Human language, which functions at both an intimate and corporate level, removes the meaning from individual sounds and inserts it into sound sequences. For example, the phonemes D and O are meaningless, but the verb DO is meaningful. Adding a G creates an entirely different word – DOG (which also differs in meaning from its reverse, GOD).

Combinations of selected groups from the 44 phonemes (or 26 letters) that English uses can thus form hundreds of thousands of words, and sequences of words can combine into an infinite number of narratives. Similarly, the 12 tones on the musical scale can combine into an infinite number of melodies, and the ten digits into an infinite representation of quantity.

More amazing, genetics uses a similar sequential coding system. Specific combinations of the 20 different amino acids arrayed in a DNA genetic sequence can create an infinite number of proteins. Genetic sequences of amino acids thus build and maintain our biological body, and linguistic sequences of phonemes help to build and maintain our social species.

Parents and scientists have long been curious about how children learn to talk, and how they then know what to say. This column will explain a recent discovery that helps to explain the onset of speech, and next month's column will explore how humans transfer thought into speech.