Edward Gibson

That's a really good question. That's a very good question. Why do languages have more morphology versus less morphology? I don't think we know the answer to this. I think there's just a lot of good solutions to the problem of communication. I believe, as you hinted, that Language is an invented system by humans for communicating their ideas.

That's a really good question. That's a very good question. Why do languages have more morphology versus less morphology? I don't think we know the answer to this. I think there's just a lot of good solutions to the problem of communication. I believe, as you hinted, that Language is an invented system by humans for communicating their ideas.

That's a really good question. That's a very good question. Why do languages have more morphology versus less morphology? I don't think we know the answer to this. I think there's just a lot of good solutions to the problem of communication. I believe, as you hinted, that Language is an invented system by humans for communicating their ideas.

And I think it comes down to we label the things we want to talk about. Those are the morphemes and words. Those are the things we want to talk about in the world. And we invent those things. And then we put them together in ways that are easy for us to convey, to process. But that's like a naive view. And I don't, I mean, I think it's probably right, right? It's naive and probably right.

And I think it comes down to we label the things we want to talk about. Those are the morphemes and words. Those are the things we want to talk about in the world. And we invent those things. And then we put them together in ways that are easy for us to convey, to process. But that's like a naive view. And I don't, I mean, I think it's probably right, right? It's naive and probably right.

And I think it comes down to we label the things we want to talk about. Those are the morphemes and words. Those are the things we want to talk about in the world. And we invent those things. And then we put them together in ways that are easy for us to convey, to process. But that's like a naive view. And I don't, I mean, I think it's probably right, right? It's naive and probably right.

I mean, these are very interesting questions. We don't know really about how words, even words, get invented very much. Assuming they get invented, we don't really know how that process works and how these things evolve. What we have is... kind of a current picture of a few thousand languages, a few thousand instances. We don't have any pictures of really how these things are evolving, really.

I mean, these are very interesting questions. We don't know really about how words, even words, get invented very much. Assuming they get invented, we don't really know how that process works and how these things evolve. What we have is... kind of a current picture of a few thousand languages, a few thousand instances. We don't have any pictures of really how these things are evolving, really.

I mean, these are very interesting questions. We don't know really about how words, even words, get invented very much. Assuming they get invented, we don't really know how that process works and how these things evolve. What we have is... kind of a current picture of a few thousand languages, a few thousand instances. We don't have any pictures of really how these things are evolving, really.

And then the evolution is massively confused by contact, right? So as soon as one language group, one group runs into another, We are smart. Humans are smart. And they take on whatever is useful in the other group. And so any kind of contrast which you're talking about, which I find useful, I'm going to start using as well.

And then the evolution is massively confused by contact, right? So as soon as one language group, one group runs into another, We are smart. Humans are smart. And they take on whatever is useful in the other group. And so any kind of contrast which you're talking about, which I find useful, I'm going to start using as well.

And then the evolution is massively confused by contact, right? So as soon as one language group, one group runs into another, We are smart. Humans are smart. And they take on whatever is useful in the other group. And so any kind of contrast which you're talking about, which I find useful, I'm going to start using as well.

So I worked a little bit in specific areas of words, in number words and in color words. And in color... So we have, in English, we have around 11 words that everyone knows for colors. And many more if you happen to be interested in color for some reason or other. If you're a fashion designer or an artist or something, you may have many, many more words. But we can see millions.

So I worked a little bit in specific areas of words, in number words and in color words. And in color... So we have, in English, we have around 11 words that everyone knows for colors. And many more if you happen to be interested in color for some reason or other. If you're a fashion designer or an artist or something, you may have many, many more words. But we can see millions.

So I worked a little bit in specific areas of words, in number words and in color words. And in color... So we have, in English, we have around 11 words that everyone knows for colors. And many more if you happen to be interested in color for some reason or other. If you're a fashion designer or an artist or something, you may have many, many more words. But we can see millions.

Like if you have normal color vision, normal trichrometric vision, you can see millions of distinctions in color. So we don't have millions of words. The most efficient, no, the most detailed color vocabulary would have over a million terms to distinguish all the different colors that we can see, but of course we don't have that.

Like if you have normal color vision, normal trichrometric vision, you can see millions of distinctions in color. So we don't have millions of words. The most efficient, no, the most detailed color vocabulary would have over a million terms to distinguish all the different colors that we can see, but of course we don't have that.

Like if you have normal color vision, normal trichrometric vision, you can see millions of distinctions in color. So we don't have millions of words. The most efficient, no, the most detailed color vocabulary would have over a million terms to distinguish all the different colors that we can see, but of course we don't have that.

So it's somehow, it's been, it's kind of useful for English to have evolved in some way to, so there's 11 terms that people find useful to talk about, black, white, red, blue, green, yellow, purple, gray, pink, and I probably missed something there. Anyway, there's 11 that everyone knows. But you go to different cultures, especially the non-industrialized cultures, and there'll be many fewer.

So it's somehow, it's been, it's kind of useful for English to have evolved in some way to, so there's 11 terms that people find useful to talk about, black, white, red, blue, green, yellow, purple, gray, pink, and I probably missed something there. Anyway, there's 11 that everyone knows. But you go to different cultures, especially the non-industrialized cultures, and there'll be many fewer.