Lukawski, Jacob

"Why Linguists Put “English” in Quotes"

---

Major: Computer Science

Minor: Geography

Senior, College of Computing and Digital Media

---

Abstract

The general public’s understanding of language is that languages such as English are single identifiable entities in the world. Using an I-Language approach, it can be shown why that common-sense view is incorrect. An I-Language is an individual’s internal, intensional, and innate set of rules that computes the composition of speech and understanding of it. Linguists today argue that no two I-Languages are the same, but there happens to be enough overlap that we can understand each other. There are several examples which may be able to convince the general public to question their current understanding of language. Class: Honors 207

Linguistics

Professor: Bradley Hoot

College of Liberal Studies and Social Sciences