No CrossRef data available.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 November 2016
The growth of language
Someone once said, in answer to an invitation to draw up a chair, “It depends what you mean by ‘chair’; do you mean the thing, the word, or the concept?” There seems to be some relevance in this to the idea of a vector as a physical object, as against its “name” as a triad of numbers, or as an algebraic entity. In illustration, one could point to a table, and give the word for it in several languages. It is clear that communication is only possible at any reasonable level by having first established a language, and then using it as a vehicle for thought. Some would say we cannot think without language; whether this be true or not, the articulate speaker seems brimful of ideas, and the tongue-tied individual dull.
To send this article to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about sending to your Kindle. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save this article to your Dropbox account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Dropbox account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save this article to your Google Drive account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Google Drive account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.