Next Sentence
The Mysterious Sentence
Sentences, it seems, happen in your brain. That 2-pound soft-tissue dynamo whirs into action (or reaction) when an idea happens in it and, as a result, a sentence, or something very much like a sentence, is miraculously produced – plop! -- like a chicken laying an egg.
I say miraculously because I believe that is a scientifically accurate term given the current state of our understanding. Sentences are little miracles. There is nothing in the physical universe that is understood less than the precise details of how sentences happen. The explanation I just offered is a crude description of what is known about the process. But beyond that, the best science can do is stand with its pockets pulled inside out in baffled awe before the miracle
And yet they are there. And they are real things that have definable properties, algorithmic structures, and real measurable effects upon the physical world. Sentences happen one after another, by the billions every day in one or another of the 6,000 or so spoken languages on the planet. We understand how babies are made. We understand photosynthesis, metabolism, volcanoes, galaxies, electrons, and cancer far better than we understand sentences. And yet everyone feels at home with a sentence.
Sentences, we feel, are the conscious product of our intentions. We build them word by word. We can stop them and start them with a mere whim. (Not always the case with babies.) They are our babies in a way far more personal and individual than even our biological children. Of all the things we may be said to produce, we have a more god-like command and control over our sentences. So we should damn well understand what they are. Yet we don’t.
Sentences, it seems, happen in your brain. That 2-pound soft-tissue dynamo whirs into action (or reaction) when an idea happens in it and, as a result, a sentence, or something very much like a sentence, is miraculously produced – plop! -- like a chicken laying an egg.
I say miraculously because I believe that is a scientifically accurate term given the current state of our understanding. Sentences are little miracles. There is nothing in the physical universe that is understood less than the precise details of how sentences happen. The explanation I just offered is a crude description of what is known about the process. But beyond that, the best science can do is stand with its pockets pulled inside out in baffled awe before the miracle
And yet they are there. And they are real things that have definable properties, algorithmic structures, and real measurable effects upon the physical world. Sentences happen one after another, by the billions every day in one or another of the 6,000 or so spoken languages on the planet. We understand how babies are made. We understand photosynthesis, metabolism, volcanoes, galaxies, electrons, and cancer far better than we understand sentences. And yet everyone feels at home with a sentence.
Sentences, we feel, are the conscious product of our intentions. We build them word by word. We can stop them and start them with a mere whim. (Not always the case with babies.) They are our babies in a way far more personal and individual than even our biological children. Of all the things we may be said to produce, we have a more god-like command and control over our sentences. So we should damn well understand what they are. Yet we don’t.