The author seems to have got his logic exactly backward. Not that this stopped any identity warriors, ever. The reason humans actually have words for categorie

The author seems to have got his logic exactly backward. Not that this stopped any identity warriors, ever. The reason humans actually have words for categories (like 'cats' or 'policemen') is because said categories are important and indeed allow for generalizations. Meanwhile things that lack verbal categories ('people who wear socks', 'people who have funny-looking ears') precisely lack them because language bearers have never had the need to invent a verbal category as there wasn't much generalizing to be done about these groups. Likewise looking at children's use of words is idiotic because they are @#$% children - ie they lack any sort of life experience. Jewish israeli children (just like arab ones) have no need to categorize people into Arab/Jews because they are not dealing with all the crap their respective adults have to contend with. Same way a 3yo may look at a tiger cub and call him a cat - because she does not possess the mental faculty / understanding of what tigers are and the importance of the verbal category 'tiger'.