کد مقاله کد نشریه سال انتشار مقاله انگلیسی نسخه تمام متن
926919 921914 2012 12 صفحه PDF دانلود رایگان
عنوان انگلیسی مقاله ISI
The communicative function of ambiguity in language
موضوعات مرتبط
علوم زیستی و بیوفناوری علم عصب شناسی علوم اعصاب شناختی
پیش نمایش صفحه اول مقاله
The communicative function of ambiguity in language
چکیده انگلیسی

We present a general information-theoretic argument that all efficient communication systems will be ambiguous, assuming that context is informative about meaning. We also argue that ambiguity allows for greater ease of processing by permitting efficient linguistic units to be re-used. We test predictions of this theory in English, German, and Dutch. Our results and theoretical analysis suggest that ambiguity is a functional property of language that allows for greater communicative efficiency. This provides theoretical and empirical arguments against recent suggestions that core features of linguistic systems are not designed for communication.

ناشر
Database: Elsevier - ScienceDirect (ساینس دایرکت)
Journal: Cognition - Volume 122, Issue 3, March 2012, Pages 280–291
نویسندگان
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