Re: Plausibility Check


Franz Gnaedinger wrote:
My definition of language from 1974/75:

Language is the means of getting help, support and
understanding from those we depend upon in one way
or another --- and every means of getting help, support
and understanding may be called language, on whatever
level of life it occurs.

Peter T. Daniels:

Escept that that's not what anyone else in the world uses the word
"language" to mean.

Why do we care for definitions? They place our intuitions
on solid ground, allowing us to go much further. Biology
has long said goodbye to linguistics, not bothering about
all the narrow-minded prejudices. Time to gain them back,
and we can do so with an accurate definition of language.

Because one of the principal functions of language is communication,
and if someone is using words the way no one else in the world uses
them, communication is impaired.

Why all the painstaking scientific endeavors if not for
new insights? Why do people wander in the Alps?
They expect gorgeous views around the corner.
The same in the sciences.

When people want to talk about new concepts, they do ill to take over
existing words for them. A century ago, the term "semiotic system"
emerged for what you want to talk about. "Language" is not the word for
what you want to talk about.

.

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