The infinite Library and Dissection by linguistics
Language comes so naturally to us that it is easy to forget what a strange miraculous gift it is. What is the trick behind our ability to fill one another's heads with so many different ideas? - Words & Rules.
1. The Word is based on a memorized arbitrary pairing between a sound and a meaning. "That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Nothing has its name by nature, but only by usage and custom.
2. People combine words into phrases and sentences, in which the meaning of the combination can be inferred from the meanings of the words and the way they are arranged.
Grammar is recursive: the rules create an entity that can contain an example of itself.
1. The Word is based on a memorized arbitrary pairing between a sound and a meaning. "That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Nothing has its name by nature, but only by usage and custom.
2. People combine words into phrases and sentences, in which the meaning of the combination can be inferred from the meanings of the words and the way they are arranged.
- The rules are productive
- The symbols contained by the rules are symbolic and hence, abstract.
- The rules are combinatorial
Grammar is recursive: the rules create an entity that can contain an example of itself.
Irregular forms are just words. They however, expose the disadvantages and advantages of words and rules. An irregular verb conveys the same meaning as a regular verb.
A rule is more powerful than needed for words we hear so often that retrieval from memory is easy. The most common verbs, such as be, have, do, go and say that turn out to be irregular language after language.
A rule is more powerful than needed for words we hear so often that retrieval from memory is easy. The most common verbs, such as be, have, do, go and say that turn out to be irregular language after language.
Wilhem Von Humboldt explained language as the "infinite use of finite media". *
John Wilkins - "We should, by learning... the Names of things, be instructed likewise in their Natures."
The very obliviousness to the details of the verb that makes a rule so powerful can let it blindly jam a suffic onto the end of an inhospitable sound. The result can be an uneuphonious tongue-twister such as edited or sixths. Irreglulars have standard word sounds which please the ear and roll off the tongue.
The Word-and-Rule theory for regular and irregular verbs is an opening statement in the latest round of a debate on how the mind works that has raged for centuries. By understanding regular and irregular verbs, we will be able to solve many puzzles about language and the way it is processed in the brain.
John Wilkins - "We should, by learning... the Names of things, be instructed likewise in their Natures."
The very obliviousness to the details of the verb that makes a rule so powerful can let it blindly jam a suffic onto the end of an inhospitable sound. The result can be an uneuphonious tongue-twister such as edited or sixths. Irreglulars have standard word sounds which please the ear and roll off the tongue.
The Word-and-Rule theory for regular and irregular verbs is an opening statement in the latest round of a debate on how the mind works that has raged for centuries. By understanding regular and irregular verbs, we will be able to solve many puzzles about language and the way it is processed in the brain.