Code-Talker Paradox
Encyclopedia
The code-talker paradox is an issue in linguistics
that brings into question some fundamental ideas of the nature of languages. Specifically, the fact that language can both facilitate and block communication.
This term, coined by Mark Baker
raises the issue of how Philip Johnston and the code talker were able to communicate in a way such that human beings created references that were mutually intelligible to each other but completely unintelligible to everyone who was not familiar with the structure and meaning of the signals.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
that brings into question some fundamental ideas of the nature of languages. Specifically, the fact that language can both facilitate and block communication.
This term, coined by Mark Baker
Mark Baker (linguist)
Mark C. Baker is an American linguist. He received his Ph. D. from MIT in 1985 and has taught at Rutgers since 1998. Prof. Baker has frequently been a faculty member at the Linguistic Society of America's Summer Institute and, prior to coming to Rutgers, was a faculty member at McGill University...
raises the issue of how Philip Johnston and the code talker were able to communicate in a way such that human beings created references that were mutually intelligible to each other but completely unintelligible to everyone who was not familiar with the structure and meaning of the signals.
See also
- Drift (linguistics)Drift (linguistics)There are two types of linguistic drift, a unidirectional short-term and cyclic long-term drift.-Short-term unidirectional drift:According to Sapir, drift is the unconscious change in natural language...
- Tower of BabelTower of BabelThe Tower of Babel , according to the Book of Genesis, was an enormous tower built in the plain of Shinar .According to the biblical account, a united humanity of the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating from the east, came to the land of Shinar, where...
- Plato's problemPlato's ProblemPlato's problem is the term given by Noam Chomsky to the gap between knowledge and experience. It presents the question of how we account for our knowledge when environmental conditions seem to be an insufficient source of information. It is used in linguistics to refer to the "argument from...
- The Analysis of Verbal BehaviorThe Analysis of Verbal BehaviorThe Analysis of Verbal Behavior is a scientific journal that was established in 1982 as a peer-reviewed psychology journal. It publishes research in conceptual and empirical analysis of verbal behavior and problems of social importance.-History:...
- List of Paradoxes