Abstract：Based on a critical review of Hockett’s (1960) discussion of underlying design features of human language and Tomasello’s (2010) psychological focus on human communication, this paper attempts to argue for the importance of humanizing and historical dimensions in language computerization study. This paper examines what Hockett (1960) proposed and referred to as 13 design features by which human language is characterized with a focus on two of these features: discreteness and duality of patterning. I first discuss three different ways of defining the discreteness of linguistic signs and the respective focal points of these three definitions and introduce methods to integrate the discrete attributes of linguistic signs into continuous vectors as well as computational applications of these methods. Secondly, I look into the similarity between the linguistic system and the biological system in terms of their duality of patterning, including how relevant algorithms and models in the field of natural language processing are applied in molecular biological studies. Finally, this paper turns to discuss Tomasello’s (2010) theory regarding the origination of human communications and his ideas about the cooperative psychological platform. While showing that any effort to delve into an underlying complicated and self-sufficient structure is bound to be unrealistic, this paper argues that linguistic researchers should locate language in the human habitat (i.e., the real situation in which human beings exist and evolve) thus to reflect upon the design principles and the operating mechanism of language. In so doing, a greater prospect can be obtained into the structural patterns and functional utilities of language with an aim of opening up a linguistic approach with prominent humanistic considerations.
袁毓林. 在人类生境约束下思考语言的设计原理和运作机制[J]. 语言战略研究, 2022, 7(6): 85-96.
Yuan Yulin. On the Constraint of the Human Habitat on the Design Principles and the Operating Mechanism of Language. , 2022, 7(6): 85-96.
