Thread:User talk:Armondikov/Cognitive-linguistic mapping essay/reply (8)

Have you considered comparing Lojban, which is as I understand it, a language that should be free of incidental ambiguity and leave only the ambiguity of the communicators to something like ASL where the language itself is rooted in rather "artistic" combinations of elements to create distinct but more free and intuitive speech acts.

The man moved at 20.3 km/hr, up a hill with a 3% grade, breathing at a respiration rate of X (however this is measured)

vs

The man panted while running up a steep incline.

vs. "MAN v-index movein up, BREATH mime panting" which conveys a different sense of the experience.

I say this, thinking about the force and focus you seem to place on precision of word choice, and how those word choices ultimately construct what we walk away with. Unless I'm misunderstanding that. This idea that language requires more precision to make better communication (and I would argue/agree that in this very media it most certainly does) seems rooted in people who's world is scientific where precision matters, and not rooted in worlds of language-use where the point itself is to generate thought.

or, as usual, i'm just missing the point completely.