What Is Language?
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Uploaded by MesmerizedMoldavite7389
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Summary
This document analyzes the concept of language. It argues that language involves more than just communication and touches on the knowledge speakers have of their language. The document also briefly discusses examples of encoding and decoding.
Full Transcript
What is Language? Defining language is not easy. We might say it is a means of communication: Speakers encode meanings into sounds (or hand shapes). Listeners decode speech sounds (or hand shapes) into meaning. What is Language? But is language just a way of communicating? Surely, we can all...
What is Language? Defining language is not easy. We might say it is a means of communication: Speakers encode meanings into sounds (or hand shapes). Listeners decode speech sounds (or hand shapes) into meaning. What is Language? But is language just a way of communicating? Surely, we can all understand the sentence: Me wants some chocolate now. But native speakers of English know that the sentence above is a not a well-formed English expression. So even though I can communicate my desire with this sentence, this sentence isn’t quite English. Language must be more than just communication – it must also involve what speakers know about their language.
