語言學，不是在研究語言結構，而是人類溝通的方式，更趨近與人類學與腦神經科學的研究思路。在大家探討人工智能語義理解的當今，除了訊息處理外，還要考慮人文，時代，政治，經濟等因素。對於什麼是“正規”語言又什麼是“方言”，有很不同的思考。
第二本同作者的書分析黑人式的英語，從語言學的角度論述他基本上是一種英文的方言，非常有趣。我發現我我腦子裡會不自覺用山繆傑克遜和皇后拉蒂法的聲音在讀啊😄
6000+ languages, representing 6000+ ways of being human
Absolutely loved McWhorter’s perpective regarding language. So much more than just information, it even goes beyond culture and civilization. Humans are biological creatures and language follows a similar path of evolution. This is especially interesting to read during times of AI/natural speech technology progress. Its important to not look at it merely from an information aspect, but also biological (ie. Human emotions) and environmantal aspects (epigenetics seems to apply, too)
His book about “Black English” was a fun read. Showing how its mire of a dialect than just bad grammar, and how its rich in language markers.
I have to admit that when reading examples, in my head I read in Samuel Jackson and Queen LaTifah’s voices, love them actors 😄
