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Is Language a social fiction? I'm required to write an essay about the following : "Is language a social fiction?" and honestly I've had a hard time to determine whether language is a social fiction or a social reality and WHEN CAN LANGUAGE BE A SOCIAL FICTION ?!

Thanks in advance :)

Manou
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    Welcome to the site! Could you define what you mean by those terms? – Cerberus Dec 29 '13 at 22:51
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    Clearly the answer to that question is Yes. It is both social reality (e.g, here we are in more or less real life, using a version of language socially -- though I have no guarantee that you are perceiving the same social reality as I am) and a whole buncha social fictions (e.g, "correct usage" and the "Universal Grammar" hypothesis). It's a breath mint and a candy mint. – jlawler Dec 29 '13 at 23:27
  • This question might work out better at philosophy.SE – Mitch Jan 03 '14 at 17:09

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According to Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, language is a cognitive mechanism defining our cognitional patterns and therefore defining our [social] realities. Their works, as many more Whorfianist works, are easily accessible online.

According to Daniel Everett, language is [by convention] a cultural phenomenon. Here is a site with his bibliography and some of Dan's publications.

According to Ruth Millikan, language is a form of biological communication and as such is a property of non-human living [social] species as well - although they don't have to be quite social. The truth, as usual, is relative and out there.

hippietrail
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Manjusri
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