full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Lera Boroditsky: How language shapes the way we think

Unscramble the Blue Letters


So, I'll be speaking to you using lnuggaae ... because I can. This is one these magical abilities that we humans have. We can transmit really complicated tghotuhs to one another. So what I'm doing right now is, I'm making sounds with my mouth as I'm exhaling. I'm minakg tones and hisses and puffs, and those are creating air vibrations in the air. Those air vibrations are traveling to you, they're hitting your eardrums, and then your brain takes those vibrations from your eardrums and transforms them into thoughts. I hope.

(Laughter)

I hope that's haippneng. So because of this ability, we humans are able to tarsnmit our ideas across vast reaches of space and time. We're able to transmit knowledge across minds. I can put a bizarre new idea in your mind right now. I could say, "Imagine a jellyfish waltzing in a lrirbay while thinking about qtanuum miachecns."

Open Cloze


So, I'll be speaking to you using ________ ... because I can. This is one these magical abilities that we humans have. We can transmit really complicated ________ to one another. So what I'm doing right now is, I'm making sounds with my mouth as I'm exhaling. I'm ______ tones and hisses and puffs, and those are creating air vibrations in the air. Those air vibrations are traveling to you, they're hitting your eardrums, and then your brain takes those vibrations from your eardrums and transforms them into thoughts. I hope.

(Laughter)

I hope that's _________. So because of this ability, we humans are able to ________ our ideas across vast reaches of space and time. We're able to transmit knowledge across minds. I can put a bizarre new idea in your mind right now. I could say, "Imagine a jellyfish waltzing in a _______ while thinking about _______ _________."

Solution


  1. mechanics
  2. library
  3. language
  4. transmit
  5. thoughts
  6. quantum
  7. making
  8. happening

Original Text


So, I'll be speaking to you using language ... because I can. This is one these magical abilities that we humans have. We can transmit really complicated thoughts to one another. So what I'm doing right now is, I'm making sounds with my mouth as I'm exhaling. I'm making tones and hisses and puffs, and those are creating air vibrations in the air. Those air vibrations are traveling to you, they're hitting your eardrums, and then your brain takes those vibrations from your eardrums and transforms them into thoughts. I hope.

(Laughter)

I hope that's happening. So because of this ability, we humans are able to transmit our ideas across vast reaches of space and time. We're able to transmit knowledge across minds. I can put a bizarre new idea in your mind right now. I could say, "Imagine a jellyfish waltzing in a library while thinking about quantum mechanics."

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
kuuk thaayorre 3
stay oriented 3
dark blue 3
spanish speakers 3
english speakers 3
human mind 3
air vibrations 2
languages spoken 2
languages differ 2
organized time 2
linguistic trick 2
number words 2
russian speakers 2
german speakers 2
perceptual decisions 2
grammatical gender 2
linguistic diversity 2


Important Words


  1. abilities
  2. ability
  3. air
  4. bizarre
  5. brain
  6. complicated
  7. creating
  8. eardrums
  9. exhaling
  10. happening
  11. hisses
  12. hitting
  13. hope
  14. humans
  15. idea
  16. ideas
  17. jellyfish
  18. knowledge
  19. language
  20. laughter
  21. library
  22. magical
  23. making
  24. mechanics
  25. mind
  26. minds
  27. mouth
  28. puffs
  29. put
  30. quantum
  31. reaches
  32. sounds
  33. space
  34. speaking
  35. takes
  36. thinking
  37. thoughts
  38. time
  39. tones
  40. transforms
  41. transmit
  42. traveling
  43. vast
  44. vibrations
  45. waltzing