caching up" can catch up too. Or maybe even "ketching up", someone should coin that.

[@zioo3117]

The opening by the moderator said something to the effect, isn't it... when do you think it started this determination to keep the language as it always had been, which had huge emotional and political and personal fury...Johnathan Swift (yes!...) then whom...no one could be there... was so enamoured with Virgil because Virgil had written a Latin that continued for several centuries, and so alarmed that he couldn't properly understand Chaucer, that he set up a club to ascertain to fix the English language...he enlisted the Queen-Queen Anne on his side-and this illegible sounding like Dr. Johnson which was a mistake because then Johnson with his victory discovered that it didn't work; but never-the-less he went to that sort of length to keep it because it was...so there's an emotional component to this isn't there? (This is one of the longest run-on sentences posing as a question that I've ever seen or heard (forgive me if my quote wasn't perfect, but this moderator's language at time was difficult for me to understand. AF

[@TookThisPictureInSpace]

I thought the same.

[@Patrick-857]

Because X is basically meme language. It is similar to the Lol Cat. People only do it ironically, with full awareness of it being incorrect grammer. It's only reason for existence is because of it being incorrect. Unfortunately Internet vernacular and meme language is being misunderstood by many people above a certain age.

[@erikvanvelzen]

"Because X" is now also used in reputable places. The reason for its existence is not parody but along the tune of "You know the argument if I mention this one word, there's no need to make a full sentence". One can consider it lazy, and I definitely did at first, but recently I've come to appreciate it. I work in a technical domain and when communicating to a less knowledgeable audience I sometimes make use of the literal sentence "because reasons". This is not to avoid the reasoning altogether, like with "just because", but to indicate that there ARE reasons, and I could explain them, but those reasons are not relevant to the issue at hand. Nobody reads long e-mails. The construct may have originated on twitter but its use is going beyond that.

[@daggawagga]

Because electrolytes.

[@flaze3]

Erik is exactly right. It may have STARTED ironically online, but the phenomenon is rapidly becoming part of standard vernacular. I've heard several university-educated people say "beacause reasons" with no irony at all, which is probably just the start of more wide-spread use of this grammatical construct.

[@billy-joe4398]

FascistLobster Dictatorship Now Vernacular, lol. I bet I'm the only dumb truck driver here that knows what that word means .

[@bruperina]

I used to work IT. Once i asked my supervisor “why does it happens on this server?” He said “Because Windows”. I believe it’s a way of avoiding the an unnecessary explanation a out an obvious subject. It made the point in just a couple of words

[@STOG01]

Oh! That's Melvyn Bragg from the BBC! Recognized from the podcast ;)

[@unvergebeneid]

+Andreev Andrei At 25:42?

[@STOG01]

Penny Lane No no. He's at the very start of the video, questions the presenter. Here's the podcast: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/1nKPV5F8v9NKHLM7zRhG6yh/melvyn-bragg The topics vary a lot so find whichever suits you :)

[@unvergebeneid]

Andreev Andrei Oh wow, I actually know _In Our Time_! At least from the ads in the _Thinking Allowed_ podcast. I think I had a short listen to an episode of _In Our Time_ but it didn't convince me at the time. I'll give it another try!

[@jameskennedy7093]

I'm in my early 30s and have heard people say things like "I believe in climate change because science" but in my experience I feel like this is used in order to highlight its breaking of the normal grammatical pattern, sort of akin to "I can has cheeseburger." The term "because. . . science" usually has that . . . pause as a rhythm because it's comically emphasizing the simplicity of the reason. In other words, "Because [comic pause, expecting lots of extremely nuanced scientific explanations] science", i.e., "I'm not an idiot. I believe in this simple thing called science." But perhaps the way I use that phrase is different than the way people even younger than me would use it. I wonder if sometimes things like this are developed with some sophisticated joke behind them at first and then are corrupted slowly by misunderstanding, until at some point they don't mean the original thing they meant at first innovation.

[@matthewshaw2850]

What a brilliant explanation James.

[@noahdominicsilvio2472]

Oooo. Interesting insight. As a younger person, I definitely read it without the pause i.e. "I believe in climate change because science. (Period. Full stop. This conversation has been had and I'm not wasting my time explaining this to you.)

[@kliudrsfhlih]

Excelent last question and excelent answer to finish with

[@outtavawda]

nice!

[@jerkfudgewater147]

What i take from the final question of this video is: if you think a word cannot be translated it is because you don’t fully understand how to speak the language you’re translating it into.

[@granand]

I am not a native speaker and work in english for decades. I am not good in the rules of parts of speech or know the grammar in the language of grammar. What is the best book, I can follow to bring me up to speed?

[@keithbentley6081]

Swann ,Practical English Usage Parrot, Grammar for English language teachers Close, A Teacher's grammar MORE ADVANCED Lewis, The English verb SELF STUDY Thornbury, About language.

[@granand]

@@keithbentley6081 Thank You. Useful information

[@jackoscar11]

pinker is a god

[@lineikatabs]

Speaking of punctuation I advise you to read the books of Jose Saramago. He uses only two punctuation marks - a dot and a coma. Nothing else. No dashes, no quotation marks, no exclamation or question marks. And his prose is brilliant! It does take a few pages to get used to this lack of orientation markers however I feel breaking the punctuation rules gives the prose a certain livelihood which is impossible otherwise.

[@epingchris]

+Ivo Temelkov Incidentally that is the traditional "standard" punctuation of Japanese language: comma and full stop. :) Even though naturally question marks, exclamation marks, quotes and others are frequently making their way into modern Japanese writing, I still don't recall colons and semicolons being used that often at all.

[@ivangartenhaus4276]

+epingchris I noticed you used a smiley face. I think it's a good idea, as they talked about it also. I think there is room to enrich English grammar with new punctuations.

[@johneyon5257]

thanks for the recommendation - i've never heard of him - i too use unconventional & simplified punctuation - i call it "freed prose" - freed from the hindrances of ever encroaching punctuation marks - they make the written language a whole new dialect - one with irregular & even contradictory rules

[@johneyon5257]

@Ice Hockey is Pretty Pretty Good semicolon is an example of an unnecessary frill - people get by without it - and they don't care if you think it's wrong or right

[@johneyon5257]

@@jvincent6548 it's too bad you didn't forgo the letters of the alphabet - you might have made more sense

[@meriemanglais6078]

i am a novice linguist i am looking for an idea To write about, let s say i am shopping for ideas here on youtube. what do you propose? ??

[@blondaibonsai]

Meriem Anglais Are you still looking for ideas?

[@amitthakur8162]

Steve Pinker is one of the most distinguished scholars of language in the world.

[@archangecamilien1879]

19:36 it means they've "run the gauntlet" and proven that they're erudite, haha, or something like that...it might be about the idea of being educated, I've read a lot of stuff, if I didn't know that, it would mean I haven't read that much/haven't studied, etc...

[@TranscendentBen]

I'm reminded of that British radio show "My Word" that played for decades on many US public radio stations. I'd like to say that makes me erudite, but perhaps I'm just a word nerd.

[@gonderage]

He didn't address the dyslexia question :[ I at least hope the questioner confronted him later for a response

[@deus_ex_machina_]

Even if that were the case, only the questioner would benefit from his answer. If it where answered in the video, then many more people could benefit.

[@PuzzleMessage]

The woman so indignant at how substandard today's punctuation is, clearly hasn't been paying attention to the speech lol

[@compagniaelvira]

PuzzleMessage Yes she, hasn’t

[@sfurules]

@@compagniaelvira OMG I lol'd

[@compagniaelvira]

@@sfurules Ahahah did; you?

[@Superphilipp]

lol

[@ericray7173]

I, feel you.

[@MartinJohnZ]

Why does that guy keep holding his tie?

[@fablungo]

He is wearing a lavalier microphone and so is trying to make sure his voice is clearly received by it.

[@RewolverEU]

I sense hostility towards the audience and Steven Pinker from the host Melvyn Bragg. It may well be ignorant prejudices, but it is if he thinks more highly of his own time than that of the audience and Steven Pinker. His personality and behaviour is disturbingly frustrating to be a witness to.

[@TookThisPictureInSpace]

I had the same feeling but then I'm not surprised. He's a Lord and a Baron, which to me are just empty, posh and pretentious titles given out for no particular achievement at all.

[@notvalidcharacters]

You don't use means "it is".

[@williamgoode9114]

Through, rather than "through to "

[@demokratiademos9421]

I've had an idea regarding the omission of the possessive apostrophe in its. Perhaps this rule came about to avoid confusion between the possessive and the contractions of it has and it is, as in it's. I realize that context should help, but is this always the case? Oh and by the way, while we're on the subject of grammar. Will our American cousins kindly refrain from using the phrase " can I get" when requesting a service. This is a grammatical car crash that is creeping into usage here in the U K and it's driving me bloody bonkers. Now write on the board one hundred times: May I have. ------------Irony or pedantry?

[@bluepapaya77]

Can I get a better explanation of why I should be worried about that?

[@qideus]

Personal experiences of an individual, may develop a preference for a request by using a colloquial, non-assuming and informal "Can I get a bottle of water?" Because this form of request accounts for the possiblity that a bottle of water may not be available at all and simultaneously suggests if the audience has a bottle the the speaker would like to move forward with having it. However contextual circumstances, may suit the permissive "may" construction rather than the possible "can" construction at times, indeed.

[@johneyon5257]

Stephen Hind in another comment pointed out that "it" is a pronoun - and like other pronouns (yours, ours) - wouldn't use an apostrophe - i thought about it your way all these years in answer to your question - do you remember Winston Churchill's response?

[@brianmoore3489]

It's exactly the same as the British "would it be possible_______?". We should all use "may I" but again the passive voice creeps in and we're apologetic and wouldn't want to expose our true needs to another person, out of shame. So Americans use "can I?" as in "is it in the realm of possibilities?" Where Brits tend to just question the probability itself instead of asking for a thing. They both avoid direct responsibility, letting the other person and ourselves off the social hook. The other person can say no and it becomes no fault of either party and more of fate doing the deciding. So, I agree we should stand up, ask for ourselves and not be afraid of saying no when someone asks of us. It shows more respect in the end and is less messy. One thing the Brits have done is started using "Have-got" To which I always think: "what did you get?" and now Americans are saying it more and more so we cannot blame the other for mistakes like this really. Our language is constantly evolving and we share across the pond back and forth all the time. Accepted use was discussed in this video at length and we're all to blame for it, but in the end there's nothing wrong with it.

[@johneyon5257]

>> Brian Moore: passive voice creeps in and we're apologetic

[@dipankarmallick5543]

Why needs punctuations if you have superb fine emotional intelligence...that streak will tell ya what it be & you can produce wirds based on it...EI is all behind it...

[@TMPreRaff]

Is Lord Melvyn Bragg actually Paul McCartney's older brother?

[@zioo3117]

Pronounce their, "h's." This reminds me of when several people from other countries come into the United States and while at times learning the language correctly, cannot pronounced certain sounds correctly. Mixed plurals. Collecting...I'll collect you; not used in the USA, I none-the-less understand it. Centuries of separation, they haven't grown that far a part. Constant traffic of printed material... It certainly can also be because of Education in each of the English speaking countries. AF

[@DownhillAllTheWay]

7:55 "I believe in global warming because science" - or "I'm going to have to science the hell out of this"

Indeed! "Because X" has caught on in some relevant contexts. I love a living language.

[@TheChipmunk2008]

Look, another apple computer with a conglomeration of random adapters to make it fit a perfectly normal connector. Why do apple users accept this?

[@nickgood8166]

Because Apple product devotees are religious adherents.

[@okuno54]

Because all the technology sucks in its own special way, so the consumer just has to pick which poison is least infuriating. Though perhaps a less facetious answer is that tech standards present another case like dictionaries, where the lunatics run the asylum.

[@Jonmad17]

How many PCs have DVI ports? He's going thunderbolt > HDMI > DVI, but he could have gone from thunderbolt directly to DVI and it wouldn't have been different from any PC. By the way, there aren't any ports that are often found on PC laptops that aren't available on Macbooks. I have MORE unique ports on my Macbook than I have on my HP laptop. Why do Apple detractors insist on being so obnoxious about non-issues?

[@fablungo]

Jonmad17, pretty sure that the output is VGA. Doesn't look wide enough to be DVI and that cable looks like a VGA cable. And the one in the middle is larger than the output so I doubt its HDMI in the middle, particularly given the screw connectors. My guess would be DisplayPort to DVI to VGA. The comments regarding Apple and their choice of ports are primarily due to their most recent Mac and iPhone, both containing only 1 type of connector. However, in the past, their display output has typically been restricted to just DisplayPort (of some description). This is hardly the most common connector: typically for presentations, you can expect VGA or HDMI and a lot of PCs have typically provided both of these options as the norm.

[@Xargxes]

Apple is a religion. Ever been to an Apple-store and noticed the glowing symbol of redemption floating from above? Ever noticed the admiring zealots mindlessly walking around underneath it as if possessed....??

[@jan_kisan]

24:00 hyperlinks are a lot like footnotes in printed books. and they are annoying, especially when overused. you just stumble too often, your reading cannot flow unhindered. so... might it be that we should stick to that linear way of writing even more? for example, when writing textbooks, shouldn't we try and make our text as clear as possible with no illustrations, no fancy layout, no links or footnotes - and only then integrate all that, maximizing clarity, rather than barely reaching it?

[@Eljefe003]

This is ominous, that they really don’t understand that the majority of current spoken language is to confuse and cover. Not to explicate.

[@TheRelleshVillager]

German is hard!

[@thulyblu5486]

Translation: Deutsch ist hart.

[@TheRelleshVillager]

I guess you could say that, but I think that the old saying "Deutsche Sprache, schwere Sprache" suffices as well.

[@keithbentley6081]

Not sure Pinker has spent much time in Britain. We don't say The Guardian are or my bank are, we use is in these cases. We also say my team is, but we say England are or Manchester City are playing well when referring to football teams. I think he is ignoring his own advice about prescriptive grammar rules here. It's just a case of British usage.

[@DownhillAllTheWay]

How important can language be? You can rise to the highest office in the land with almost no command of it at all.

[@sananton2821]

That is NOT what "au courant" means.

[@ChrisDodges123]

Uhhhh

[@benweb1105]

If anyone likes to know about the origins of languages , should study Albanian language! Science of linguistics starts with books of Petro Zheji...

[@cagatayegesahin2533]

Yeah boy, all languages originated from Albanian! That was the answer to the very main etymological question! Congratulations, you won the Helmholtz Medal.

[@ericray7173]

His voice has an unusual forment shared by several other people (eg. reggae artist Shaggy, Vin Diesel) that resembles the sound of a bubble caught in the throat. Just me?

[@sibanought]

I never thought I would see anyone compare Steven Pinker to Shaggy and Vin Diesel !!😂

[@StephenHind]

"His", "hers" "yours" and "theirs" do not have an apostrophe so "its" should not have an apostrophe either. "It" is a pronoun, not a noun, e.g. hat's brim.

[@Anthroporotic]

Stephen Hind that's what I've always thought

[@qideus]

It's is meant as it is versus its has a possive meaning. I am under that perception. Is that what you mean?

[@frechjo]

It's true that possessive pronouns don't have an apostrophe. But that's also arbitrary, you have a system for nouns and another for pronouns. You could even argue that no apostrophes would be more natural, at least if you speak German. And by that measure, "its" and "his" contrast with "her", "your", "my", "their" and "our" in the "s" ending. There really is not much of an argument by regularity that I can see on how possessive pronouns work, or pronouns in general. You find natural what you are used to.

[@johneyon5257]

i think ITS (possessive) evolved to distinguish it from IT'S (contraction) [[ alert - i stand corrected !! Stephen Hind explained it well - ITS fits in with possessive pronoun standards ]] - but it illustrates a problem with so much of punctuation - they can not only be logically contradictory - they can be unnecessary - just using IT'S for both - or ITS for both - would rarely cause confusion simply due to context - as proof - we have no problem using the exact same sounds for either meaning while speaking - so many punctuation rules were meant to help - but actually wind up hindering

[@johneyon5257]

@Ice Hockey is Pretty Pretty Good you obviously have difficulty understanding english - which is why i wonder if you are a native speaker - you're just saying the obvious - Stephen Hind knew all that - but he has challenged the logic behind it - and that challenge just flew over your head (assuming you understand that expression)

[@lhiow6198]

[@loltroll85]

learn 2 language

[@Willam_J]

“There’s no evidence that punctuation has gotten worse over time.” - He must not read KZbin comments.

[@digitig]

Or he has read KZbin comments and has also read historical notes that people have sent to each other (and he's also aware that language has always changed and that all language change ultimately comes down to people not following the current rules - that doesn't make anything "worse").

[@blackfang3000]

ai can raight liek a scotsman al dei!

[@beatrix1120]

Interesting how many um's and ah's are present in a talk about linguistics.

[@unclemunch]

I wonder if he realizes it. It is most often "uh", and I have counted as many as 100 in one video. It is annoying.

[@billallen3696]

And "a"s rather than "an"s.

[@Qman621]

It's only really annoying when you are looking for it - it stands out because you are expecting it. In ordinary conversation, and most public speaking it sounds unnatural to have too many pauses, and the umms and uhs maintain the natural cadence that accompanies whatever ideas the speaker is trying to express.

[@qideus]

He is accessing a great amount of information and considering his words carefully, which may require moments of searching that are verbalized with "ah". He may be more fluidly speak if he were not met with such urgency to answer questions.

[@Willam_J]

Steven Pinker doesn’t think that there’s been a terrible decline in punctuation or grammar? Does he have an internet connection?

[@killslay]

Before the Internet there were just as many bad writers. They just didn't have a platform for you to see they were so bad at it.

[@johneyon5257]

it's evolution - not a decline - this was his point too

[@brianmoore3489]

Right, there have always been multitudes of uneducated people. They've always far outnumbered the educated through every period in history. That isn't going to change for a long time. Once people think they have something learned well enough they lose interest. We just have more proof of bad grammar than we use to because we speak through text more now. So I agree with Prinker, We ain't got no more rights to complainin' than we ever had 'ere now.

[@TranscendentBen]

@@johneyon5257 I have to reluctantly admit this. Even about sentence fragments. [Yes, I do write them, but only sarcastically!]

[@TheHydred]

We may not like the forced language changes from technology and changing times. We'll probably continue assigning wrong and right labels to different writings because of preference but we can't stop language evolution. It's just what's happening and we don't have to like it.

[@MrFForger]

Love hearing this guy speak but in typical linguistics professor style, his tech set-up is appalling ^^

[@whoeveriam0iam14222]

somebody should learn that guy how to tie a tie properly. so he doesn't have to hold it in his hand. sorry if that sounded offensive to anyone. just a joke

[@TheChipmunk2008]

+whoeveriam0iam14222 You mean Melvyn Bragg? He's earned the right to hold a tie in whatever angle he wants LMAO

[@HailSagan1]

+whoeveriam0iam14222 He's holding the mic closer to his mouth. Relax.

[@whoeveriam0iam14222]

+Hail Sagan was just a silly joke, relax

[@AymanB]

+whoeveriam0iam14222 amazing how no one has corrected the bad usage of "learn" there.

[@whoeveriam0iam14222]

Ayman B. I see the mistake now... not my first language.. pretty proud of the few mistakes I make

[@michaelsoza4183]

ther's no more correct english but all the time changing tongue

[@davidweber5833]

He never actually drinks the water that’s placed in front of him. And he needs to. He has an annoying way of smacking his dry lips-in every lecture I’ve ever seen from him. He also needs a normal haircut. His books are very enjoyable, however.

[@exhainca]

I love his lectures but I wouldn't call Pinker a great writer.