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On the role of children, and the mechanical view: A rejoinder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2008

PETER TRUDGILL
PETER TRUDGILL
Affiliation:
Agder University, 32 Bathurst Road, Norwich NR2 2PP, U.K., [email protected]
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Extract

There is nothing controversial about Keller's assertion that human beings operate according to a powerful maxim which he renders as “Talk like the others talk.” This is self-evidently true (although we could of course discuss precisely who “the others” might be). If it were not true, there would be, say, no local dialects. The fact that everyone who has grown up in the same community speaks in the same way therefore, in a sense, needs no discussion. It is always the case, as near enough as makes no difference.

Type
DISCUSSION
Information
Language in Society , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , April 2008 , pp. 277 - 280
Copyright
© 2008 Cambridge University Press

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References

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