SUO: Re: Examples! Examples! Examples!
o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o
EEE. Note 35
o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o
Semiotic Reflections (cont.)
The hypothesis has suggested itself -- it is conventional to blame the
hypothesis for suggesting itself in such risky cases, as it can hardly
cry foul if one later steals the credit should it turn out to be apt --
that the internal diversity of languages is to be explained in part
by their function in such cybernetic duties and governing offices
as adaptation, control, homeostasis, information, regulation,
all the ways that organisms, organizations, and other sorts
of optimal control systems strive to stave off chaos and
the hot breath of entropy by introjecting small models
of the very same nemesystematic enmities within their
own frame.
An economic principle suggests -- again one tends to personify the principle --
that we might as well try to take two birds with one stone, if one stone is
all we have, and so I will take up the hypothesis that linguistic variety
in general, external or internal to a given language, is to be accounted,
at least in some significant measure, to the life-saving utilities thereof.
Pursuing the logical consequences and the practical consequences --
I do not say how they overlap -- of this hypothesis is the task
that I take up next.
Jon Awbrey
o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o