Philosophy Wire: New languages. Logos. Children. Silence.

Photo by Spiros Kakos

How did the almost 6,000 languages of the world come into being? Researchers have tried to simulate the process of developing a new communication system in an experiment -- with surprising results: even preschool children can spontaneously develop communication systems that exhibit core properties of natural language. [1] There you are. Logos out of children. Language out of nothing. We admire the creation of new languages. But it is something so common that even kindergarten children can perform. No, we do not grow wiser as we get older. We just deteriorate into existence. What Is cannot speak. What Is should not be. Don’t listen to me. Listen to your children crying in despair. While their parents are teaching them how to speak…

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