Information AboutIdiolect |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT IDIOLECT | |
| language varieties and styles | |
|
Forensic Linguists can use idiolects to decide if a certain person did or did not produce a given piece of writing (or transcribed speech). The supposed confession of Derek Bentley was inconsistent with his idiolect, and modern analysis of the confession led to a posthumous pardon. The family of the Unabomber recognized his idiolect and informed the police of their suspicions. While often passing unnoticed in speech, some idiolects, particularly unusual ones employed by famous individuals, are immortalized in the form of nicknames. A famous example is the nickname of Willie Mays ("the Say-Hey Kid"), who frequently used "say hey". IDIOLECT AND LANGUAGE Depending on whom you ask, either idiolects are derived from abstract, standardized language ideas, defended by "authorities" (such as dictionary editors), or languages are congruences of idiolects and thus exist only in the intersection between individual speakers. While the "truth," should it exist, most likely lies on a continuum between these extremes, each proposition provides a useful model for language (individual language) is extrapolated from a multitude of Organism s (idiolects) with common features. Each species evolves through changes in the individual organisms. Idiolects change through contact with other idiolects, and change throughout their lifetime as well as from generation to generation. Overall, languages must select for compatibility with the learning capacity of immature human Brains . Idiolects, however, have such a large capacity for change, particularly in the current era with increasing contact between many different people, that the systematic aspects of language that are the traditional arena of Linguistic study are constantly in flux. As of yet, there is no general Theory of Communication based on idiolects. Most importantly, however, whether language is a pre-determined Convention or a fluid construction of each moment of communication, there are general cognitive abilities that all humans share in order to communicate. These tools, inherent to Symbolic communication, include the ability to assess a situation and provide appropriate information, access to both short and long term Memory functions, the ability to differentiate and conceptualize past, present, and future, and the ability to recognize that other human brains also use these and other tools to represent their internal states and understand the representation of others' internal states. SEE ALSO REFERENCES
EXTERNAL LINKS |
|
|