As serendipity would have it, during the past few weeks I have been immersed in arguments about the Upper Paleolithic transition some 45,000 years ago. Something critical and different seems to have occurred about this time, but what that something was is the subject of considerable dispute. Because clear indicators of supernatural belief and ritual [...]
Tags:agency·co-evolution·FOXP2·gradualist·grammar·history·intentionality·intersubjectivity·John Hawks·language·Marvin Harris·Michael Tomasello·Ofer Bar-Josef·ratchet effect·recursion·revolution·Richard Klein·saltational·Upper Paleolithic
Seed Magazine is running a strange article about the word “so.” Instead of having a “writer” or “reporter,” this story has an “analyst” whose name is Michael Erard. Here is what our analyst says about the word “so”:
The language of science, with its specialized vocabulary and clipped rhythm, has a distinctive architecture.
The functional elegance of [...]
Tags:"so"·basic literacy·causation·explanation·grammar·junk words·matters of style·Michael Erard·Seed Magazine·sentence structure·the word "so"·Valley girl talk
