Edward Gibson

I mean, I probably did, but I wasn't as interested in it. I was trying to do the easier problems first, the ones I could, thought maybe were handleable, which seems like the syntax is easier, which is just the forms as opposed to the meaning. When you're starting to talk about the meaning, that's a very hard problem, and it still is a really, really hard problem. But the forms is easier.

And so I thought at least figuring out the forms of human language, which sounds really hard, but is actually maybe more tractable.

And so I thought at least figuring out the forms of human language, which sounds really hard, but is actually maybe more tractable.

And so I thought at least figuring out the forms of human language, which sounds really hard, but is actually maybe more tractable.

Yeah. I think that's what they're good at, is form. Exactly. And that's why they're good, because they can do form. Meaning's hard.

Yeah. I think that's what they're good at, is form. Exactly. And that's why they're good, because they can do form. Meaning's hard.

Yeah. I think that's what they're good at, is form. Exactly. And that's why they're good, because they can do form. Meaning's hard.

What I find beautiful about human language is some of the generalizations that happen across the human languages, within and across a language. So let me give you an example of something which I find kind of remarkable. That is if a language, if it has... a word order such that the verbs tend to come before their objects. And so that's like English does that.

What I find beautiful about human language is some of the generalizations that happen across the human languages, within and across a language. So let me give you an example of something which I find kind of remarkable. That is if a language, if it has... a word order such that the verbs tend to come before their objects. And so that's like English does that.

What I find beautiful about human language is some of the generalizations that happen across the human languages, within and across a language. So let me give you an example of something which I find kind of remarkable. That is if a language, if it has... a word order such that the verbs tend to come before their objects. And so that's like English does that.

So we have the first, the subject comes first in a simple sentence. So I say, you know, the dog chased the cat or Mary kicked the ball. So the subject's first. And then after the subject, there's the verb. And then we have objects. All these things come after in English. So it's generally a verb. And most of the stuff that we want to say comes after the subject. It's the objects.

So we have the first, the subject comes first in a simple sentence. So I say, you know, the dog chased the cat or Mary kicked the ball. So the subject's first. And then after the subject, there's the verb. And then we have objects. All these things come after in English. So it's generally a verb. And most of the stuff that we want to say comes after the subject. It's the objects.

So we have the first, the subject comes first in a simple sentence. So I say, you know, the dog chased the cat or Mary kicked the ball. So the subject's first. And then after the subject, there's the verb. And then we have objects. All these things come after in English. So it's generally a verb. And most of the stuff that we want to say comes after the subject. It's the objects.

There's a lot of things we want to say to come after. And there's a lot of languages like that. About 40% of the languages of the world look like that. They're subject-verb-object languages. And then these languages tend to have prepositions, these little markers on the nouns that connect words. Nouns to other nouns or nouns to verbs.

There's a lot of things we want to say to come after. And there's a lot of languages like that. About 40% of the languages of the world look like that. They're subject-verb-object languages. And then these languages tend to have prepositions, these little markers on the nouns that connect words. Nouns to other nouns or nouns to verbs.

There's a lot of things we want to say to come after. And there's a lot of languages like that. About 40% of the languages of the world look like that. They're subject-verb-object languages. And then these languages tend to have prepositions, these little markers on the nouns that connect words. Nouns to other nouns or nouns to verbs.

So a preposition like in or on or of or about, I say I talk about something. The something is the object of that preposition. These little markers come, just like verbs, they come before their nouns. So now we look at other languages like Japanese or Hindi. These are so-called verb final languages. Those...

So a preposition like in or on or of or about, I say I talk about something. The something is the object of that preposition. These little markers come, just like verbs, they come before their nouns. So now we look at other languages like Japanese or Hindi. These are so-called verb final languages. Those...

So a preposition like in or on or of or about, I say I talk about something. The something is the object of that preposition. These little markers come, just like verbs, they come before their nouns. So now we look at other languages like Japanese or Hindi. These are so-called verb final languages. Those...

as about maybe a little more than 40%, maybe 45% of the world's languages or more, I mean, 50% of the world's languages are verb final. Those tend to be post positions. Those markers, they have the same kinds of markers as we do in English, but they put them after. So, sorry, they put them first, the markers come first.