A Hubterranean View of Syntax

In A Hubterranean View Of Syntax, Julie Louise Steele explores the notion that “patterns in nature may be realised in the linguistic form of our own conversations; that our words dance to the same tune that is played out in our world.” To show this, “the branch configuration of a tree and its leaf structure echoed in the distributary arrangement in a river delta and the blood vessels of a kidney. Recall the spiral of a shell, its shape reflected in the wind currents of a tornado, the florets of a sunflower head and the curl of a ram’s horn.”

Splendidly written in the beautiful country of Australia, where the Aborigines have an innate relationship with their language and the land.

“Language is nature and nature is language.”

– Michael Steele