I suppose I should say first that I don’t think we have any good idea about how it is that someone first learns a language. Suppose a baby’s first word is ‘mama’. Is this yet a word? Can the baby mean anything by it? Probably not. When do we reach that point where a baby becomes capable of meaning? I expect there is no hard black line. At some point, we recognize someone as a language user.
That said, I think ‘recognizing patterns and meanings’ may well be a fine description of language-learning. I’m not saying that it’s incorrect, just that it’s not programmable. I’m saying that this kind of recognition requires a familiarity with a shared world.
I suppose I should say first that I don’t think we have any good idea about how it is that someone first learns a language. Suppose a baby’s first word is ‘mama’. Is this yet a word? Can the baby mean anything by it? Probably not. When do we reach that point where a baby becomes capable of meaning? I expect there is no hard black line. At some point, we recognize someone as a language user.
That said, I think ‘recognizing patterns and meanings’ may well be a fine description of language-learning. I’m not saying that it’s incorrect, just that it’s not programmable. I’m saying that this kind of recognition requires a familiarity with a shared world.