Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by John Maclean

Quote by John Maclean

Author

John Maclean

Browse famous quotes and profile details for John Maclean. more

You May Also Like

“So, yes, considered as an algorithm within a language, Merge is indeed an elementary process. But, imagined as some sort of mediation between prelinguistic operations of the brain and language-use, it would be a miraculous leap across an infinite qualitative abyss. It can help explain the extravagant fecundity and power and limitless expressive range of language, perhaps, but it definitely can't explain anything about the origin of language. [...] If Merge is the most basic linguistic operation, it's primordial only structurally, not genetically. It's the complexity of language that generates the simplicity of the operation, and not the reverse.”

LanguageMerge
Book:All Things Are Full of Gods: The Mysteries of Mind and Life
Create image

“The girl's arms jutted out at awkward angles, not quite hands on the hips belligerent but not relaxed either, as if they weren't all the way under the girl's control. "I came to find you." "I didn't know. If I'd known..." "It doesn't matter now." The girl's attention was unwavering. "This is where you are." "It is at that." The girl looked sad. Her soil-dark eyes were clouded over by tears she hadn't been able to shed. "I came here to find you." "I couldn't have known." Maylene reached out and plucked a leaf from the girl's hair. "Doesn't matter." She lifted a dirty hand, fingernails flashing chipped red polish, but she didn't seem to know what to do with her outstretched fingers. Little girl fears warred with teenage bravado. Bravado won. "I'm here now." "All right, then." Maylene walked down the path toward one of the gates. She pulled the key from her handbag, twisted it in the lock, and pushed open the gate.”

FoundGhostConfrontationSimple TruthsVisitationFinding
Book:Graveminder
Create image