Criticizing Linguistics/Shared Cognitions

[A. Katz]

The discussion between Steve Long and Wolfgang Schulze seems to turn on
the distinction between cognition and language. Does language require
cognition? Does cognition require language? Are they entirely separable,
or does one subsume the other.

If by cognition we mean animal consciousness (and the processing of
perceptual data by organisms), then it appears there can be cognition
without language, even in our own species. Humans aren't born with
language, but they start processing perceptual data from day one.

By the same token, if by language, we mean the coding of information using
a limited number of recurring subunits that can be recombined to form an
unlimited number of messages with an indeterminately large degree of
complexity, then clearly there can be language without cognition. Computer
code and DNA code are two examples. Even writing left behind by people
long dead is evidence of this principle, at least in one direction. Every
time we read a message without meeting the person who wrote it, we process
language that we acquired from an inanimate object.

So that settles it, right? Language and Cognition are separable.



     --Aya Katz

================================================================
Dr. Aya Katz, Inverted-A, Inc, P.O. Box 267, Licking, MO
65542 USA
(417) 457-6652 (573) 247-0055
http://www.well.com/user/amnfn
=================================================================