2022/05/23 by Martina Wiltschko · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · #Historical Linguistics and Language Studies #Language, Metaphor, and Cognition #Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
paper · pdf · doi:10.16995/glossa.5786
openalex publication_date 2022/05/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
There is an ancient debate about whether language is an instrument for thought or for communication. I argue that the distinction is misleading, and that language is an integral part of both, human-specific thought, and communication. The argument is based on the growing consensus that grammatical knowledge – a hallmark of human language – encompasses not only the propositional content of an utterance but also its communicative content. If communicative content is regulated by grammatical knowledge, then it follows that communication is as much a function of language as thought is.