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The New York Times: Almost Before We Spoke, We Swore

The New York Times Almost Before We Spoke, We Swore
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"In fact, said Guy Deutscher, a linguist at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands and the author of "The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind's Greatest Invention," the earliest writings, which date from 5,000 years ago, include their share of off-color descriptions of the human form and its ever-colorful functions. And the written record is merely a reflection of an oral tradition that Dr. Deutscher and many other psychologists and evolutionary linguists suspect dates from the rise of the human larynx, if not before.

Some researchers are so impressed by the depth and power of strong language that they are using it as a peephole into the architecture of the brain, as a means of probing the tangled, cryptic bonds between the newer, "higher" regions of the brain in charge of intellect, reason and planning, and the older, more "bestial" neural neighborhoods that give birth to our emotions."

Translation Journal Emotions, Taboos and Profane Language
"This is a simple question about a deceptively simple fact of life. Yet there is no readily available, coherent theory of cursing to explain this verbal behaviour which is well-documented from times immemorial. Timothy Jay, psychology professor at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and author of several psycholinguistic studies on dirty talking, takes us on an exciting and comprehensive tour of profane language. But one of the reasons why his book is so engaging is because through the study of cursing as language it is first and foremost about human behaviour and thinking."

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The New York Times: Almost Before We Spoke, We Swore

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