So what are the functions of language? On top of my head:
- Language as communication channel (receive and convey information about the world)
- Language as affordance (saying something = action towards a goal)
- Language as social lubricant (chitchat, etc)
- Language as communication channel (receive and convey information about the world)
- Language as affordance (saying something = action towards a goal)
- Language as social lubricant (chitchat, etc)
- Language as operating system for the mind (a tool to formulate complex thoughts, to store thoughts, index & retrieve thoughts or memories)
- Language as artistic medium (poetry, etc)
- Language as DNA for society & civilization (tool to store and propagate knowledge, culture)
- Language as artistic medium (poetry, etc)
- Language as DNA for society & civilization (tool to store and propagate knowledge, culture)
The common thread here is that language is always an interface: the study of language only makes sense in the context of the relationship between an agent and its environment (including other agents), an agent and itself, or many agents as a collective.
Modeling the statistical structure of language absent any context is a bit like modeling the latent space of all airplane cockpits. It will enable you to generate new realistic airplane cockpits via interpolation, but it misses the purpose & the broader context of this interface
Meaning is contextual
