What is it about?
The article explains how it is possible to express an unlimited number of thoughts in any human language, relying on a finite number of devices and mechanisms at various levels, namely, words, sentences and meanings.
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Why is it important?
Language makes us human and our main advantage over all other species is articulate and versatile thought. That is what the creative nature of language makes possible.
Perspectives
This article complements the formal properties of creativity familiar since Chomsky's early work by outlining two more areas, that of metaphorical extension of meanings and the human complexity in theory of mind, the way we know what others think we know.
Istvan Kenesei
University of Szeged
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Role of Creativity in the Cognitive Turn in Linguistics, International Review of Pragmatics, January 2013, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/18773109-13050207.
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