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(Marc van Oostendorp) So this is how 
we have got more insight

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into how the language 
really works in the brain.

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This is how we got more insight in 
this particular miracle of human language.

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We just concluded now another video.

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We're just filming now, we're here
in the studio filming

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basically the last thing we have to film
for the new module,

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which will be about 
language and the brain, of this MOOC,

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while you have been studying and 
working very hard on the first week,

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and you've been doing great,
you've been doing fantastic:

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for instance in our discussion forum

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there have been many very interesting 
discussions going on already.

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I like particularly the discussion 
about Esperanto.

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Esperanto: a constructed language, meaning
a language which didn't exist

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until the mid 19th century, when it was
made up, basically, by one person,

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Zamenhof, and now, there are a few people
who speak it natively,

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and people have been wondering what does this mean?

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Is that now a natural language?

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Is it a natural language like any other language?

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I have to admit to you this question
comes close to my heart,

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also because I learned Esperanto 
as a child myself.

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I'm not really a native speaker, but
I come quite close, maybe,

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to being a native speaker of Esperanto,

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so I'm very interested 
in the question myself.

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And it's not true what some of you say
that linguists generally think

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that it doesn't count 
as a natural language.

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It's a little bit different, 
but Esperanto, it's true,

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it has people who speak it natively
or quasi-natively,

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it has a community of speakers,

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people use it for all different kinds 
of purposes.

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So it definitively, at least, comes very 
close to being a native human language.

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But on the other hand, it is also 
a little bit different.

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We have to admit that.

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There is no village, there is no town

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there is no community of people 
living together and using that language

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in everyday life.

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There is no bakery where people go to
and order their bread in Esperanto.

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So, this difference between natural and
artificial, constructed language

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is not just an opposition, 
it's more like a scale

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and Esperanto definitely is somewhere
there on that scale.

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Some people have also asked about
Sign Language.

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If we count Esperanto as not being
a full human language,

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a full natural language, what about
Sign Language, then?

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And it's true that some of the things 
I've now said

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are also true for Sign Languages.

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For instance, also for Sign Languages,
there usually is not just some community

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of people living together in one place
and only using a Sign Language.

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There's also very few bakers, 
bakery shops,

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where you can go and buy you bread
in Sign Language.

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So they have certain things in common.

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So Sign Language is just 
yet another point

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on this large scale of natural versus
artificial languages.

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That's my take on this, it's definitely
also not the last word to be said on this:

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the last word to be said on this,
you can say it.

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Go to the forum, go to the Coursera page
and talk about this further.

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I would love to join, and I'm
probably going to join you as well

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in this discussion.

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And then, see you next week, see you
next week for the second module already,

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a module where we're going 
to talk about sounds.