How Does Language Work

In my previous post I proposed a definition of language: a human artifact used for contemplating or communicating topics as though they were perceptions. How would something like that work? Perception works by shifting attention. Language works the same way. I have been inspired to make these posts because I read through the new book by Berwick & Chomsky summarizing their long held views of language. For them, the most important thing about language is that its sentences can run on forever. To account for this, they imagine an endlessly recursive process, i.e., a machine that can go on stringing words together without limit. Thus, they can explain how we get the sentence: She told her friends to tell their friends to tell their friends to tell their friends to tell their friends that the mechanic said pizza will be served. The fact that nobody can follow such a sentence is of no importance to the authors. More entertaining is another sentence which they discuss a few times: Birds that fly instinctively swim. Notice the ambiguity of the sentence. Instinctively can modify either fly or swim. The authors do not point out that the ambiguity would disappear in speech, depending on whether there is a short pause just before or just after the instinctively. The rhythms of speech would make it Birds that fly / instinctively swim or Birds that fly instinctively / swim. These pauses are lost in writing and the reader is left to guess which word instinctively modifies. Many peo...
Source: Babel's Dawn - Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Source Type: blogs