Re: [math-fun] Does Your Language Shape How You Think?
Apparently the presence of magnetite has recently been confirmed in human brains. I wonder if the groups that seem to always know which way is N, S, E,or W are those that can sense directions via the Earth's magnetic field. --Dan Hans wrote: << Interesting article, I thought, by Guy Deutscher in Thursday's N.Y. Times: . . . "In order to speak a language like Guugu Yimithirr, you need to know where the cardinal directions are at each and every moment of your waking life."
_____________________________________________________________________ "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that certain je ne sais quoi." --Peter Schickele
Robins see magnetic fields with their right eye: http://tinyurl.com/22koxdv On Sun, Aug 29, 2010 at 9:10 PM, Dan Asimov <dasimov@earthlink.net> wrote:
Apparently the presence of magnetite has recently been confirmed in human brains. I wonder if the groups that seem to always know which way is N, S, E,or W are those that can sense directions via the Earth's magnetic field.
--Dan
Hans wrote:
<< Interesting article, I thought, by Guy Deutscher in Thursday's N.Y. Times:
. . .
"In order to speak a language like Guugu Yimithirr, you need to know where the cardinal directions are at each and every moment of your waking life."
_____________________________________________________________________ "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that certain je ne sais quoi." --Peter Schickele
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-- Mike Stay - metaweta@gmail.com http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~mike http://reperiendi.wordpress.com
On Aug 30, 2010, at 12:10 AM, Dan Asimov wrote:
Apparently the presence of magnetite has recently been confirmed in human brains.
References? I found a paper reporting magnetite in sinus bones -- not within the actual brain. It's not clear how magnetic torques would be detected by neurons or glial cells.
Regarding the name of the Guugu Yimithirr language: *guugu* just means "language" or "speech", and *yimi* means "this". In that area (North Queensland, Australia), languages often get their traditional names from the exact word they use for some key concept, like "this". The suffix *-thirr* just means "having" or "possessing", so the overall sense is "Language that has * yimi* [for 'this']". An exactly similar case pertains in France, where two medieval varieties of French were called "Langue d'oc" and "Langue d'oïl" after their words for "yes". On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 7:59 AM, Veit Elser <ve10@cornell.edu> wrote:
On Aug 30, 2010, at 12:10 AM, Dan Asimov wrote:
Apparently the presence of magnetite has recently been confirmed in human brains.
References? I found a paper reporting magnetite in sinus bones -- not within the actual brain. It's not clear how magnetic torques would be detected by neurons or glial cells.
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participants (4)
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Allan Wechsler -
Dan Asimov -
Mike Stay -
Veit Elser