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Knowledge and Language - Coggle Diagram
Knowledge and Language
Can we know if we can’t explain something?
If we can't explain a concept, that means we have not truly understood it and thus not know it well enough
You can be familiar with the concept, but if you can’t explain it then that means you don’t know it well enough
Is there such a thing as unbiased language?
It is incredibly difficult to not offend any group of people and please everyone since taking offense is subjective. In other words, people can take offense to anything, and unbiased language does not exist
Refers to language that's free from stereotypes or exclusive terminology regarding race, gender, age, disability, class or sexuality
The role of metaphors & analogies.
Help people that aren't experts in a field understand complex concepts in a more digestible/relatable way
Sometimes, metaphors can cause more confusion or even sway concepts in unwanted ways
The advantages and limits of labels.
Pros
Standardised things; Guides research; easier/quicker to organise
Cons
Cons
Oversimplifies the complexity
Increases the risk of misclassification
Labelling can be stigmatising
How can language manipulate us?
Orwell's 1984 illustrates how language can be reduced to the point where it's so rigid, no free thought can ever be expressed, allowing for the Party to control reality. This is what politically correct people are trying to do under the pretense of "inclusivity" and not offending anyone.
Use pretentious words to project authority
Or make atrocities sound acceptable by burying them in euphemisms and convoluted sentence structures
The problem of ambiguity in language.
Lexical ambiguity
The presence of two or more possible meanings for a single word
Syntactic ambiguity
The presence of two or more possible meanings within a single sentence or sequence of words
Semantic ambiguity
Even after the syntax and the meanings of the individual words have been resolved, there are two ways of reading the sentence.
Anaphoric ambiguity
A phrase or word refers to something previously mentioned, but there is more than one possibility.
What constitutes language?
Arbitrariness
Words do not have any essential connection to the things that they stand for; If languages were not arbitrary, then all languages would be identical
Displacement
Recall, describe and share information about events, people, objects and ideas which are removed from us in time and space
Semanticity
Language is made up of units of meaning; Words have stable meanings, whether they are written or spoken
Duality
“F’, “u”, “c”, “k” don’t really make sense on themselves but “F*ck” is a swear word.
A language is made up of a set of sounds or letters which are then re-combined into larger units
Words and sentences
Productivity
The ability to produce an unlimited number of sentences or utterances with a limited number of letters, words and characters.
Traditional Transmission
The specifics of the language are learnt through the culture and environment exposed in
The ability to preserve knowledge, and pass down that knowledge and the language from generation to generation.
Can some ideas be expressed without language?
Languageless communication in animals
Bee dance
Meaningful sounds (shouting in anger, squealing in pleasure)
Communicating ideas without language
Morse code
Braille
Meaningful sounds (shouting in anger, squealing in pleasure)
Music (funeral music, triumphant music, 21 gun salute etc)
Facial features (angry, sad, elated)
Hand gestures (gang sign signals, middle finger)