What do all languages have in common? - Cameron Morin

Dig into Noam Chomsky’s theory of universal grammar and decide: are there universal grammar rules and are they hardwired into our brains?
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Language is endlessly variable. Each of us can come up with an infinite number of sentences in our native language, and we’re able to do so from an early age- almost as soon as we start to communicate in sentences. How is this possible? In the early 1950s, Noam Chomsky proposed a theory that the key to this versatility was grammar. Cameron Morin details Chomsky's theory of universal grammar.
Lesson by Cameron Morin, directed by Eoin Duffy.
Animator's website: eoinduffy.me/
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View full lesson: ed.ted.com/lessons/what-do-al...
Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Ivan Todorović, Alex Schenkman, Brittiny Elman, Ryohky Araya, Paul Coupe, David Douglass, Ricardo Paredes, Bill Feaver, Eduardo Briceño, Arturo De Leon, Christophe Dessalles, Janie Jackson, Dr Luca Carpinelli, Heather Slater, Yuh Saito, Quentin Le Menez, Mattia Veltri, Fabian Amels, Sandra Tersluisen, PnDAA, Hugo Legorreta, Zhexi Shan, Gustavo Mendoza, Bárbara Nazaré, Josh Engel, Natalia Rico, Andrea Feliz, Eysteinn Guðnason, Bernardo Paulo, Victor E Karhel, Sydney Evans, Latora Slydell, Oyuntsengel Tseyen-Oidov, Noel Situ, Elliot Poulin, emily lam, Juan, Jordan Tang, Kent Logan, Alexandra Panzer, Laura Cameron Keith, Jen, Ellen Spertus, Cailin Ramsey, Markus Goldhacker, Leora Allen, Andras Radnothy, Chris, Arpita Singh and Vijayalakshmi.

[@TEDEd]

Did you know TED-Ed now publishes animations in 5 other languages? Subscribe via our channels tab or learn more here: bit.ly/3D5Xf9Z

[@saimirfan902]

"What do languages have in common?" Me, an intellectual: Swear words?

[@beytullahberk3632]

isn't japanese have no swear words or something? i don't have a reliable source but i heard it multiple times

[@saimirfan902]

@@beytullahberk3632 Kusoooooo

[@ericfromminecraft4019]

Does gibberish have swear words¿¿¿¿¿???

[@ericfromminecraft4019]

Just asking ;)

[@onyonable]

@@denissetiawan3645 bakayaro means "you fools", that's not a swear word

[@yeyu8521]

Illustrator: How many transitions do you want? Ted-Ed: All of them.

[@stefan6347]

It got pretty tiresome after awhile.

[@ismi675]

Theodore

[@joshuadelvalle1509]

Yes

[@sahilbaori9052]

Should be "yes" instead of "All of them"

[@Namse21]

No it should be- Ted Ed: yes.

[@illione3168]

When your powerpoint is 80% of your grade:

[@charlotteartzz1388]

👁👄👁

[@powandwow750]

True.

[@lizziedizzie3304]

I can confirm in my case.....It's a true story 👁👄👁

[@thereseboegel8296]

This is a perfect example of why it can actually be really helpful to have bad ideas. The theory of universal grammar was absolutly wrong about almost everything, but in seeking the answers for this question Chomsky found answers that no one had thought to look for.

[@creemyice]

lol how was the theory wrong?

[@lcsgabriel987]

Mas você não acredita na possibilidade de existirem princípios comuns a todas as línguas? Como todas terem sujeito, verbo, adjuntos, metáforas, ideofones, etc?

[@dylanlow4871]

​​​@@creemyiceNo one has been able to agree on what constitutes a universal rule. In the 1990s, Chomsky had to throw out almost every single proposal for universal rules and keep only one, which he called Merge (the video says recursion, but Merge is an operation that needs to be applied recursively). Still, Chomsky's latest theory rests on some suspicious assumptions like there being a separate lexicon (akin to a dictionary list of words) on which Merge operates to produce structured sentences. This simplistic view of the lexicon as essentially a list of entries like on a digital dictionary (Chomsky was very influenced by 1950s computer science) is not very well supported by psycholinguistic and cognitive neuroscience studies, nor is it widely accepted in linguistics itself (other theories such as Construction Grammar, Cognitive Grammar, and Systemic Functional Grammar pose some powerful arguments for alternative views). My personal opinion is that there are some things that are universal to all languages, but they are not as Chomsky imagines them to be. At the same time, there are also many things that make each language, or even each person's understanding of their own language, different and unique.

[@pangelillo7393]

@@lcsgabriel987 isso é vdd, eu acho que você esta certo

[@themicoism]

Why do I feel like I'm in a hurry while listening to this?

[@thescriptwriter824]

Oh that's just TED.....he wants to rewire your brain.

[@hannahnewstead3566]

I feel like that with lots of Ted-Ed vids. I wish they slowed it down a bit and explained things a bit more. I would actually watch more if they had the same content but in a longer slower format like infographics style. They have clearly done the research already so I wish they didn't just skim over it

[@powandwow750]

It might be the music

[@ZennExile]

yeah the pacing in this one is all off.

[@_kopcsi_]

because your kid is still waiting for you at the sport field after the training but instead you are watching TED videos.

[@averagegamedeveloper7900]

The Drums and the sounds in the background makes it feel like we're making a Hiest Plan

[@chiefscar7410]

truee

[@ruturajpokemon1]

*Heist

[@aryankamath4409]

@@ruturajpokemon1 🏆

[@lululipes4382]

Ur pfp says it all

[@christopherlongsworth2591]

@@ruturajpokemon1 **Heisenberg

[@Canguroenglish]

'The linguist' who studied Piraha is called Dan Everett and I recommend you read his book 'Don't Sleep There Are Snakes' and listen to the podcast 'The Story of Language' (which I produce) in which he talks about language, cognition, and culture in great detail.

[@TheIsraelMendoza]

I'll definitely take a listen...

[@yesid17]

thank you for sharing!! i would love to chat with you about what im working on comuno.org or my linguistics research kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJzKiY2GYpJriqc www.researchgate.net/publication/322063405_German_Echoes_in_American_English_How_New-dialect_Formation_Triggered_the_Northern_Cities_Shift

[@nickc3657]

I happened to pick up Dan’s (I believe latest) book a year or so ago in a bookstore, and I was so excited because I knew what he was famous for! Much to my shock, the first few pages were absolute bunk. Bluster and claims that so blatantly contradicted reality, I at times thought he was joking. It taught me that the quality of past work can’t be a reliable indicator of later work.

[@paddor]

* Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes

[@taoxu9235]

Great, thanks for your recommendation!

[@josemendoza62838]

Ok I usually don’t comment but is NO ONE going to talk about the aesthetically pleasing animations?

[@xorahmichelle9201]

omg, for real!

[@powandwow750]

Well, they're aesthetically pleasing, but they're making the viewer nervous. It's too fast-paced and I don't remember anything.

[@kentvincentllano]

Ikr so much effort given

[@xoxodelphi]

you have three comments on this channel already

[@josemendoza62838]

@@xoxodelphi Yeah 😅 What can I say, I like the channel!

[@therealgibby]

I looked at the notification for this and said "they're spoken" and laughed at how smart I was. I then remembered sign language was a thing.

[@lululipes4382]

And all the written languages too

[@marcasdebarun6879]

@@lululipes4382 Technically writing isn't language, it's just a medium through which it is expressed.

[@AJEETSINGH-nx9ll]

and how about programming languages?

[@lordamateur]

You can say all are artificial

[@keremdelialioglu2197]

Sign language isn't a language, it's a type of languages. Different sign languages exist, sign language families exist, and they form naturally and work organically just as with other languages.

[@anertmoodie9783]

What's common in all languages? Me an intellectual: Words

[@giulyblaziken268]

You're a man of culture

[@jonesp4783]

Anert Moodie numbers 🤣😂

[@yusufz3850]

Me: Alphabets

[@mazsola1037]

us linguists actually have a more difficult time defining words than you'd think 😂

[@snakeeplayz1010]

Well not for all but true

[@eltonparks659]

Chomsky never stopped evaluating his own work; knowledge is an ever growing experience.

[@avivastudios2311]

Even tho, he was wrong, he was very smart.

[@noble7667]

​@@avivastudios2311 Chomsky is a charlatan disguised as an expert corrupting the minds of people.

[@abhijitbadgujar2443]

The animator is in a different creative universe altogether. Very lively and smooth visuals. Great work.

[@supergirlygirl2970]

Grammarly: helping you connect

[@khettalie]

Go to Grammarly.com and download today.

[@colingraham1585]

Booooooo

[@bhoomigupta2083]

Lol

[@nishatlamisaathoi9076]

I've been getting so many grammarly adds lately lol

[@jive3341]

The language of music is strong on this one.

[@user-tm8wy1hx7n]

Watching this while drunk. Thought the playback speed is 2x. Slept after watching this. Woke up just now. Happy 2020 @jive

[@TheIsraelMendoza]

Music is not a language... Don't be fooled by the phrase "Music is the universal language", because it's not even a language. Period.

[@video_gabes]

@@TheIsraelMendoza what is the definition of a language

[@oxfordcommaisthegreatest]

@@TheIsraelMendoza I'd say that you must be fun at parties, but even that quip would never describe how absolutely dry and humourless your comment was

[@littlefishbigmountain]

kingster20 **Ludwig Wittgenstein has entered the chat**

[@trumpet_boooi]

what do english and spanish have in common? "no" alright then, keep your secrets

[@hiranyakhatri8436]

This is my favourite comment

[@jozenne0018]

They are both Indo-European languages

[@MusiCaninesTheMusicalDogs]

So Chomsky was wrong about everything he proposed, still he deserves credit for being responsible for the development of his field?! Damn, I think we can call him Freud of linguistics, then!

[@freyja3153]

Chemistry started off with alchemy. Even if an idea is fundamentally wrong, anything it leads to coming after it that is true is still formed by the inital wrong assumption

[@Fandelgore]

@@freyja3153 that doesnt even make sense, the other dude was right, chomsky deserves credit for his work and effort in the field. What you just said is non sense and im sure chomsky would agree with me.

[@shriyaraina1287]

Even Einstein was wrong once, but his mistake paved the way for many other discoveries and inventions. Similarly, Chomsky's "universal" grammar lead to linguistic research in areas hitherto unexplored

[@sparshjohri1109]

Chomsky made testable predictions with his theories and changed them as new evidence came in. Freud made random theories with no testable predictions and twisted every bit of data he got from therapy sessions to fit his theories, no matter how tenuous his connections were. I think there's a huge difference between the two of them (one was a hack, and one actually advanced his field).

[@MusiCaninesTheMusicalDogs]

@@sparshjohri1109 You're correct. I agree with you. My comparison wasn't good.

[@somethingsea]

[ - ] [ - ]-- Glasses acorrding to Ted Ed

[@hussainvirk8598]

I can kinda see it

[@juanvaldivia8001]

how's your name pronounced?

[@somethingsea]

@@juanvaldivia8001 it's a vietnamese name. Just copy my name and use google translator and you should get it right.

[@somethingsea]

@Phương Nguyễn lol. Square boobs

[@HasekuraIsuna]

[ - ] [ - ]¬ *

[@gaming4fun546]

TED ED:what do languages have in common Me:they are all launguages

[@_.emberrr]

gaming 4 fun WHHY I WAS ABOUT TO COMMENT THIS WAAAAA

[@gaming4fun546]

@@_.emberrr lol get rekt (sry :( )

[@LanieMae]

Language is language!

[@OscarButDumb]

And usually end with an *an* or *ian*

[@mozzerellafolla443]

@@LanieMae floor is floor

[@thedwightguy]

My toddler son met his Japanese cousin in Beijing. She didn't speak English or Mandarin. So, the two started their own language. The parents were amazed, the grandparents incredulous.

[@psicologiajoseh]

The animations on this video and the content and the interaction between the two in this video are of another level! Wonderful!

[@QuestionEverythingButWHY]

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” ― Plutarch

[@vertyisprobablydead]

Wow so deeeep.

[@espio87]

Right, if Plutarch says it he's an emminence but if I set fire to people's heads then I am called a psycho...

[@miety111]

I know you're the chosen undead

[@littlefishbigmountain]

Verty Nobody said it was supposed to be deep, but I’d bet you probably didn’t spend more time than it took to comprehend the words you read to make your judgement of its value

[@autumnavalanche1097]

I always hear this at the end of scishow tangent episodes, cool to finally know who said the quote :'D

[@ranjusrivastava7509]

There's a legend that Ted-ed uploads videos about the topic you're thinking recently. And it's true. It always happens with me❤️❤️❤️

[@snakeeplayz1010]

Lol

[@SirCutBent-Gaming]

Weird...

[@rheanasmith9011]

that's true was thinking about how some languages sound and look familiar in terms of it sounding and looking like english lol it's actually a bit weird

[@josaphcj7199]

Maybe all girls think about same thing at same time.

[@erickalena]

I got the notification for this video as I was reading about language acquisition for my linguistics class. Kinda creepy how well-timed it was.

[@frostyblade8842]

0:12 every Irishman, myself included, let out a chuckle when this line came on. Well played Ted-Ed. For your non-Irish viewers its the only Irish line that about 98% of the population knows and it translates to 'Can I go to the toilet" since you won't be allowed go unless you ask like this

[@oisinlane7464]

Yeah I nearly shat myself when I saw that

[@thorodinson6649]

You should revive irish

[@wesleybantugan5604]

This just goes to show, wrong ideas can still overhaul the scientific community

[@oossgl]

It was not a wrong idea, it was just that he was wrong, but that was pretty useful at the end!

[@cromwellcruz]

but the thing with science is that it is dynamic and open to changes through peer-reviewed claims. hence i think science is right until proven incorrect not incorrect until proven right

[@Dr_Steve.N]

No matter where you go on the planet the language of smile is the one everybody understands.

[@IndonesiaMajapahitNDPCA]

Yes

[@gaming4fun546]

Yaayayayayayyayayyaya

[@folacantube]

Awww yes that's so true

[@lester4820]

Yes

[@OscarButDumb]

Not just humans also animals :)

[@lekturimeeditori1082]

Long story short: 1. Languages have nothing in common. 2. Noam Chomsky was wrong all the way.

[@estefanyalberini6222]

Thank you! He talked so fast that I was confused, I didn't know if I had understood it right lol

[@CDexie]

3. The way he was proved wrong was useful for further understanding of language.

[@laprankster3264]

Technically it wasn’t proven wrong, just that there is no possible way to prove it true (meaning it’s unfalsifiable and therefore just a hypothesis and not a true theory).

[@joryjones6808]

@@laprankster3264 But that's just a theory, a linguistic theory.

[@DiegoDiazgt]

Communication is a natural attribute? Does languages appear out of nothing? Maybe you are right and languages don have nothing in common. But the fact that we as humans are able to replicate the structures of languages (in the form of grammar) is what make UG so important. Generative syntax is just a tool that allows us to analyze the deep meaning in the structures and how it's parts are related. The universal grammar is still valid. The case with the Pirahã is that they don't have pass tenses. Their syntax don't have words to structure past events. But they have recursion, they can codify speaking in whistlings, hums, shouts or music. The Pirahã don't have a genesis myth so it can be a evolutionary asset to loose the recursion from the past. They also don't have words to express color or number. This aspects make Pirahã the perfect example for neglecting the case for universal grammar. We shouldn't invalidated because of the Pirahã. We should question why the Pirahã have a distinctive evolutionary path than the others languages for example they have loanwords and I think that the Pirahã case is just an escuse to falsify the generative syntax and universal grammar. But we can say strongly that universal grammar is still valid and a fundamental concept of linguistics.

[@kagaminegilda5857]

Complexo e explicado de forma rápida e direta, estou encantada com a riqueza de vídeos que esse canal tem!

[@bank200074]

The edits really kept me entertained, love it so much.

[@IScottTheScotch]

Nobody can distinguish “you’re” from “your” in any dialect?

[@jonesp4783]

I can figure out it when i hear that. 😬

[@VenomousCompany]

@@wish-keeper Doesn't stop the grammar nazi's though. While also making grammar mistakes while insulting you.

[@shaksiyat]

You're not bilingual... in Kannada language 'neewu' means you're and 'nee' means you so it's not that difficult to distinguish

[@zuccx99]

Only in you're dialect. This is a joke don't kill me I do know the difference between your and you're.

[@ilijamitrevski1210]

@@VenomousCompany doesn't matter. It's not hard to use the correct form and not erode the language.

[@myczxr]

love the animation. also, how did teded know that i was trying to learn another language? hmmm...

[@_.Infinity._]

Big brother's watching u.

[@Foersom_]

In this case the animations and background sound effects are distracting. The short time the sentence examples were displayed was annoying.

[@SolvayConference]

@@Foersom_ The sudden and rapid color change hurts my eyes also. The visuals are stunning as always, but yeah, it's really distracting. Also, sometimes it was hard to make connections between the visuals and what the script was trying to say.

[@MarkSmith-tu9qr]

I just Googled Noam Chomsky a week ago, then this clip showed up. CREEPY

[@chikhaleaditi7]

What a beautiful video! The content is great as always but the person/persons who worked on the design of the video, three cheers for you. I loved it

[@sealofapoorval7437]

By far my favourite style of animation and editing. So fast, upbeat and funny, it made learning easier.

[@nerfonyt]

Ted Ed:what do languages have in common? me: that they're languages.

[@user-oq4tm1bq6h]

Can we talk about the styling?! It's so simple yet fancy and creative. I love how this uses symbols and words to animate actions 😳❤

[@jasontaliaferro3657]

UG doesn't seem like a theory, but a weak hypothesis. Instead of everyone trying to prove it false, it seems people are trying to prove it true.

[@nhy123123]

great observation. And this is what makes it dipping into pseudoscientific territories. You always try to falsify phenomenon, not the other way around.

[@nickc3657]

It’s extremely hard to prove anything is universal, maybe even impossible. Which would make UG unfalsifiable, aka unscientific. So we whittle away at it, to find the most meaningful universality. Recursion may or may not be it, depending on which analysis of Pirahã you subscribe to.

[@Real_Lion_of_Judah]

It's hilarious because all words (including ''grammar') have no absolute meaning. 'Words' are only sounds or images that trigger memories of similar sounds and images in the mind. 'Language' is merely the connections between our memories, so everything is language. Everything is symbolic. There are no true rules whatsoever in language. Even a grunt is communication.

[@jonahs92]

Excellent point!

[@DiegoDiazgt]

Actually is the other way around...

[@IapetusStag]

Personally, my own experience tells me that Grammar awareness and practice allowed me to master English. I did this by telling myself to be careful with my grammar again and again when speaking English, and thanks to the lessons in the Catholic seminary, I learned Latin. By studying the grammar of Latin (with principles like Participles, Perfect tense shared with English) which is considerably less simplified than English, I gained critical understanding of how the elements of English grammar works thanks to both the relationship of the two Indo-European languages and the fact that learning a more complex language (like Latin) I think can make it easier for you to use the simpler one (English). Kind of like how exercising with 50 kg of weights will eventually make lifting 10 kg of weights easy as pie later.

[@ecem2620]

"The first language one should learn is the sweet (kind) language. ” -Barış Manço

[@cmarley314]

Please Thank you Excuse me Sorry The four main words/phrases

[@littlefishbigmountain]

Christopher Marley Some languages don’t have those words. If you want to express that sentiment, you have to be more specific

[@harsh3624]

The only rule common in all languages is that there is no rule common rule.

[@claudiuxvxvx]

Paradox created

[@keremdelialioglu2197]

They all convey information in the most effective way possible, that's what every language has in common. As precisely as possible, as shortly as possible, so long as it's intelligible to the listener.

[@littlefishbigmountain]

4 ä **Keigo has entered the chat**

[@theoenomelphilosopher8687]

My brain hurts

[@melontusk7358]

The first rule of languages is that you don't talk about languages

[@manasidh]

Love the animation style! It didn't have pretty illustrations but it was so clean and felt so apt for the topic

[@Oculunus]

The audio-visual aspects of this video are incredibly well done

[@risshenraj1055]

Linguists : Aha...we have found the universal grammar rule of recursion Piraha: Hold my beer

[@nickedmonds4486]

And watch this

[@QuestionEverythingButWHY]

“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum....” ― Noam Chomsky

[@Munkingly]

Bingo

[@archlectoryarvi2873]

Sounds awfully familiar

[@shaksiyat]

That's the ultimate strategy every cult leader uses

[@hopeweiss9549]

yeah I'm more or less familiar with Chomsky's political works I never knew he was a linguist

[@AakashKalaria]

This is so well animated and edited.

[@madlad255]

0:24 'This guy' Thanks, I really needed that ...

[@granny2677]

ted-ed:What do all languages have in common? Me,an intellectual Karen: Humans who speak them?

[@zlyntudteam2394]

Well, a chimpanzee can communicate with sign language?

[@findinglight3997]

Well not all humans are common 😶

[@funkyflames7430]

Computers lol

[@WeedInMyAss]

Parrots: hold my beer

[@ladel2o1a48]

I am not a human. Yet.

[@beytullahberk3632]

3:34 i love how the spelling changes to "grammer" in a split second lmao

[@kerentan9446]

the editing was spectacular for this video!

[@jojo.0380]

From what I have learn about language is that it help us to express differently, nice video!!

[@omska9325]

My Answer: Communicating

[@alexanderweaver6047]

O N Sign language

[@omska9325]

Alexander Weaver well, I guess i played myself. I edited the comment now

[@calebtaylor4153]

@@alexanderweaver6047 what did he say originally?

[@omska9325]

Caleb Taylor I said “my answer: speaking”

[@littlefishbigmountain]

Whimsical Kids You can also communicate pretty strongly by punching someone in the face. He said all languages have communication in common, not that all communication is language

[@eliotlong5184]

I would love to see a video on how long sentences can be, and how the maximum potential length varies between languages. Keep up the awesome content!

[@danidejaneiro8378]

Thanks to conjunctions (and, so, but), sentences can be infinite.

[@wiegix]

Wonderful animation ! And those clever little touches. So good.

[@Bati_]

Editing is out of this world! Magnificent!

[@starlightsall]

This was a cool and informative video and it's obvious a ton of work went into the pretty illustrations, but it felt unbelievably hectic. The animation was so fast and overwhelming, after a while I found myself shutting my eyes just to have the chance to rest and focus on what's being said.

[@joelm4887]

Same. I love this channel, their (normally) lovely animations, and this particular subject matter; but I found the style of this video incredibly distracting, and I had trouble absorbing what they were saying as a result of it. I had to stop the video several times just to give my overloaded senses a break. I feel like this video needs a seizure warning at the beginning.

[@ItisMoody]

Languages are the most beautiful, mysterious, and impressive aspect of humanity!..

[@ANDROLOMA]

Unless you operate a complaint department.

[@rosieisla8286]

I'd love to see a follow-up video about optimality theory and faithfulness constraints!

[@yimingqu2403]

best animation I've ever watched. TED always surprises me. By the way, I couldn't stop shaking my legs... the music is,,, wow.

[@Vishal-pr2tf]

FACT: 90% of communication is done using just 500 words.

[@jakobreagan2592]

Okay dwight

[@collinsiemaszko7007]

That's really interesting

[@TheThirdEYE07]

Sounds great

[@jonesp4783]

And mostly words for a daily use

[@iamgreatalwaysgreat8209]

Or 26 letters (English)

[@brentjemuel3298]

"No matter where we come from, there is one language we can all speak and understand from birth, the language of the heart, love." -Imania Margria, Secrets of My Heart

[@user-uf5kr1xc8j]

Thank you for videous, this channel helps me for study english! Hello from Kazakhstan

[@bokkun9808]

ooohh the drums, the quick and snappy animation made this such a happy and fun video to watch

[@autumnavalanche1097]

Love the animation of this episode, so typography focused and so satisfying :'D

[@deez_fat_nuts]

"What do all languages have in common?" The ability to communicate information from one person to another.

[@CDexie]

I'd argue that's a definition of language in and of itself, so... yeah.

[@zinguyen]

Chomsky proposes that the main function of languages is not to communicate, because the vast majority of our thoughts never surfaces to communication. Languages are for connecting interfaces of cognition, forming thoughts in the process.

[@RodTejada502]

Eoin Duffy hit a HOME RUN with the animation on this video. MAN!! That was amazing! And the lesson itself was FANTASTIC!

[@ManvinderSinghWalia]

The animations, the font, the images, the music. I'm in love

[@weegeeismad9298]

Me : They speak! **laughs in sign language**

[@IndonesiaMajapahitNDPCA]

Grammar is useful It can fix mistakes for typing

[@jonesp4783]

Right! Grammar is very useful I’m learning english and i can say that without grammar i hadn’t do anything.

[@Link_t.]

Jonathan Espinal lol

[@Noukz37]

Amazing animation, perhaps my favourite of all TEDed's :-)

[@barrotem5627]

Amazing images, fonts and lightweight theme to go along with this amazing video.

[@sciencetanium3216]

"What do languages have in common ?" Me : A method to convey feelings.

[@seleneaguero963]

3:28 "In the pot" "In the spaceship" these are actually prepositional phrases

[@TallSilhouette]

I like the editing and pace of this vid; very brisk and energetic.

[@canyadigit6274]

Loving the new style and the beat!

[@jmathew2011]

Noone has pointed this out yet but big praise to the editor of this video! Every slide/transition/animation of this was so artfully and intellectually thought out. 👏 🤯

[@blathnaid4445]

THE ONE SENTENCE OF IRISH BEING "AN BHFUIL CEAD AGAM DUL GO DTÍ AN LEITHREAS" IS GENIUS GIVE THIS ANIMATOR A RAISE

[@FirestarTTR2000]

I saw this and got so exited that Irish finally got recognized!! I saw leithreas for a split second and had to rewind!

[@anmise]

I saw it too and damn they NEED THAT RAISE

[@bryleed2198]

I love the editing of this video.

[@ernestojnr1087]

I'm so in love with the amount of things my brain is able to grasp here beside the main voice

[@quaintrelle_2333]

Once I read a fact that most languages have “no/na/nah” in common.🤔 Btw awesome animation,as always.Those little symbolical faces were so cute🥰 Anyways,thank you very much Ted-Ed for teaching these topics.I truly appreciate the hard work behind these. Edit:I mean,the words expressing negative or no usually starts with ‘n’ or ‘m’,that’s the common thing.😅

[@Asmaa_311]

They don't exist in Arabic...

[@cmarley314]

Nor in Thai: ไม่ (máì)

[@quaintrelle_2333]

Pengu oh,I didn’t know this.😅

[@twotothehalf3725]

"tidak" or "bukan" in Malay; "la" in Arabic; "iie" in Japanese (though they also has the "-nai" suffix for negation).

[@chinares]

Not in our case. In Armenian, it is usually "ch'/չ". "Ch'e/չէ" means "no" ( "voch'/ոչ" also means "no"), and "ch'/չ" is used as "not". "I am not going" would be "Yes ch'em gnum/Ես չեմ գնում".

[@QuestionEverythingButWHY]

“For last year's words belong to last year's language And next year's words await another voice.” ― T.S. Eliot

[@snakeeplayz1010]

True cuz we keep changing are language

[@mi-y]

Beat TS sorry lol

[@someonethatexists46]

Love this animation style!

[@cuantrail]

Chomsky's contribution is that he actually proposes theories. Proving theories wrong is how science progresses. Most of the field is happy to just describe language and human behavior. Attempting to put forth theories that have explanatory power is way harder.

[@This_comeback_is_personal]

I believe we are genetically made to understand through images. When learning a language we connect words to images(meanings). Our evolutionary process made this task something we do unconsciously in our mind in a matter of a few milliseconds. I also believe we are created to understand through images because our first form of communication was sign language and picture writing on the walls of the caves we lived. If anyone read this, please tell me your opinion about it because i really want to see what people think about this concept, whether they agree or disagree. Thank you for the time you took to read this ☺️.

[@KardKardus]

how about blind people from born?

[@georgiteodosiev9037]

What do all languages have in common? Me: *They are goddamn languages*

[@user-ci2lg1lw5b]

모든 언어의 공통점에 대하여 생각해보는 시간이 되었습니다. 모든 언어의 공톰점을 찯기 위한 사람들의 노력이 멋있어보였습니다. 좋은 시간이 되었습니다. 감사합니다.

[@notgate2624]

- cool subject (I like linguistics) - fun editing - good narration solid work as always :)

[@allisond.46]

"What do all languages have in common?" Me: Words for food.

[@sebastianelytron8450]

What is the least spoken language in the world? Sign Language

[@OscarButDumb]

Ha! Jokes on you I use sign language in Minecraft!

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

@@OscarButDumb Enchantment Table?

[@aakaasha6123]

@@OscarButDumb it is not spoken. You didn't understand that properly

[@tablet6655]

You morron, know nothing about languages if you think so. FYI: "sign language" is not a language, but a type of language and there are lots of them. Try not to make such an uneducated and potentially rude statement next time.

[@mikgriffen]

@@tablet6655 *I t ' s a j o k e*

[@bijibijmak]

Woooow! The illustrations were very good!!

[@moncef0147]

Exceptionally beautiful and clever animation in this video!

[@breathlessMay]

3:42 - Amazonian language: why was it so hard to name the linguist who presented this? (since there was exactly 1).

[@prabathhemachandra]

Me:using another device to watch KZbin Google assistant:wanna watch ted Ed?

[@marcusbrown6465]

I absolutely love Ted-ed I've learned so much different stuff on this channel keep it going

[@cfranc53]

These animations are lovely!

[@_kopcsi_]

"the generative syntax method represents the order of words in a sentence in hierarchical syntax trees." -- OK so Chomsky was fundamentally wrong, since he was trying to find universality and generality meanwhile he implicitly narrowed down the range of languages to be analysed by considering only "linear languages". who said that all languages have to have ORDER (well, I don't say that there can exist "nonlinear languages" like in the movie "Arrival", but why did he specified his research only to linear languages)? or if we really believe that this is a common and universal attribute of all languages (therefore Chomsky's analytical tool, the "generative syntax" is non-restricting) then Chomsky just answered his own question by the way he asked the question itself, even if it happened implicitly: the linear structure of languages is a general attribute. by the way, the other important question ("whether these rules are hardwired in the brain") is very closely related to the "linguistic relativity". actually Noam Chomsky’s “universal grammar” and the Sapir-Whorf “linguistic relativity” are two theorems/hypothesis which form an interesting duality.

[@setyourhandleif]

because all human languages including sign language is carried out in time and therefore linear. And he is interested in human languages

[@_kopcsi_]

​@@setyourhandleif 1, ok if we say that, then linearity is a general attribute Chomsky was looking for. 2, you are talking about spoken languages. you are right that we are living in a temporal universe so when we speak our speech has temporal nature. but if we are talking about languages which are represented by symbols, then we can use symbols which have "rotational symmetry" (more precisely: the sentences have no starting and ending points) so the representation doesn't necessarily have order and linearity. I refer to the movie Arrival again. there the creatures used a language which had sentences with circular structures. however, the temporal dimension and the linguistic linearity is still interconnected, but on a deeper level (and this was the message of the movie). our languages always represent the logic of our world. why? because they are formed by this logic and formed to express this logic. time is a fundamental element of all languages. time, as a mental construct, represents the causal relationship and ordering among events. therefore not only cognition and communication (verbal) is temporal due to the fact that cognition and communication happen in a temporal physical world, but even the logic of all languages reflect this nature. I know it will seem a bit distant analogy (and a very trivial one, but this is why it's elementary and fundamental), but it's like this: all languages EXIST due to the fact that the world and universe (in which the speakers of these languages exist) does EXIST. so existence is like temporality: it is generated into the basic structure of the languages. conclusion: I do believe that in this universe (where certainly all living and conscious creature experience time and are constrained by time) only linear languages can exist.

[@drjoe71]

"What do languages have in common?" I thought we were all smart. Its that we made language so we are the common factor.

[@LavenderLinguist]

Doctor of Linguistics here, this is *remarkably* well summarised! Loved it

[@romy_lv]

One thing to understand is that humans communicate in multiple languages, verbal being just one of them. We also communicate through body language, music, maths, visual language... I mean, this video uses emojis (sort of). That's another language. So Chomsky was talking about how a baby can learn the correct patterns and structures of language innately. How a child can learn to recognize the function of different words in a sentence and how to adapt them to convey different meanings. All languages (being verbal or not) share the characteristic of patterns, formulas and structures that facilitate communication. Without a structure, without "rules" we would not be able to communicate efficiently because each of us would make our own. So yeah, we do have a natural ability for language. What changes is which parameters and specific structures are used, and that's where grammar comes in. I don't think we can talk about universal grammar (rules that apply to every language), but maybe a universal principle of grammar (every language applies rules).

[@phballbreakdown2522]

This guy's voice is so relaxing. I listen to a TED ED video in bed to get to sleep. It's really effective.

[@kleb3101]

Ikr

[@clairegittens3707]

“After 50 years of analysis, we still haven’t figured out English.” Me, an English teacher for non-natives... Bwahahahaha! SOB!

[@jordanandre7941]

I really like the animation of this video, well done!