AN101 Lecture 10: An101 lecture 10
Document Summary
Language defined is the system of arbitrary symbols humans use to communicate experience or to express meaning through sounds or gestures. Languages are not only verbal, but non-verbal (body language, clothing, spatial gestures) Open language system and productivity: the ability to create new infinite understanding and expressions from a finite set of rules (eg, grammar, alphabet) Humans have the ability to prevaricate (to make false/misleading statements, or ask questions that violate convention) is a major consequence of open symbolic system. Human language emphasizes the feature of displacement, the ability to refer to events and issues beyond the immediate present, past, and future. Closed call system: it lacks displacement or human ability to talk about absent or nonexistent objects and past or future evens as easily as humans can discuss about immediate situations. Lack of prevarication: animals cannot lie or form new ideas/theories.
