An Instinct to Acquire an Art from “The Language Instinct” by Steven Pinker

• language is control, language can make others feel emotion, perform certain behaviors, believe certain things--we can change people's thoughts through language
• In speech we learn to inform, to persuade and to entertain
• each technique is different but each technique gives the reader or listening something they didn't have before or changes something they did have
• we all find a way to communicate somehow, even if at first we are unwilling or uncomfortable
• language is a part of all of us 

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2/27/15

•  everything in the world is based on language
• "a common language connects the members of a community into an information-sharing network with formidable collective powers"
• First sentence = hook
• Starting on the journey...

•  automatically persuasive
•  making arguments by examples
• language helps solve problems BUT it also creates conflicts, divides
• knowledge gap
• the more your vocabulary grows...does this help you find the words you need or complicate things
• Last line: is language everything? If we take away language/communication, do we take away personhood?