Underestimating Language

Mikael Parkvall parkvall at LING.SU.SE
Mon Dec 9 16:26:12 UTC 2002


Steve Long wrote:

>Are we to think that "articulatorily unmotivated allomorphy" or "semantically
>unfounded (from a synchronic point of view) noun classification" are meant to
>reduce information between speaker and listener?

No, what I am suggesting is that the same message can be conveyed in a
difficult way and an easy way (not to mention all the possible shades in
between). The "junk" features I mentioned, and which Steve cites, do not
reduce the information value, but they add unnecessary complexity insofar
as they require one more rule in the ideal grammatical description of the
language (whether or not this corresponds to an additional burden in
acquisition or processing is another, albeit related, matter).

In other words, the "simple" language can be said to doe its job more
efficiently than the "complex" language, provided that they both convey the
same information.

Otherwise, I pretty much agree with Steve's comments.


/MP

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Mikael Parkvall
Institutionen för lingvistik
Stockholms Universitet
SE-10691 STOCKHOLM
(rum 276)

+46 (0)8 16 14 41, +46 (0)8 656 68 24 (hem)
Fax: +46 (0)8 15 53 89

parkvall at ling.su.se



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