The structure of language  | Linguistic information: structured sets of symbols we build texts (linguistic information objects) by combining together bunches of symbols (data) according to some pre-determined rules of structure (a grammar). |
| Lecture #1: Computers and Information |
The structure of language  | Linguistic information: structured sets of symbols |
| | Linguistic information is inherently linearly ordered whether spoken (and heard) or written (and read), linguistic information is conveyed in a form which is linearly ordered in time. On the other hand, a deeper analysis of language reveals non-linear structures, including especially hierarchical structure, and perhaps arbitrary "connections" |
| Lecture #1: Computers and Information |
The structure of language | | Linguistic information: structured sets of symbols |
| | Linguistic information is inherently linearly ordered |
| | Traditional conception of language languages are traditionally viewed as consisting of: • syntax: the rules of the surface structure of texts (described by a grammar); • semantics: the way that meaning is ascribed to texts; • pragmatics: the practical or performative aspects of language use, especially in a proscriptive sense (described by a rhetoric). |
| Lecture #1: Computers and Information |
The structure of language | | Linguistic information: structured sets of symbols |
| | Linguistic information is inherently linearly ordered |
| | Traditional conception of language |
| | Hierarchy of syntactic structures language syntax can be organized into a hierarchy ordered by structural size and containment: letters or phonemes contained in words, words contained in sentences, sentences in paragraphs, etc. The symbols at the lowest level (letters) are inherently meaningless in isolation |
| Lecture #1: Computers and Information |
The structure of language | | Linguistic information: structured sets of symbols |
| | Linguistic information is inherently linearly ordered |
| | Traditional conception of language |
| | Hierarchy of syntactic structures |
| | Non-linguistic information in some sense, the digital representation of information is inherently linguistic, albeit only in the sense that it is all reduced to sequences of symbols. How the meaning/significance/interpretation is reconstructed is fundamentally different in the case of, say, digitized graphics or sound, than it is in the case of, say, text. |