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Distributed LanguageEdited by Stephen J. Cowley
[Pragmatics & Cognition 17:3] 2009
► pp. 653–676
Edited by Stephen J. Cowley
[Pragmatics & Cognition 17:3] 2009
► pp. 653–676
Symbols as constraints
The structuring role of dynamics and self-organization in natural language
The paper draws a parallel between natural language symbols and the symbolic mode in living systems. The inextricability of symbols and the dynamics with which they are functionally related shows that much of their structuring is due to dynamics and self-organization. It is also stressed that important factors that determine the shape of language structure lie outside individual mind/brains and they draw on time-scales quite different from those of phenomenological experience. Analysis of language into units and subsystems is thus not straightforward, since they show functionality on many levels and many time-scales. Finally it is recognized that, as a specific and specialized system of inter-individual coordination, natural language is many hierarchical levels away form simpler forms of information transmission in biological systems.
Keywords: symbol, symbolic structure, constraints, control, measurement, dynamics, natural language
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