Purpose of Lan

这是一篇关于Purpose of Lan.的思维导图，主要内容包括：functions of lan.，play 猜字谜、文字游戏，emote 用语言表达情感，perform 从多个理论和语言功能角度详细阐述了语言的目的。

Purpose of Lan.

• Shannon&Weaver's communication model 信息传递模型
  • illustration
    • spoken
      • Channel is noisy! Only one speaker at a time. Have to make sure the channel is open. Have to use conventional words and explicit traffic directors.
      • Participants send and receive a message via a transmitter. They choose a code and a channel but there might be noise.
      • • code: spoken English
        • Channel: auditory channel
        • transmitter: articulators (tongue, lip, oral cavity)
        • noise: background noise, people talking nearby
        • receiver: ear
    • signed
      • code: signed language
      • channel: visual channel
      • transmitter: body parts (hands)
      • noise: light, covered hands, fast motion
      • receiver: eyes
  • problems
    • 过于关注literal words，忽略了说话者意图 intention
    • 没有考虑到inference, which is derived from the words but means more than those words.
    • 忽略了影响理解的因素
      • context
      • real-world knowledge
      • social relationship
  • Chomsky's response
    • language=mental phenomenon
    • merge operation 合并操作
      • abstract symbolic manipulation
    • Externalising language with intent to communicate is a peripheral aspect of language.语言的本质是心智的计算系统，而不是为了交流而存在的工具。
• maximise computational efficiency not communication efficiency.
  • problems
    • ambiguity of lan.
      • computationally easy communicationally difficult
    • garden path sentences 迷途句
      • brain process sentence according to structural principles
      • no actual sense→hidners communication
  • think in language?
    • anendophasia 无内言症
    • procedural thinking 程序性思维
    • thinking of a thing without having words avaliable for it
      • tip of tongue phenomenon 话到嘴边
    • all lan. have words for that thing you cannot think of
      • doovalackeys 那个什么
• Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
  • illustration
    • Language is so important to thought that humans can't think without it
    • e.g. languages that have many words for color may lead speakers to notice subtle differences in color
    • lan. influences the way people think, different languages shape different ways of understanding reality
  • limitations
    • overstate the influence of lan. on thought
    • difficult to prove clear cause-and-effect relationship between lan. and thought
  • Better at Saving money
    • no build-in grammatical future tense
      • future feels closer→get prepared, plan ahead
    • have /ŋ/ sound
• primarily form communication optimised for communicative efficiency
  • People with severe linguistic impairments can still do thought, e.g. math problems, resoning, non-verbal instructions
  • People with severe thought impairments can still do language, e.g. schizophrenis 精神分裂症
  • ambiguity is actually efficient
  • most lan. put subjects first, minimise dependency length, redundancy
• form & maintain social relationships
  • 大部分语言使用无关信息交换 information change
  • phatic communication 交际性言语
    • language used for social interaction, rather than to convey new information
    • doesn't have an overt meaning, e.g. small talk
• perform & construct identity
  • emblematic 象征性的
    • social/cultural identifier
    • e.g. age, gender, style of lan., accent, spelling,sexuality, code-switching
  • specialness 体现特殊性
    • arguing how lan. should be
  • national identity
    • Linguistically-based separatist movements
• emote 用语言表达情感
  • swearing↑, pain↓
  • emotive function
• play 猜字谜、文字游戏
  • animals don't play their lan.
  • word puzzle, crosswords
• functions of lan.
  • social
    • communicative---information exchange
    • emblematic---construct identity
  • individual
    • cognition----thought
    • emotion----sware words