I wonder how it would change society if our language didn't have any normative language in it ("People should do X"), and instead we were forced to rely on conditional predictions ("If people do X, I predict Y will happen")
But the first two sentences ever spoken were probably 'Hey, you shouldn't mess with that snake' and 'Hey, you should mate with me'.
-
-
Or combined, "mess with this snake instead"
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
-
-
Language is about transmitting information in a noisy environment partially through implication. Both "Snake!" and "DTF?" have clear albeit implicit assumptions for the short and long term futures. Problem is where our assumptions misalign.
-
Curious about this from linguistics x evolutionary perspective--if lang is about info transmission, maybe Sorites paradox btwn human symbolic lang vs other animal communication vis a vis units of meaning? No ambiguity/room for interpretation in reflexive animal communication
- 2 more replies
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.