Language is a way of composing functions by making them low dimensional and discrete. I think of artificial languages (programming and math) as bottoming out in logical functions, natural languages in perceptual categories (which includes the perception of transitions and agency)
Our perception is stable but continuous. The discreteness of language may be primarily a learnability constraint for shared protocols.
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Visualize a dot on a straight line with closed eyes and move it freely to any position on the line. You can't. Perception can learn programs to compare continuous variables, but can only consciously represent them in associable increments.
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I have aphantasia, so I cannot check before tomorrow morning, but I can imagine sounds with continuous pitch changes
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