Why do words appear the way they do?
Why aren’t words the same in every language?
Sometimes it doesn’t seem to make any sense. But new research shows that maybe language is not as arbitrary as it seems.
Linguist Daniel Midgley makes sense of the chaos on this episode of Talk the Talk.
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Show notes
James Chapman’s Tumblr blog
http://chapmangamo.tumblr.com
20 Actually Useful Chengyu (成语)
http://carlgene.com/blog/2010/07/20-actually-useful-chengyu-成语/
How to say “third wheel” in French?
https://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101120103032AAU5Jcf
LiveJournal: third wheel
http://linguaphiles.livejournal.com/3313785.html
Third wheel? Fifth wheel? (Try control-clicking on the lines to make them collapse.)
“Play gooseberry”
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/play+gooseberry
Buzzfeed: What Noises Do Animals Make In Other Languages? Here Is An Important Guide
http://www.buzzfeed.com/robinedds/what-noises-do-animals-make-in-other-languages-here-is-an-im#.ic7P18xW4
Epic of Gilgamesh Summary
http://www.shmoop.com/gilgamesh/summary.html
Lost ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’ Verse Depicts Cacophonous Abode of Gods
http://www.livescience.com/52372-new-tablet-gilgamesh-epic.html
The Newly Discovered Tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh
http://etc.ancient.eu/2015/09/24/giglamesh-enkidu-humbaba-cedar-forest-newest-discovered-tablet-v-epic/
Back to the Cedar Forest: The beginning and end of Tablet V of the Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgameš
http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/18512/
Points of similarity between the Babylonian and Noachian flood stories
http://www.religioustolerance.org/noah_com.htm
On the Arbitrary Nature of Linguistic Sign
http://www.academypublication.com/issues/past/tpls/vol02/01/07.pdf
Hockett’s features of human language
http://people.exeter.ac.uk/bosthaus/Lecture/hockett1.htm
Hockett on arbitrariness and iconicity
http://ideophone.org/hockett-on-arbitrariness-and-iconicity/
Saussure knew about iconicity, despite his focus on arbitrariness
http://hiphilangsci.net/2014/08/06/saussures-sound-symbolism/
Wikipedia: Koro language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koro_language_(India)
Koro–the psychological disappearance of the penis.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17727356
Koro Syndrome: The Irrational Fear of Lethal Genital Shrinkage
http://io9.com/5944722/koro-syndrome-the-irrational-fear-of-lethal-genital-shrinkage
Wiktionary: koro
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/koro
Languages less arbitrary than long assumed
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151001130050.htm
Finding iconicity in spoken languages
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-09/uom-fii090915.php
Arbitrariness, Iconicity, and Systematicity in Language
http://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/abstract/S1364-6613(15)00177-1?_returnURL=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1364661315001771%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
Road to language learning is iconic
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121113143705.htm
Language Hat: Gluckschmerz
http://languagehat.com/gluckschmerz/
Schadenfreude Is in the Zeitgeist, but Is There an Opposite Term?
http://www.wsj.com/articles/schadenfreude-is-in-the-zeitgeist-but-is-there-an-opposite-term-1434129186
Transcript
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