Insights 2016: Professor Nick Enfield on The Conversation Machine

Do dolphins say ‘Huh?’ when they mishear other dolphins’ squeaks? Do gorillas point it out when other gorillas drop things on the ground? Can a currawong quote the call of another currawong? Do ants gossip? Sadly, the answer to these questions is no. But why not? This lecture explores the idea that humans are equipped with a unique combination of social and cognitive capacities that together constitute a ‘conversation machine’, without which language as we know it would not exist. Professor Nick Enfield presents new research on core features of the human conversation machine, including our cooperative tendencies, our heightened sense of accountability, and the fact that ours is the only communication system that can be used for making statements about itself. For more about Insights lecture series see this page: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2016/Insights2016.shtml