Name: What our language habits reveal
Uploaded: 2007-09-09T14:56:00Z
Duration: 17 min 15 s
Description: In an exclusive preview of his book <i>The Stuff of Thought</i>, Steven Pinker looks at language and how it expresses what goes on in our minds -- and how the words we choose communicate much more than we realize.

In an exclusive preview of his book <i>The Stuff of Thought</i>, Steven Pinker looks at language and how it expresses what goes on in our minds -- and how the words we choose communicate much more than we realize.

Steven Pinker: What our language habits reveal

What our language habits reveal

Language not only expresses but shapes human thought, displaying its power in the evolution of slang, jargon, and dialects.

Verbs, the chassis of sentences, demand precise usage, revealing underlying cognitive structures and social interactions.

Indirect speech acts, like veiled bribes, negotiate complex social relationships and maintain plausible deniability in language.