Most concepts can be transmitted through a rich variety of words and grammatical constructions that allow speakers to communicate subtleties in thought and emotion. Children thus learn how to tie shoelaces by observing someone do it, and they learn a lot about shoes (and many other things) by listening to people talk about them. Our sensory system allows us to directly experience our environment, and language allows us to experience the thoughts of others. We thus have a brain finely tuned to the complex social world that we inhabit.

A brain’s principal task is to recognize and respond to change and challenge, and this typically results in volitional movement. Rooted plants thus don’t need a brain. Our brain’s sensory system informs us about what’s going on here and there. Its decision-making system determines if here or there is a better place to be. And its motor system gets us to there if that’s the better alternative.

Here/there characterize space. Planning/regulating/predicting movement characterize time (past/present/future). Our brain’s processing systems connect space and time. Expending energy in space over time results in movement, our brain’s definitive property. Space, time, energy, and movement are also very much of what language is all about.

Space is about objects and places, and our brain represents them as nouns and pronouns. Basic noun categories exhibit variation in real life, and synonyms and adjectives describe the variations.